Assistant Manager - Asia Pacific

Team: Asia Pacific

Reports to: Head of Programs, Asia Pacific

Location: Sydney, Australia

JOB CONTEXT & PURPOSE

Adam Smith International (Australia) Pty Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Adam Smith International. It was established in February 2012 as the company’s Asia Pacific regional office, responsible for leading business development and project delivery across the region. Current locations of operations outside Australia include Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Vietnam and Fiji.

Headquartered in Sydney, the company’s Asia Pacific office is responsible for the management of our portfolio of projects funded by the Australian Aid Programme (managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) and other donors. Our team is engaged in business development, project management and consulting activities across a range of sectors including private sector development, governance, agriculture and agribusiness, human development, and infrastructure development.

Managers perform a key role in Adam Smith International’s consulting model and play a central part in managing the technical, financial and operational performance of projects. The Assistant Manager will perform project administration activities, supporting and learning from experienced Managers in the team. The individual will also support technical and financial proposals for new projects and expressions of interest.

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

Internal

• Asia Pacific Principal Manager
• Project Managers based in APAC corporate offices and APAC project teams
• ASI client/geographic teams and business services
• Relevant overseas offices
• APAC team
  
  

External

• Local project implementation teams and Associate Consultants
  
  

KEY TASKS

Project Management

Support Program Managers in the Asia Pacific team in the successful management of projects including:

• Tracking and providing expenditure documentation to support client billing
• Establishing and ensuring completion of relevant trackers to support record keeping and retrieval
• Support program budget development and ongoing forecasting, including sourcing costs
• Work planning and task scheduling
• Preparing Terms of Reference/job descriptions and contracts for new consultants
• Undertaking due diligence for new consultants, subcontractors and other partners
• Logistics management e.g. booking hotels, flights for consultants; organising visas
• Work planning and task scheduling
  
  

Firm And Team Building

• Support the recruitment of associates and preparing associate and supplier contracts
• Collaborate with global colleagues to strengthen Asia Pacific presence in internal messaging, websites, policies, working groups and more
• Work with the team to produce communications materials that detail the company’s experience and capability in the Asia Pacific region
  
  

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

• Provide background research on business development opportunities
• Take on supporting roles in technical and commercial proposals, including:
  
  

Technical

• Conduct research on sectors and themes in particular countries / regions Draft and update team member CVs
• Format proposal documents to improve presentation in line with the company’s styles and brand
  
  

Commercial

• Obtain expense costs for proposals
• Negotiating fee rates with consultants
  
  

Other Related Work

• Take on other ad hoc tasks as assigned by the Line Manager
  
  

Key Accountabilities

• Efficient and effective project management support
  
  

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Knowledge & Experience

• Undergraduate degree in a relevant subject across either the development sector (e.g. development, international relations, political studies) or management (e.g. business administration, program management, organisational development);
• Project administration experience essential, either with internal projects or external programs; Experience within the international development sector or government agency would be an advantage;
• Interest and experience in work in developing country settings.
  
  

Skills & Values

• Ability to build effective, positive relationships including a range of multicultural stakeholders;
• High degree of organisational ability, including working well under pressure, with a high level of accuracy, and ability to prioritise across a variety of tasks;
• Top notch computer skills including the full Microsoft suite, especially Excel. Experience with databases and project management software an advantage;
• An enthusiasm for tackling unfamiliar and challenging problems;
• Pragmatic and solution-oriented.
  
  

The successful applicant must have pre-existing right to be based and work in Australia.