Senior Project Manager

Start date: ASAP
Working hours: 40 hrs per week
Remuneration: Salary will be negotiated based on skills and experience.

Please note that applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so early submission is encouraged.

ABOUT IWPR

Founded in 1991, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) is a non-profit organisation that works with independent media and civil society to promote positive change in areas of crisis and conflict. From Ukraine to the Philippines – via the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Central Asia – we have trained tens of thousands of journalists and civil society activists and built many lasting organisations that remain independent to this day in Afghanistan, the Balkans, Africa and Asia.

For more information on working with IWPR, please see IWPR Recruitment Pack.

THE ROLE

The BREN-I project (2021-2025), delivered by IWPR in partnership with the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP), was designed to build the resilience of civil society organisations to promote human security, peace and stability in the Eastern Neighbourhood countries, focused on women and other marginalised groups. Its successor project - BREN II - launched in summer 2025 and is currently set to run until March 2027.

The Senior Project Manager leads the regional delivery and successful management and implementation of the project. Reporting to BREN-II’s UK-based Chief of Party, this role oversees delivery of all BREN activities and manages a team of international project staff across the region.

Key to the role is to ensure effective connections between IWPR and the project’s major stakeholders and local implementing partners. The Senior Project Manager will play a crucial role across all parts of the project, and act as the central regional dedicated contact for the BREN project.

While BREN is a regional initiative and has previously supported activities across the South Caucasus and Moldova, as of October 2025 BREN-II is supporting programming in Armenia and Moldova only.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Senior Project Manager shall carry out the following tasks:

• Develop and agree detailed work plans in close coordination with project funder and line management;
• Ensure the delivery of the project’s parts and respective outputs in compliance with donor/client approved activity plans;
• Ensure adherence to all IWPR and donor policies and procedures and all national laws;
• Closely follow the funder’s Statement of Requirements and IWPR’s project proposal and use these documents as a guide to ensure that all project components are on track and objectives met;
• Closely work with delivery partners to ensure the delivery of all outputs;
• Ensure management and administration of monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL), in collaboration with IWPR’s dedicated MEL team members;
• Monitor safety and security-related information, including provided by IWPR’s dedicated security advisers, and tailor activities accordingly, abiding by the ‘do no harm’ principle for all staff, consultant and partner activities;
• Identify capacity building needs and coordinate support to selected partner organisations;
• Continuously monitor, based on structured feedback from country coordinators and in close consultation with relevant stakeholders, the opportunities that might emerge to support targeted and added-value activity within the scope of the project;
• Create, support and oversee networks to bring actors together to facilitate sharing of good practice and forge connections to support collective efforts against the intended outcomes;
• Facilitate the creation of communications activities, in line with the project’s dedicated Communications Specialist and communications strategy;
• Ensure activity reporting according to the established schedule;
• Oversee and manage project budget in close coordination with finance teams in the field and in HQ;
• Represent IWPR to senior stakeholders of relevance;
• Travel within the region to carry out oversight and management visits to partners and supported projects, as required;
• Ensure a work environment that is non-discriminatory and promotes open dialogue on gender-related and culturally sensitive issues. There is a staff management component to the role, with multiple line reports from several countries to the Senior Project Manager.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:

• Tech and computer savvy (MS office – capacity to use other research, M&EL or management online apps or software is an advantage);
• Excellent communication skills – written, oral, interpersonal;
• Delivering value for money;
• Facilitations skills across the cultures, social and conflict divides;
• Understanding of regional security and conflict context including women, peace, and security issues as well as region’s wider human rights environment;
• Fluency in English – knowledge of one or several Eastern Neighbourhood national languages is an advantage;
• Able to work under pressure in a calm and constructive manner;
• Ability to travel within and outside the country of residence; and
• Self-reliant EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS:
• Master’s degree in international relations, public administration, journalism, social sciences or other relevant field from an accredited national or international institutions;
• Relevant job-related training in project management, conflict resolution, research and capacity building;
• Previous experience of working with the civil society organisations in the South Caucasus, Moldova and/or other Eastern Neighbourhood countries;
• Minimum three-year experience in management of conflict sensitive projects that includes large resource management components.

EXPECTED PERFORMANCE:

• Consistently delivers work of a high standard within the given deadlines;
• Organises their work effectively, establishing priorities and is able to work with minimal supervision, without the need for regular prompting and reminders by their manager;
• Works and delivers in a timely manner;
• Demonstrates a willingness to undertake tasks beyond the job description;
• Communicates effectively and provides information and guidance to individuals in an appropriate and timely manner;
• Looks ahead and anticipates problems that might emerge on the job. Informs early, suggests solutions and eager to act early before problems can cause harm;
• Demonstrates initiative and takes action to improve a situation without waiting for explicit instructions;
• Takes accountability for their actions, decisions, work and results (good or bad);
• Is innovative and creative - continuously look for and suggest improvements and come up with new ideas as to how we deliver the best value to their internal and external client base;
• Team player - readily offers support to other team members and when their level of experience allows it, shares their knowledge and acts as a mentor and coach to other team members and new employees.