Position Title:  Project Manager

Organization: Partners Albania for Change and Development (Partners Albania)

Location: Tirana, Albania

Employment type: Full – time position

Background: Partners Albania (PA) is an independent Albanian NPO established in 2001, working to support civil society and facilitate inter-sector cooperation in order to strengthen democratic institutions and advance economic development. PA has organized its interventions into four key programmatic areas:

1. Enabling Environment and Sustainable Development of CSOs, contributing to the empowerment of civil society actors and civic engagement through capacity building programs, monitoring and advocacy for an enabling legal and practical environment for CSOs operation, and financial support for the sector.
2. Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation, developing and supporting the ecosystem of entrepreneurship and social enterprises (SEs) through research, advocacy, financial support mechanisms, expertise, and networking opportunities.
3. Philanthropic Activity and Support Infrastructure, developing and promoting philanthropic activity in the country through research, advocacy actions for an enabling environment, awareness raising and promotion activities on the economic and social value of philanthropy.
4. Transparent and Accountable Participatory Governance contributing to development and growth of civil society practitioners and public administration officials in their efforts to building strong institutions, manage open and transparent processes, and overcome corruption.

Responsibilities (General)

Partners Albania is seeking a Project Manager, who will be responsible for the overall management of EU-funded projects with sub-granting component for the private sector and non-profit organisations.

The Project Manager will be responsible for the overall management, monitoring, and supervision of the project implementation. She/He will be responsible for the coordination of project’ activities, resources, equipment/tools, and information to ensure effectiveness of the project, will contribute to research, and capacity building activities, in line with the project needs, and her/his field of expertise and capacities. She/he will develop and maintain professional relationships with the donors, project’ target-groups and beneficiaries, and other key relevant stakeholders at national and international level to ensure effective implementation, results and impact of the project(s) assigned.

She/He will actively participate in personal professional development activities, in discussions and learning from others’ experiences, and will contribute to other aspects of project implementation, as appropriate.

The Project Manager should be familiar with EU contracting and procurement rules and procedures, sub-granting rules and procedures including, but not limited to, the preparation of calls for proposals and drafting of sub-granting contracts.

The Project Manager should carry out the responsibilities described below independently, with minimum supervision, but also in the context of a professional management team.

Main duties and responsibilities

• Lead and manage the project’s team, including, but not limited to grants manager, finance manager, communication manager, etc.
• Monitor the implementation of the project, to ensure all tasks, deliverables and project’s activities are delivered promptly, in line with the project methodology and action plan, and resources are used properly according to the budget and the grant agreement with the donor.
• Assess overall progress and use of resources, initiate corrective action where necessary, and monitor their implementation.
• Establish and maintain professional communication with the donor regarding the progress of project’ activities and financial reporting.

• Coordinate with the Finance Manager regarding financial reports, funds disbursement, reconciliation of expenses, budget planning, and general financial status of the project.

• Keep project documentation to measure and analyze project’s progress and prepare reports for the donor.
• Ensure all communication and promotional materials produced for the project are of the highest quality and in line with the communication and visibility rules of the donor.
• Supervise the implementation of the project’ sub-granting scheme and work closely with the Grants Manager to ensure that the process is implemented according to the agreed procedure and with respect to application principles and criteria.
• Identify potential project’s risks and develop contingency plans to mitigate and manage the risks.
• Establish professional and effective relations and communication with stakeholders, to build support to achieve expected results.
• Identify potential similarities with other projects and take action to create synergies to increase impact.
• Design and participate in activities aiming to promote the project all over the country and abroad;

• Work collaboratively with the management team to maximize effectiveness and efficiency of the project.

Experience and Qualifications:

• Master degree in Economic sciences, Social sciences, or other related fields;
• At least 5 years of working experience as project manager for EU-funded projects;
• Working experience with management of other international donors’ funded project;
• Previous working experience with management of projects with a sub-granting scheme component (sub-granting schemes for the private sector is preferred);
• Very good knowledge of EU-funded project’ implementation rules and procedures (PRAG rules).
• Very good interpersonal skills and abilities to develop and maintain effective working relationships with other members’ of the staff (team-work) and third parties;
• Excellent command of spoken and written Albanian and English;
• Able to work in a fast-paced environment;
• Very good computer skills, data processing, and report writing.

Salary:  Commensurate with experience

Expected Start Date:  15 September 2024

Duration: Long-term project, with potential for renewal of the contract, based on performance.

Application procedure:

Interested candidates are requested to apply, by submitting: 1) a cover letter indicating their interest and motivation, 2) a relevant CV (EU format) and copies of documents supporting academic and/or professional experience, 3) a short essay about the professional experience and how it relates to the position (up to 500 words), 4) Three reference letters. Please, feel free to include any other documents that you think are relevant.

Only candidates that submit all the above-mentioned documents will be considered for review.

Please send your full application package with the heading “Application for Project Manager” to partners@partnersalbania.org, not later than August 23^rd, 2024.

Partners Albania will contact only those applicants who will be invited for an interview. Before applying, we encourage applicants to consult Partners Albania’s webpage in order to familiarize with our work.

Partners Albania embraces diversity in its hiring, welcoming individuals of all religions, ethnicity, gender, and orientation to apply.