Chief of Party, Programs, Nigeria Abuja, Nigeria

 **Contingent upon Donor Funding**

Location: Abuja Nigeria

Position Status: Full-time, Exempt or Non-exempt, Regular

Risk Level:     X Level 3       ☐Level 2          ☐Level 1 

(Level 3: Frequent contact with participants, direct contact with children, access to sensitive data, and/or high level of accountability.  

Level 2: Some contact with participants; unplanned non-direct contact with children.

Level 1: Likely to have no contact with participants or sensitive data) 

Nigeria is Africa's most populous country, and its influence spreads across the continent. Yet, inequality and insecurity have consistently undermined Nigeria's development. Mercy Corps Nigeria was established in 2012 to respond to these challenges. The Nigeria team is headquartered in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and has programs across 16 states. Mercy Corps works with communities to build economic opportunities, enhance water security, drive peace and good governance, and ensure food security. Our activities aim to build resilience through an integrated approach, helping communities and the most marginalized within them cope, adapt, and thrive in the context of numerous shocks and stresses. With a strong and growing team, Mercy Corps works to achieve the vision of a Nigeria in which all people are empowered, engaged, resilient, and secure. 

The Chief of Party (CoP) will lead implementation of Mercy Corps' market systems and youth employment vision in Nigeria, advancing sustainable pathways to work for young women and men through climate-smart agrifood systems and private sector engagement. As the senior-most leader of this flagship investment, the CoP will serve as the chief architect and strategic leader, driving systems change, strengthening agricultural market systems, and positioning the Program as a catalyst for inclusive economic growth and sustainable employment opportunities.

As the senior-most leader of the Program, the CoP will serve as an ecosystem builder, strategic influencer, and trusted thought partner to, government institutions, private sector leaders, financial institutions, and development stakeholders. The CoP will cultivate high-value partnerships, influence investment and sector priorities, and position the Program as a leading platform for innovation, learning, and systems change within Nigeria's agricultural ecosystem. The successful candidate will be a highly accomplished development leader with a demonstrated ability to steward large and complex investments, inspire high-performing teams, influence senior decisionmakers, and drive transformational change at scale while delivering lasting opportunities for young people, strengthened market systems, and sustainable impact beyond the life of the investment.

STRATEGY AND PLANNING

•  Provide visionary leadership for Programs, setting the strategic direction for a flagship investment that advances systemic change, strengthens agricultural market systems, and enables large-scale, sustainable pathways to dignified and fulfilling work for young people across Nigeria.
•  Serve as the principal steward of the Mercy Corps Program, shaping Program strategy, influencing investment decisions, and ensuring alignment between donor ambitions, partner contributions, market opportunities, and long-term impact objectives.
•  Lead and inspire a diverse ecosystem of Program partners, government institutions, private sector actors, financial institutions, research organizations, and development stakeholders around a shared vision for youth employment, agricultural transformation, and inclusive economic growth.
•  The CoP will be expected to identify and unlock opportunities for innovation, co-investment, strategic partnerships, and thought leadership that strengthen the Nigeria Program Program's contribution to national development priorities for transformational impact
•  Drive innovation, adaptive management, and strategic learning across the Program, ensuring that evidence, emerging opportunities, and implementation insights continuously inform decision-making, Program evolution, and systems-level impact.
•  Champion cross-cutting priorities including youth empowerment, gender equality, social inclusion, safeguarding, climate resilience, and locally led development, ensuring they are fully embedded across Program strategy, partnerships, investments, and results.
•  Represent the Program and organization at the highest levels with donors, government leaders, industry stakeholders, and development partners, serving as a trusted thought leader and advocating for innovation, systems change, and inclusive economic opportunity. 

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

•  Provide executive oversight of Program performance, ensuring delivery of transformative outcomes, achievement of strategic objectives, and responsible stewardship of program resources in alignment with Mercy Corps standards and commitments.
•  Lead and strengthen a high-performing ecosystem of Program partners, fostering alignment, accountability, collaboration, and collective ownership of results while ensuring the Program functions as an integrated platform for learning, innovation, and impact.
•  Drive the design and implementation of partnership, investment, and capacity-strengthening approaches that build the long-term sustainability, effectiveness, and leadership of Program partners and wider ecosystem actors.
•  Ensure Program interventions are market-driven, evidence-informed, youth-centered, climate-smart, gender-transformative, safeguarding-focused, and responsive to emerging opportunities and challenges within the agricultural ecosystem.
•  Champion a culture of performance, innovation, adaptive management, and continuous learning, leveraging evidence, technology, and real-time insights to inform strategic decisions and maximize impact at scale.
•  Provide strategic oversight of operational, financial, compliance, safeguarding, and reputational risk management, ensuring that Program systems, resources, and support functions effectively enable implementation excellence and sustainable results.

EVIDENCE AND LEARNING

•  Provide strategic oversight of Program learning and adaptive management processes, ensuring evidence, data, and stakeholder feedback are systematically used to inform decision-making, improve performance, and strengthen impact.
•  Champion a culture of learning, innovation, and accountability across the Program, fostering collaboration among consortium partners to identify, document, and scale promising practices and lessons learned.
•  Lead periodic Program reviews and reflection processes, using performance data, market insights, and implementation learning to adapt strategies, manage risks, and maximize opportunities for achieving sustainable outcomes.
•  Ensure Nigeria Program’s generated evidence, results, and lessons learned are effectively communicated to partners, government stakeholders, and broader sector audiences to influence policy, practice, and systems-level change. 

TEAM MANAGEMENT

•  Build, lead, and inspire a high-performing multidisciplinary leadership team, fostering a culture of excellence, accountability, innovation, inclusion, and continuous learning across the Program.
•  Provide strategic leadership and mentorship to senior Program staff, creating an enabling environment that empowers teams to perform, collaborate effectively, and deliver results at scale.
•  Promote a culture of adaptive leadership, evidence-based decision-making, and shared accountability, ensuring teams are equipped to navigate complexity, manage change, and respond to emerging opportunities and challenges.
•  Foster strong collaboration and alignment across Program partners, technical teams, and support functions, ensuring collective ownership of results and effective coordination toward shared Program objectives.
•  Champion talent development, succession planning, and leadership growth, strengthening the Program's long-term capacity and contributing to the development of future leaders within Mercy Corps and the wider ecosystem. 

REPRESENTATION

•  Serve as Mercy Corps' representative at strategic stakeholders’ platforms, building trusted partnerships and positioning the Mercy Corps as a leading contributor in youth employment and climate-smart agriculture.
•  Cultivate and manage high-value relationships with government, private sector, financial institutions, development partners, and ecosystem actors to strengthen collaboration, influence priorities, and unlock opportunities for scale and sustainability.
•  Represent the Nigeria Programs at national, regional, and global forums, leveraging Program evidence, learning, and partnerships to drive thought leadership, policy influence, and systems-level impact.
•  Foster collaboration across Nigeria Program partners and complementary initiatives to maximize collective impact, accelerate learning, and advance long-term change within Nigeria's agricultural ecosystem.

FINANCE AND COMPLIANCE

•  Ensure compliance with the Mercy Corps’ regulations.
•  Create and maintain systems to ensure effective and transparent use of financial resources for timely and informative reporting in line with program, donor, and Mercy Corps’ needs.
•  Ensure sound financial management, including programmatic budgeting, spending projections, and monitoring of payments in compliance with the donor standards.

SECURITY AND RISK MANAGEMENT

•  Collaborate with country leadership to support preparedness and response to major disruptive events.
•  Work closely with the country team’s security focal point to develop and maintain systems that promote the safety and security of all team members.
•  Ensure that activities are designed and implemented with a clear analysis and understanding of security. 

•  Program team Managers and Specialist

Reports Directly To: Mercy Corps Nigeria Country Director

Works Directly With: Mercy Corps Nigeria Director of Programs, other COPs / Program Directors, HR, Finance and Operations teams, Regional Programs and Technical Teams, and HQ Technical Resources and Quality Unit  

•  Advanced degree in Management, Leadership, agriculture, economics, business administration, or related field.
•  At least 10 years of international experience in Senior Leadership positions, including being a Chief of Party for large complex programs (preferably $30 million and above).
•  Demonstrated experience in market systems development, food security and economic growth, livelihood, agricultural development activities, and/or food systems programming in the African context preferred.
•  Proven experience of leading consortiums with both international and national partners and building their capacity and creating an enabling environment for collaboration
•  Experience in supporting multiple countries and harmonizing program quality and performance
•  Strong interpersonal and communication skills, and a proven ability to network and maintain effective working relationships with diverse actors.
•  Experience leading diverse teams in dispersed geographic locations, including inspiring staff and developing a shared vision with staff and stakeholders.
•  Knowledge of Nigeria’s governance and conflict dynamics preferred.
•  Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.

The successful candidate will be a strategic and collaborative leader with the ability to provide vision, direction, and oversight for complex Programs. They will possess strong relationship management and influencing skills, with the ability to effectively engage donors, government institutions, private sector actors, implementing partners, and internal stakeholders at senior levels. The candidate will demonstrate a proven ability to lead diverse and geographically dispersed teams, foster collaboration across consortium members, and build an enabling environment for high performance and shared accountability.

They will be adept at navigating complexity, balancing strategic priorities with operational realities, and making sound decisions in dynamic environments. The successful candidate will have strong programmatic and business acumen, with the ability to drive program quality, harmonize approaches across partners and countries, and ensure delivery of results at scale. They will also demonstrate exceptional communication, representation, and networking skills, coupled with the emotional intelligence and adaptability required to build trust, manage competing priorities, and sustain productive partnerships.

The CoP is based in Abuja. This position requires at least 40% of time traveling by flight or road to field offices in areas with varying degrees of insecurity. 

Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs, and Mercy Corps’ policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring, and evaluation of our field projects.

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient, and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development

Achieving our mission starts with how we build our team and collaborate. By bringing together individuals with a variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives, we strengthen our ability to solve complex challenges and drive innovation. We foster a culture of trust and respect, where every team member is valued for their contributions, empowered to reach their full potential, and motivated to do their best work.

We recognize that building a strong and effective team is an ongoing process, and we remain committed to learning, improving, and growing together.

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out different backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact. 

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination based on race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work. 

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary-General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves professionally, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

As an applicant, if you witness or experience any form of sexual misconduct during the recruitment process, please report this to Mercy Corps Integrity Hotline ([email protected]).