TECHNICAL PROJECT MANAGER

Position Description

Job Type: Full Time

Location: Katsina State, Nigeria

Risk Level: ☐ 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.

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disasters, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action - helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future. Mercy Corps Nigeria implements a variety of programs with the goal of building productive, secure and just communities. Our work covers the following sectors: economic development, livelihoods/food security, adolescent girls & boys’ empowerment, financial resilience, conflict management, and humanitarian response. Common themes include community engagement, inclusive development, gender, and working in partnership with local government, the private sector, and civil society actors.

Department Summary

The Technical Project Manager will be part of Mercy Corps Nigeria's Resilience and Climate Adaptation portfolio and will lead implementation of the Protecting Food Security Against Flood & Drought Cycles project in Katsina State. The project aims to strengthen community resilience to climate-induced flood and drought cycles through integrated investments in climate-resilient infrastructure, ecosystem restoration, sustainable land management, and community capacity strengthening. Activities include flood mitigation structures, solar-powered water systems, food and fodder storage facilities, and climate-smart agricultural and rangeland management interventions. The Technical Project Manager will provide overall technical leadership, project management, coordination, quality assurance, compliance oversight, and stakeholder engagement to ensure successful delivery of project outputs, achievement of outcomes, and adherence to Mercy Corps' technical standards and donor requirements.

The Position

• The Technical Project Manager is responsible for the overall planning, technical implementation, coordination, quality assurance, monitoring, and successful delivery of all project components.
• The position provides leadership across engineering, agriculture, natural resource management, procurement, operations, finance, MEAL, and community engagement functions to ensure integrated implementation of climate resilience interventions.
• The Technical Project Manager will supervise technical teams and coordinate with government agencies, contractors, consultants, community structures, private-sector partners, and implementing partners to deliver sustainable, high-quality project

Essential Responsibilities

Technical Leadership and Project Management

• Provide overall technical leadership for the implementation of climate adaptation and resilience interventions.
• Lead project planning, implementation scheduling, budgeting, monitoring, and adaptive management.
• Ensure all project activities are implemented according to approved work plans, budgets and donor requirements.
• Coordinate implementation of the project's three technical
• Ensure integration of engineering, agricultural, environmental, and community-based approaches throughout implementation.
• Oversee technical assessments, feasibility studies, site selection, and engineering
• Review and approve Bills of Quantities (BoQs), technical specifications, engineering drawings, and construction methodologies.
• Ensure all infrastructure complies with Mercy Corps Infrastructure Minimum Standards, Nigerian regulations, and international engineering standards.
• Ensure construction quality through regular inspections, testing, certification, and contractor supervision.
• Develop quality assurance and quality control systems across all project
• Ensure project implementation remains on schedule, within scope and within
• Lead project risk management and mitigation
• Ensure environmental and social safeguards are fully integrated into project

Infrastructure and Climate Resilience Oversight

• Provide technical oversight for the implementation of all infrastructure and climate-resilient activities.
• Ensure infrastructure investments are climate-resilient, environmentally sustainable and community-owned.

Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management

• Lead technical implementation of climate-smart agriculture
• Guide sustainable rangeland management
• Oversee farmer and pastoralist capacity-building
• Ensure adoption of climate-resilient agricultural
• Promote integrated landscape restoration
• Ensure interventions strengthen food security while reducing environmental

Contractor and Procurement Management

• Support procurement planning for infrastructure
• Develop technical specifications for procurement
• Participate in contractor prequalification and
• Review contractor work plans and technical
• Monitor contractor performance against contractual
• Certify completed works for
• Ensure value for money across all infrastructure

Stakeholder Coordination

• Develop and maintain strong working relationships with all relevant
• Represent Mercy Corps in technical coordination meetings and sector working

Team Leadership

• Provide leadership and supervision to project
• Build staff capacity in infrastructure management, climate resilience, and project
• Conduct regular performance
• Foster collaboration across programme, operations, finance and MEAL
• Promote accountability, inclusion, and continuous

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

Work closely with the MEAL team to develop technical performance indicators, monitor construction quality, track project milestones, validate infrastructure outputs, support outcome monitoring, document lessons learned and best practices, produce high-quality technical reports, and support achievement of project targets

Minimum Qualifications & Transferable Skills

• Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering, Agricultural Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Water Resources Engineering, Natural Resource Management, Project Management, or related technical discipline.
• Master's degree in Engineering, Climate Change, Environmental Management, Project Management, or related field preferred.
• Minimum of 8–10 years of progressively responsible experience managing large-scale resilience, infrastructure or climate adaptation programmes.
• Demonstrated experience managing donor-funded development
• Strong technical knowledge of Climate adaptation, Nature-based solutions, Water infrastructure, Rural infrastructure, Sustainable agriculture, Watershed management, and Construction supervision.
• Experience managing multidisciplinary
• Strong contract and construction management
• Experience working with government institutions and community
• Excellent planning, budgeting, coordination, and reporting
• Strong analytical and problem-solving
• Excellent written and verbal communication
• Professional Project Management certification (PMP, PRINCE2 or equivalent) is highly desirable.

Supervisory Responsibility

Directly supervises: Senior Project Officer, Senior Natural Resource Management Officer, Senior MEL Officer.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Director of Programs

Works Directly With: Operations and procurement staff, Finance staff, MEAL staff, Security team, Technical Advisors, Government counterparts, Community institutions, Contractors and consultants.

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability to program participants, community partners, government institutions, and donors while ensuring meaningful participation throughout project design, implementation, monitoring, and learning.

Success Factors

A successful Technical Project Manager will combine exceptional technical expertise with strong leadership, project management, and stakeholder engagement skills. The individual will demonstrate the ability to coordinate multidisciplinary teams, manage complex infrastructure and resilience interventions, solve technical challenges, maintain high-quality standards, and deliver measurable impact in climate-vulnerable communities. Success requires sound judgment, innovation, accountability, excellent communication, and the ability to build strong partnerships while ensuring timely and cost-effective project delivery.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position will be based in Katsina State with frequent travel to rural project communities. Field travel will involve movement to remote locations with varying levels of infrastructure and seasonal accessibility. The position requires strict adherence to Mercy Corps safety and security procedures.

Ongoing Learning

In support of Mercy Corps' commitment to continuous learning, team members are encouraged to dedicate 5% of their working time to professional development, technical learning, and knowledge sharing.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives. We recognize that diversity and inclusion are a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening, and evolving to become more diverse, equitable, and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

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

Safeguarding & Ethics

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 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 in a professional manner, 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 elearning 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]).