Project Manager – THRIVE

Project Manager – THRIVE Position Type: Full-Time (40 hours per week) Location: Nairobi, Kenya Scope: Global Reports To: Global Head of Programs Contract Duration: Fixed-term, one year initial appointment with potential for annual renewal based on donor funding availability, performance, and organizational requirements Grade Level: KEN 13, 14 Application Deadline: May 15, 2026 About This Opportunity Hivos is recruiting an experienced Project Manager to lead the THRIVE Program, an ambitious initiative focused on strengthening civil society resilience and effectiveness across Kenya, Zimbabwe, Colombia, and Lebanon. This role offers the chance to drive meaningful impact in civil society development at a global scale while managing a complex, multi-country program. The THRIVE Program aims to empower civil society actors to counter shrinking civic space by creating safe collaboration spaces, building organizational capacity, and improving access to knowledge, networks, and resources. As Project Manager, you will be the strategic and operational backbone of this program, ensuring high-quality implementation, strong partnerships, and full donor compliance. Please Note: This recruitment is being conducted in anticipation of donor approval. Any appointment will remain subject to final funder approval, signed funding agreement, and internal authorization to proceed. Your Role You will oversee all aspects of THRIVE's implementation across multiple countries, acting as a bridge between global strategy and country-level execution. Your responsibilities will span program coordination, partnership management, grants administration, budget oversight, reporting, and team leadership. Specifically, you will: Lead day-to-day implementation and coordinate annual planning, operational workplans, and delivery schedules across all countries. Manage country teams, regional colleagues, and technical staff to ensure program objectives are met and adapted as needed based on implementation progress. Build and maintain strong relationships with strategic partners and implementing organizations. Serve as the primary liaison between country offices, regional teams, and internal stakeholders, representing the program both internally and externally when required. Oversee all grant management processes including calls for proposals, partner selection, contracting, monitoring, and closure. Ensure rigorous due diligence, compliance, transparency, and accountability throughout the grant portfolio while managing performance and identifying risks. Track expenditures, forecasts, and burn rates while working closely with finance teams on budget reallocations and donor compliance. Ensure the program meets all donor requirements and adheres to Hivos internal policies. Coordinate narrative reports, donor submissions, and internal updates while monitoring progress against indicators and milestones. Support organizational learning, knowledge capture, and cross-country knowledge exchange. Maintain and actively manage the program risk register, identifying operational, contextual, financial, and safeguarding risks while proposing mitigation strategies and escalating issues appropriately. Provide strong leadership to matrixed teams operating across multiple countries, fostering collaboration, accountability, and high performance while supporting staff development. What We're Looking For You hold a Master's degree in Development Studies, International Relations, Political Science, Business Administration, or a related field. You bring a minimum of seven years of experience managing complex, donor-funded programs, with proven expertise in multi-country project implementation. You have worked successfully with institutional donors such as Sida, EU, or MFA and demonstrate solid experience in grants management and partnership development. You have a background in civil society, governance, human rights, or inclusion programming and experience leading multicultural, geographically dispersed teams. You demonstrate strong project and budget management capabilities, excellent coordination skills, and the ability to manage multiple stakeholders effectively. Your analytical and problem-solving abilities are sharp, and you communicate clearly through presentations, written reports, and facilitation. You are fluent in English both written and verbal. Additional languages such as Arabic, Spanish, or French are valuable assets. How To Apply Submit a cover letter (maximum one page) and CV (maximum two pages) by clicking the Apply button. The deadline for applications is May 15, 2026 at midnight EAT. Hivos is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all qualified individuals. This is an internal vacancy only.