About This Role
This Program Officer role sits at the operational core of a consultancy that blends entrepreneurship support with workforce solutions. You will be the person who ensures that training sessions, mentorship cycles, and business development activities actually happen on time and with measurable impact. It is ideal for a mid-career professional who enjoys coordinating multiple moving parts rather than focusing on a single project, and who wants to work in the increasingly important space of youth and women’s economic empowerment in Ethiopia.
What the Requirements Say About This Role
The employer is not simply looking for someone who has run programs; they need a professional who can manage simultaneous streams of work with different stakeholders. The 3-5 year experience expectation signals that they want someone who has already learned how to handle reporting deadlines, logistical hiccups, and partner expectations without constant supervision. The unspoken priority here is someone who can track outcomes (not just activities) and who understands that "implementation" means both training delivery and data collection.
How to Approach This Application
Your cover letter should lead with concrete examples of how you have coordinated multi-stakeholder projects in the past—specifically highlighting any experience with training delivery, business advisory, or talent matching. Avoid listing general program management duties; instead, show that you understand the specific rhythm of entrepreneurship support programs (e.g., managing a cohort of trainees, tracking business plan progress, or coordinating mentor pairings). The employer will likely prioritize candidates who can demonstrate familiarity with the Ethiopian enterprise ecosystem, even if that experience comes from a different organization.
Who This Role Suits
This role is best suited for a detail-oriented coordinator who enjoys operational variety and has a genuine interest in building the capacity of local entrepreneurs. Given the growing focus on youth employment in Ethiopia, this position is moderately competitive, but your chances improve significantly if you can show you have already worked on similar talent development initiatives in Addis Ababa.
About R&D Group
R&D Entrepreneurship and Outsourcing Center PLC (R&D Group) is a leading organization in Ethiopia working at the intersection of entrepreneurship development, outsourcing, and workforce solutions. The organization delivers innovative programs that support enterprises, build talent pipelines, and create sustainable employment opportunities, particularly for youth and women.
About R&D Group
The Program Officer supports the day-to-day coordination, implementation, and monitoring of entrepreneurship and talent development activities within R&D. This role works across multiple related projects to ensure successful delivery of business development, training, and mentorship services.
The Program Officer improves implementation efficiency, tracks program outcomes, manages stakeholder communications, and assists in the transition to a market-driven service model. This is a mid-level role suited for a candidate with up to 3–5 years of experience who can manage program workstreams with limited supervision while receiving strategic guidance from senior leadership.
Key Responsibilities:
- Support the execution of business development, training, and mentorship services across multiple workstreams; track progress against work plans and deadlines.
- Collect, organize, and report on program data (outputs, outcomes, budgets, risks); ensure compliance with partner and organizational requirements.
- Serve as a primary point of contact for participants, mentors, trainers, and partners; schedule meetings, distribute materials, and follow up on action items.
- Improve implementation efficiency by maintaining project tools (e.g., dashboards, trackers, shared calendars) and flagging cross-workstream dependencies.
- Help document and pilot market-driven service models; collect feedback from beneficiaries to inform transition planning.
- Coordinate training sessions, mentorship matching, and business development workshops (virtual or in-person) including logistics, materials, and participant communication.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in business, international development, entrepreneurship, social sciences, or a related field.
- 3–5 years of experience in program coordination, project support, or operations, preferably within, entrepreneurship support, talent development, or donor-funded environments.
- Local language proficiency as well as English (spoken and written)
- Strong organizational, written, and verbal communication skills.
- Proficiency with program management tools (e.g., Asana, Trello, MS Project, Excel, or Google Workspace).
- Ability to work independently on defined workstreams while knowing when to escalate issues to the Program Manager.
- Experience working with stakeholders (participants, mentors, partners) is a strong asset.
Other Requirements
- Strong organizational and time management skills
- High attention to detail and ability to manage documentation
- Good communication and coordination skills
- Ability to work under pressure and manage multiple priorities
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Program officer
R&D Entrepreneurship & Outsourcing Center PLC
