View Vacancy – JOA – Programme Manager, YON (HEO)

The British Embassy Amman has a vacancy for Programme Manager, job grade Higher Executive Officer (HEO), under the Yemen Office Network (YON).

Yemen’s economy is in dire straits. Before the outbreak of war, Yemen was already a poor country that relied on oil exports. Economic grievances around control of natural resources and infrastructure were key drivers of the conflict. Yemen’s conflict since 2014 has triggered a humanitarian crisis as the economy collapsed and Yemen’s institutions have divided. GDP per capita has halved. The Government of Yemen’s finances have been hard hit by a Houthi block on oil exports since October 2022, reducing government revenues by 65% and making it reliant on external finance. Most households remain reliant on a combination of humanitarian assistance and remittances each year to survive.

The UK is a major donor in Yemen, contributing over £1 billion since the conflict began, including a relatively small but impactful development programme (£10m from April 2024 to March 2025). This role will be critical in helping deliver the development support, making sure it delivers maximum impact through our partners.

The British Government has not been in Yemen since the embassy closed in 2015 due to the conflict. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s (FCDO) Yemen Office Network (YON) is therefore split between London, East Kilbride, Riyadh, and Amman.

The Programme Manager will be part of the Economy and Recovery Team (ERT) and based in Amman. The jobholder will work with support from the Programme Responsible Owners, Senior Responsible Owner (SROs), and Advisers.

You will work within a complex, fast-paced, and challenging environment as part of a multidisciplinary team. The role is high profile, demanding, and exciting. YON offers some of the most interesting and challenging development opportunities available in FCDO. 

Duties and responsibilities:

In this role, you will be responsible for:

• Supporting the design, mobilisation, and implementation of economic/ development programmes in line with the YON Business Plan, the FCDO’s Programme Operating Framework (PrOF), and associated principles, standards, and guidance.
• Building working contextual analysis and relationships with partner organisations, donors, and other programme stakeholders in the UK, Yemen, and region.
• Administering development programmes effectively to ensure they deliver results and value for money and ensuring that all reporting and compliance tasks are completed, e.g. due diligence assessments, logframe development, and monitoring of results, annual reviews, project completion reports, and other transparency requirements.
• Regularly reviewing partner reporting and risks, troubleshooting programme issues, and escalating delivery risks as appropriate, proactively challenging whether programme controls are suitable for the environment.
• Overseeing programme finances, ensuring budgets are accurately forecasted and profiled throughout the life of the programme, and payments actively managed.
• Ensuring FCDO’s in-house programme management system and (Oracle-based) finance management system are updated regularly and contain the correct programme data.
• Contributing to effective Economy and Recovery Team (ERT) working and wider team delivery within the YON team and by actively engaging in wider FCDO and MENA programme management networks, sharing learning and experience from the Yemen Team and reporting back on key messages to the team.

The above list is not exhaustive, and the jobholder will be required to be flexible as specific responsibilities could change in the future and this would be at the discretion of the line manager/ senior management and agreed with the jobholder. The job description may be reviewed to meet changes in business needs. The jobholder may also take on other ad hoc tasks as required, including participating in the Embassy’s emergency planning and any other response to a crisis.

Key behaviours required:

• Making Effective Decisions – Use evidence and knowledge to support accurate, expert decisions and advice. Carefully consider alternative options, implications, and risks of decisions.
• Working Together – Form effective partnerships and relationships with people both internally and externally, from a range of diverse backgrounds, sharing information, resources, and support.
• Delivering at Pace – Taking responsibility for delivering timely and quality results with focus and drive.
• Managing a Quality Service – Deliver service objectives with professional excellence, expertise, and efficiency, taking account of diverse customer needs.

Eligibility:

If you are selected for this position, we will be able to employ you as long as:

• You have the right to live and work in Jordan; and
• You receive the appropriate level of security clearance.

YON is looking for an enthusiastic and proactive team member with programme management experience, who is able to build relationships with external and internal stakeholders, and able to adopt agile and adaptive programme delivery approaches.

The ideal candidate will have:

• Robust programme management skills, including the experience of best practice financial management and working with financial data to prepare forecasts and manage and scrutinise budgets in detail.
• Excellent organisational skills, including ability to organise workloads, set priorities, meet deadlines, and maintain close attention to detail to manage multiple projects concurrently.
• A proactive approach and a focus on continuous improvement of self and service, with an appetite to work with others to simplify processes and improve efficiency.
• Strong ability to build positive and trust-based working relationships, collaborate with partners across FCDO and external stakeholders, and work effectively as part of a team.
• Deliver quality work under tight deadlines and exercise good judgement. You will be able to manage your own personal resilience when pace and demands are high and able to work under pressure, juggling a complex and varied workload.
• Fluency in English, both written and spoken. Able to express ideas and messages clearly and concisely, both orally and in written communication.
• Strong IT skills and literacy in Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams).

In addition, we are looking for someone who can demonstrate the Civil Service values of:

• Integrity
• Honesty
• Objectivity
• Impartiality