Information Technology Director

Job Description

ETHIOPIAN AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION INSTITUTE

Position:                           Information Technology Director  

Term of Employment:   One year with possibility of extension

Duty Station(s):              Addis Ababa

Required Number:         One

Application Deadline:    February 02, 2023

 BACKGROUND: 

 The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) is a strategy and delivery-oriented government Institute created to help accelerate the growth and transformation of the country’s agriculture sector. The ATI envisions to be the leading center of innovative solutions for the transformation of Ethiopian Agriculture by 2030.

The Institute focuses on two primary national approaches to catalyze agricultural transformation. First, we support the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), its affiliate institutions, and other partners to identify and address systemic bottlenecks within an Agricultural Transformation Agenda. Second, we support Regional Governments to accelerate the development of high-priority commodity value chains in clearly defined geographic clusters, through the Agricultural Commercialization Clusters (ACC) Initiative.

Our major activities include conducting strategic and analytical studies, providing technical implementation support, coordinating platforms to better integrate partners and projects, and designing and directly leading a number of implementation projects. Our headquarters are in Addis Ababa, and we have regional offices in Amhara, Oromia, SNNP, Sidama, South-West, and Tigray regional offices, allowing us to work closely with a wide range of public, private and development sector partners across the country.

Our Culture

We have an exceptional team of highly competent employees with a proven track record of success in managing complex activities and achieving transformational results.  Our culture is one where talented, dedicated and adaptable individuals are committed to doing their best and exhibit great teamwork to achieve excellent results. 

At ATI, we provide an exceptional platform for people who want to achieve their highest potential and make a meaningful contribution in changing the country’s agricultural sector.  We offer rewarding work in a young, fast-paced growing organization with passionate, committed, motivated colleagues and excellent career development and training.  We recognize our most valuable assets are our staff and are committed to providing our employees with the tools, training and mentorships necessary to achieve their career goals.

 PURPOSE OF THE POSITION

The Information Technology Director will be responsible for the strategy, management, and execution of all IT infrastructures of the ATI. In this role, the Director will oversee technical projects in alignment with ATI’s goals. Furthermore, the Director will be responsible for the delivery of networks, development, and recovery of systems and processes. In this role, the Director is expected to effectively manage all 3rd party hosting and managed service experience, with an ability to build a team and deliver on commitments. The leader must be hands-on with strong infrastructure design and change management skills while developing strategic direction to the organization based on best practices.

 ESSENTIAL DUTIES and RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develop and implement the ATI IT policy, proper security controls, and best practice guides to protect the ATI and serve its interests.
• Recommends information technology strategies, policies, and procedures by evaluating organization outcomes; identifying problems; evaluating trends; and anticipating requirements
• Plan, direct, and manage the operation systems and network infrastructure
• Develop and maintain team matrices and statistics to effectively lead the team. Ensure timely resolution of service incidents and completion of service requests
• Develop and implement IT Change Management procedures. Manage and oversee the planning and deployment of updates to production applications, and confirm successful implementation
• Maintain the organization's effectiveness and efficiency by defining, delivering, and supporting strategic plans for implementing information technologies
• Liaising with other departments to determine and address their IT needs and requirements.
• Preserves assets by implementing disaster recovery and back-up procedures and information security and control structures
• Direct the daily operation and delivery of commodity IT services and key business applications, including IT infrastructure management, service management and applications management
• Monitor and control the IT expenditure to budget
• Manage the IT staff in an effective manner (hiring, motivation, retention, performance management, development, etc.).

Job Requirement

• Minimum Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Applied mathematics, Computer Engineering, Statistics or related fields.
• Minimum 12 years’ experience of which at least 6 years in a managerial role.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-moving environment, with an emphasis on high-performance, teamwork, accountability and results.
• Ability to manage multiple IT disciplines, including network operations software development, operations and technical support, and a broad knowledge of systems, applications and operating systems.
• Responsible for providing management of a core area of accountability within the IT organization that includes people and functional management. Facilitates the resource management, subject matter expertise coverage of deliverables, and ongoing coaching and mentoring of their staff.
• Experienced in mid-to-large scale project management, including budgeting.
• Experience overseeing work of consultants and permanent staff.
• Excellent communication skills at all levels and across the business, with the ability to negotiate with, and manage third parties.
• Exceptional time management and organizational skills
• Excellent leadership skills to guide and inspire their team
• Communication skills to interact with both stakeholders and team members
• Strong attention to detail
• Ability to multitask
• Ability to work under pressure and manage multiple teams at once to meet deadlines
• Fluency in Amharic and a working language of English required.