Case Team Leader

Ethiopian ATA advertised on Movemeon for a Case Team Leader to accelerate Ethiopia’s agriculture sector’s growth, working in high impact environment with great senior exposure.

The successful Movemeon candidate previously worked at McKinsey & Company and Google.

This company was supported by Laila, Client Success Manager.

The original job description

BACKGROUND ON THE ORGANIZATION

The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) was established by the Government of Ethiopia in 2011 with the primary aim of promoting transformation of the agriculture sector to help the country reach middle-income status by 2025. Headquartered in Addis Ababa, the organization currently has over 300 staff in five offices across the country. ATA reports to the Transformation Council which is chaired by the Prime Minister and has representatives from a wide range of federal and regional government bodies across agriculture, trade, industry and other closely related sectors.

ATA works closely with these government partners, local and international private sector firms, and development partners, to address systemic challenges in agriculture. The Agency comprises more than 35 teams with diverse programmatic focus, from increasing agricultural productivity to catalyzing rural finance industries to growing agribusiness and agricultural markets to building institutional capacity. Major activities across the organization include: policy enhancement, strategic and analytical problem-solving, testing and scale-up of innovative solutions, implementation support, and coordination and capacity building of stakeholders. 

ABOUT THE TEAM

As ATA’s strategic advisory and consulting function, the Analytics Team supports Directors and Senior Directors within the organization, as well as senior leadership at partner organizations in government, multilateral and bilateral donors, NGOs and private sector companies, to execute high-impact, analytically challenging projects. The team applies an approach similar to top strategy consulting firms and government strategy units in a number of countries, to support clients to more effectively bring together the strategic, analytical, technical and operational capabilities required for transformation. Client projects typically fall into one of several areas:

• Strategy development and strategic planning
• Policy analysis and institutional enhancement
• Business modela and business case development
• Design and implementation planning of innovative pilot projects

The Analytics Team consists of a Director, Principals, Case Team Leaders, Associate Case Team Leaders and Senior Analysts and Analysts, totaling ~45 staff. Project teams typically comprise a (Associate) Case Team Leader and two to four Senior Analysts and Analysts. International staff are recruited into Analytics at senior levels to support the build out of the team’s full structure, and work very closely with junior local staff to accelerate their development and progression into more senior roles. 

ABOUT THE POSITION

Case Team Leaders (CTLs) play a critical role in the team, leading and managing client engagements, with support from senior management. This includes everything from understanding client issues and determining what kind of support the Analytics team is best placed to offer, and structuring the project and individual work streams, to delivering the final output and following up with the client to support implementation of recommendations. CTLs are responsible for identifying the level and type of resourcing required for each project, day-to-day management of the client relationship and the project team’s activities, leading meetings with stakeholders, coaching and providing feedback to team members to ensure high-quality output as well as rapid staff development, and ensuring any major issues are effectively escalated to senior management. 

CTLs are also heavily involved in developing and lead trainings for junior staff and take on strategic initiatives within the team such as developing a university recruiting or internship program, or managing development of a knowledge management system. The position therefore provides an unique opportunity for high-performing individuals with two and half or more years of international work experience in strategy consulting to step up into a client, project and people management role. Experience in agribusiness or industrial development initiatives in particular is desirable, as is a passion for transforming agriculture and improving the lives of smallholder farmers.

WHAT YOU WILL GET OUT OF THE ROLE

The CTL position provides a very unique opportunity to stretch yourself and lead challenging projects in a developing country government context. You will gain experience with development strategy, policy, and program design and incubation. You will be exposed to a variety of new topics in a fast-paced environment with a focus on strategic thinking, analysis and results, while working with a highly motivated and talented group of Ethiopian and international staff. In addition, you will engage with senior government officials and private sector executives to help tackle governance, policy, operational and capacity issues that affect the opportunities of millions of farmers.

IIn terms of career progression opportunities, after two to three years a CTL can move up into a Principal role within the ATA which would involve managing across three to five cases and case teams, rather than managing individual cases. Many Case Team Leaders also use the role to boost their professional and managerial skills before returning to strategy consulting to progress to more senior roles.

In addition, some international staff also use the role as a stepping-stone to careers in emerging markets or development, with previous staff having gone from ATA directly to organizations such as:

• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative
• Entrepreneurial start-ups in emerging markets like India and Indonesia
• Social enterprises or NGOs in India, the US, the UAE, and elsewhere
• Private-sector work in agribusiness and consumer goods in East and West Africa
• Frontier-market private equity

ESSENTIAL DUTIES

• Lead and execute diverse, high-impact projects while ensuring effective partnership with internal and external stakeholders 
• Manage and coach junior staff day-to-day on both project work and professional development, building their structuring and problem solving, project management, communication and other skills 
• Ensure project decisions and outputs are high-impact, timely, analytical and operationally sound, and otherwise meet client expectations
• Identify stakeholder sensitivities and manage these effectively
• Develop training materials and lead training sessions to support professional development of staff within and outside of the team

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant field with at least 5 years of experience in a top-tier management consulting firm (MBB or other tier-1 strategy firm preferred)
• Or MBA, MPA or Master’s Degree with at least 4 years of experience in a top-tier management consulting firm (MBB or other tier-1 strategy firm preferred)
• Proven record of leading, structuring and delivering challenging projects or work streams in a range of client engagements
• Experience managing and coaching others 
• Presence and ability to communicate clearly and effectively with a range of stakeholders in a cross-cultural environment (fluency in English is essential)
• Strong set of personal values including integrity, honesty and desire to be of service

N.B. Please note that the terms of employment for this position will be contracted, governed by and managed in accordance with the internal framework of the World Food Programme (WFP), pursuant to a memorandum of understanding between the WFP and the ATA.

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