Senior Advisor for Skills Development (100%)

Responsibilities 

• Provide technical support, strategic guidance, and technical backstopping of project teams in the field of Skills Development for current and prospective internal and external clients.
• Contribute to the identification of trends and thematic areas where skills development products and solutions are needed, and support positioning Swisscontact’s thematic expertise within and outside the organisation.
• Lead and support business development
• Assume leadership for thematic area of “green skills and jobs”: (virtual) community of practice facilitation, provision of technical inputs and reviews, concept development, documentation of good practice, support to monitoring tools, etc.
• Contribute to the development of training and capacity building sessions/courses and deliver these to internal and external audiences.
• Mentor and support other team members (e.g. interns) when required

Requirements 

• Postgraduate degree in Education, Vocational Education and Training (VET), Labour Market Sociology/Economics or equivalent.
• At least 6 years of project implementation experience, in technical advisory and support to projects in development cooperation, of which preferably 4 years based in developing countries in the field of VET and/or Labour Market Insertion.
• An established network that includes Swiss VET development cooperation actors.
• Proven experience in business development incl. bid proposal writing.
• Proven experience in carrying out applied research incl. evaluations in the field of VET and/or labour market insertion.
• Strong understanding of Market Systems Development (MSD) is an asset.
• Consultancy experience incl. established client relationships is an asset.
• Working level (spoken and written) in English and French is required, German is a strong asset. Additional languages are an asset.
• Excellent communication, digital, interpersonal and intercultural skills.
• Flexibility and willingness to frequently travel internationally.
• Business-oriented, self-starting, dynamic, and ambitious personality.
• Candidate must be in possession of working permit for Switzerland at the time of application.

Swisscontact offers attractive working conditions in an international and multicultural context. We see our work as a joint effort in an agile organizational culture: mutual respect, trust and teamwork.

We look forward to receiving your online application with the following documents in English or German: letter of motivation, curriculum vitae, diplomas and references. Please apply exclusively via the online application portal until 13th January 2025.

Swisscontact - Fondation suisse pour la coopération technique

Swisscontact est une organisation de développement indépendante à but non lucratif créée en 1959 par des représentants du secteur privé et de la société civile suisse.

Notre travail vise à libérer le potentiel des initiatives privées dans les économies en développement et émergentes. Nous favorisons un développement économique durable et inclusif dans le but d’améliorer la qualité de vie de tous.

Notre travail repose sur trois piliers fondamentaux : Nous renforçons les compétences des individus afin qu’ils puissent améliorer leurs revenus et leurs possibilités d’emploi ; nous améliorons la compétitivité des entreprises afin de les aider à se développer et à devenir plus résistantes ; nous promouvons des systèmes socio-économiques qui favorisent un développement durable pour une prospérité généralisée.

L'organisation est actuellement active dans plus de 130 projets dans 41 pays avec environ 1400 employés. Le siège se trouve à Zurich, en Suisse.