Senior Monitoring and Oversight Specialist, Ukraine

NORC at the University of Chicago is seeking candidates for a Senior Monitoring and Oversight Specialist for the USAID Ukraine Monitoring and Learning Support (UMLS) project. UMLS assists the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) regional mission for Ukraine and Belarus (USAID/Ukraine) in addressing its overall monitoring and collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) needs. A key feature of UMLS is a robust, dynamic, and systems-driven focus on MEL. The Senior Monitoring and Oversight Specialist leads technical work related to performance monitoring and oversight and supports USAID’s capacity building.

The Senior Monitoring and Oversight Specialist (Senior M&O Specialist) will be responsible for leading and managing the technical work related to performance monitoring and oversight under this contract. The work includes a range of tasks such as Data Quality Assessments in accordance with ADS 201, the ongoing review and updating of PMP indicators and data, baseline data collection, data analysis, review of project-level MEL plans, and overall work to ensure the quality and utility of performance monitoring and oversight data. The Senior M&O Specialist will manage and oversee the work of the Monitoring and Oversight unit.

The Sr M&O Specialist will also serve as NORC’s representative in Ukraine and will be responsible for approving official documents and other associated tasks.

In all activities, the Senior Monitoring and Oversight Specialist will be mindful of USAID’s requirement for agility and adaptability and ensure timely delivery of products to USAID.

The Senior M&O Specialist will report to the UMLS Deputy Chief of Party for technical guidance.

General and Management Tasks

• Work closely with the Chief of Party, Deputy Chief of Party, and the NORC Technical Monitor to develop and plan for new tasks.
• Contribute to the development of work plans and monitor work plans for the Monitoring and Oversight (M&O) team.
• Contribute to the preparation of quarterly reports, annual reports, and other major project deliverables.
• Participate in and manage response to client requests.
• Oversee the work of the M&O Unit staff, supporting their efforts and helping identify other support as needed, providing technical guidance, and other supervisory tasks. Plan resource allocation, conduct quality assurance of deliverables. Provide technical and professional guidance to team members to support their performance and professional development. Ensure cooperation with other project teams. Coordinate work of short-term technical experts.
• Contribute to strengthening the capacity of USAID staff and implementing partners in performance monitoring and oversight.
• Work with NORC home office to identify areas in which NORC resources can be drawn upon for technical work, and to design and review technical approaches, as appropriate.
• Serve as NORC representative in Ukraine for selected tasks, to include approving staff timesheets, signing official documents as defined under a power of attorney, assisting with health insurance procurement, and other administrative tasks that require a Ukrainian national.
• Provide regular updates to the NORC home office on project activities in Ukraine.

Performance Monitoring Tasks

• Support ongoing updates to the USAID Performance Management Plan (PMP).
• Lead/oversee the review of PMP data, including baseline data collection and data quality assessments, data analysis, and review of project-level MEL plans.
• Work to ensure the utility of performance monitoring and oversight data.

Research Studies and Assessments (as assigned)

• Review research requirements, become familiar with the assignment, and actively participate in meetings with the client and other stakeholders, as required.
• Work with NORC home office experts and UMLS staff to develop a research design.
• Monitor adherence to research design throughout implementation.
• Monitor data collection and conduct data analysis.
• Perform other related tasks.

Other essential functions:

• Engage fully as a member of the UMLS team, including participating in staff meetings and other team events.
• Provide support to other monitoring, evaluation, and learning tasks as required by the UMLS team.

Academic Qualifications

• Master’s Degree in a social science, economics, management, psychology, or a related field or a bachelor’s degree and an additional two years of related professional experience.

Required experience and skills

• Minimum of 10 years of experience designing and implementing performance monitoring systems of complex international development projects and organizing and managing data collection processes.
• Experience developing performance monitoring plans (PMPs), logical frameworks, results frameworks, and M&E plans at both an activity and program-wide level.
• Experience developing quantitative and qualitative data collection instruments and performance tracking tools.
• Experience in indicator development, data collection and analysis, data quality assessments, and statistical methods.
• Experience in the training, management, and supervision of data collection teams and ensuring data quality.
• Experience using monitoring data to review programming, trends, and activity needs and willingness to be flexible and adaptable to respond to new information.
• Strong teamwork, interpersonal, communication, and presentation/facilitation skills.
• Strong written and spoken English skills, and Ukrainian and/or Russian fluency.

Desired experience and skills

• Familiarity with USAID programming in Ukraine, USAID performance data information systems, and USAID’s Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Policy and CLA practices.
• Familiarity with Microsoft Office program suite and Google Drive applications.
• Demonstrable and advanced experience in MS Excel; survey programming and visualization solutions, such as Kobo Toolbox, Tableau, or PowerBI; and the management of access and permissions within information management platforms.

NORC at the University of Chicago is an objective, non-partisan research institution that delivers reliable data and rigorous analysis to guide critical programmatic, business, and policy decisions. Since 1941, our teams have conducted groundbreaking studies, created and applied innovative methods and tools, and advanced principles of scientific integrity and collaboration. Today, government, corporate, and nonprofit clients around the world partner with us to transform increasingly complex information into useful knowledge.

For over 80 years, NORC has evolved in many ways, moving the needle with research methods, technical applications and groundbreaking research findings. But our tradition of excellence, passion for innovation, and commitment to collegiality have remained constant components of who we are as a brand, and who each of us is as a member of the NORC team. With world-class benefits, a business casual environment, and an emphasis on continuous learning, NORC is a place where people join for the stellar research and analysis work for which we’re known, and stay for the relationships they form with their colleagues who take pride in the impact their work is making on a global scale.

NORC is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer that values and actively seeks diversity in the workforce. NORC evaluates qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, sexual orientation, gender identity, and other legally protected characteristics.