Director, Directorate for Technical Assessment and Monitoring

The Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) is a multilateral development bank with a social vocation. Established in 1956 in order to bring solutions to the problems of refugees, its scope of action has progressively widened to other sectors of action directly contributing to strengthening social cohesion in Europe. The CEB represents the major instrument of the policy of solidarity in Europe, in order to help its 41 Member States achieve sustainable and equitable growth.

FUNCTIONS

The Technical Assessment and Monitoring Directorate (TAM) is responsible for the CEB’s entire technical analytical and support work for projects, throughout all phases of the project cycle, from identification (pre-appraisal), detailed technical preparation (appraisal), implementation and through to completion. TAM is also responsible for both external and internal procurement.
In this work, the TAM ensures that the projects financed comply with evolving IFI standards and requirements; this includes issues such as climate change adaptability, development of social safeguards and related aspects. One of TAM’s key responsibilities is to help develop project performance indicators so as to ensure effective measurement of the impact of the Bank’s projects.

Regarding procurement, TAM ensures that the procurement processes of supplies, works and services carried out by CEB borrowers and by the CEB for its own account, respect the Bank’s Procurement Guidelines.

Description:

The incumbent’s mission will be to provide leadership to, and manage in a result-oriented way, the TAM in compliance with CEB’s mandate, own mission and objectives; and decisions set by the Governor, Governing Board, Administrative Council and Auditing Board.

He/she will report directly to the Governor and will be responsible for the following areas:

• In the context of the Bank’s General Management Team, contributing to guiding the evolution of the Bank’s development and business strategy and related aspects.
• Managing the Bank’s work for the technical appraisal and preparation of new projects being considered for CEB financing, and for the technical oversight of approved projects under implementation or just completed.
• In cooperation with other Directorates, systematically overseeing the Bank’s project portfolio, identifying and analysing structural, country or regional issues that need to be addressed.
• Leading, developing and proposing for approval (to the Governor and the Administrative Council) and subsequently implementing the new policies and procedures needed to ensure that, in its technical appraisal and financing modalities, the CEB’s approach reflects the state of the art and current standards.
• Overseeing communication relating to the technical aspects of projects, both within and outside the Bank, including to shareholders and borrowers.

The primary responsibilities include:
• Managing the Directorate’s operations, activities and resources in close collaboration with the Directors of other Directorates, Divisions and their staff.
• Developing and leading the team of Technical Advisors and Procurement staff members; in this context, ensuring that there is a genuine team-approach to solving problems and to successfully integrating different advice and concerns into the project work.
• Overseeing all project reports produced by TAM to ensure clarity, consistency, relevance and quality of analysis, contents and recommendations.
• Representing TAM on high-level committees within the CEB and in strategic working groups with other IFIs on issues related to the technical aspects of social projects.
• Ensuring the efficient execution and monitoring of internal and external procurement activities.

PROFILE

Educational Background:
• A first degree in a relevant subject (engineering, social studies, procurement, finance, economics, or business management), followed by a Master’s degree (or higher), such as an MBA, needed for a comprehensive understanding of the management of complex development and investment projects, in particular their technical aspects.

Professional skills and experience:
• A solid record of performance and preferably 10 years’ experience within sophisticated public and/or private, multinational or international organisations. This should preferably include a minimum of five years in project lending responsibilities, preferably with an IFI. Solid technical, hands-on, project management experience is an essential pre-requisite.
• Good knowledge of the structure of European programmes for social investments in the spectrum of countries where the CEB operates.
• Operational experience in the implementation of development and social investment projects and policies in developing countries.
• Ability to think strategically and to translate concepts and ideas into solid, pragmatic and implementable proposals.
• Proficiency in standard office applications including Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Experience in the use of specific IT solutions.

Communication and linguistic skills:
• Excellent writing, communication and presentation skills.
• Perfect command of written and spoken English, knowledge of French, the Bank’s other official language, would be an asset. Knowledge of other languages spoken in the Bank’s Member States would be an asset.

Managerial Skills:
• Experience in successfully managing a diverse group of highly skilled technical and sector experts and in nurturing a sense of common purpose and teamwork in the context of a multi-cultural and results-oriented organisation.
• Adept at attracting high calibre staff and nurturing the skills and qualifications of the Technical Advisors and Procurement professionals. A strong mentoring approach and mentality is a must.
• Ability to delegate.
• Ability to develop an effective network of relationships throughout the CEB.
• Ability to listen actively, encourage open expression of ideas and opinions. Ability to relate well to colleagues, stakeholders and staff at all levels.
• Ability to accurately appraise the strengths and weaknesses of others, provide constructive feedback, develop successors and assign clear accountability.
• Candidates should possess sound judgement, tact and diplomacy, be strong in multitasking to tight deadlines.
• Ability to maintain high standards of ethics and integrity.

Core Competencies:
• Innovation
• Adaptability
• Client Orientation
• Result Orientation
• Team Work
• Communication

Nationality: Citizen of one of the CEB’s Member States.

EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS

1) Contract: the CEB offers a 3-year appointment (including a one-year probationary period), possible renewal.

2) Grade and salary:
• A6/A7
• The remuneration package is composed of a tax free basic salary and applicable benefits.

3) Benefits (determined by the candidate's personal situation):
• basic family allowance
• expatriation
• dependent child supplement
• one additional monthly dependent child supplement for a single-parent family
• supplement for a disabled and dependent parent subject to certain conditions
• supplements for a disabled or severely disabled child subject to certain conditions
• education allowance (children) for expatriate staff members
• installation allowance and reimbursement of travel and removal expenses subject to certain conditions

RECRUITMENT CONDITIONS

Within the framework of its rules on equal opportunity, the Council of Europe Development Bank strives to ensure equal representation of men and women among its staff, both per category and per grade. In compliance with these rules, in the case of equal merit, preference is given to the candidate of the underrepresented sex (at the time when the Selection Committee makes its recommendation).

To submit your application, please visit our online recruitment site: https://ceb.profils.org

Deadline for application: 15 September 2019 at the latest.

Candidates may be required to take examinations.