East Asia Director, Beijing/Guangzhou, China

Full-time, Beijing/Guangzhou, China

Organization

The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) promotes sustainable and equitable transport worldwide. ITDP is a nonprofit organization headquartered in New York City with offices in Africa, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico and the United States. ITDP’s programs focus on bus rapid transit, urban development, non-motorized transport, travel demand management, shared mobility, and transport policy. More information about ITDP can be found at www.itdp.org www.itdp-china.org .

Position Summary

ITDP is seeking an East Asia Director. The Director is ITDP’s principal representative in China and will be responsible for advancing ITDP’s strategic goals in the region. Based in Guangzhou or Beijing, China, the Director provides essential support to current ITDP programs while focusing on developing new program opportunities. The Director will report to the Chief Executive Officer and be a member of ITDP’s Senior Leadership Council. The Director will oversee a team based in Guangzhou and Beijing. The Director will be expected to collaborate with senior management, senior government officials and business leaders to lead ITDP’s regional strategy, develop partnerships and funding, and manage a passionate team of mission-driven professionals to create tangible impact in cities.

Responsibilities

Program Devleopment & Support

• • In close collaboration with the CEO, develop ITDP’s regional strategy, including measurable five-year goals; prioritization of topics and geographies; clear influence targets; and a compelling approach to scaling ITDP’s impact;
• • Develop relationships with key bilateral, multilateral, foundation and corporate donors in the region. Maintain awareness of key donors’ regional and country-level funding strategies. Actively engage donors to positively influence donor strategies and programmatic and funding priorities;
• • Provide significant leadership on program design and proposal development. Write project proposal narratives and develop budgets as needed;
• • Actively develop partnerships with local authorities, international and national agencies, other NGOs and research institutes, or other valuable contacts as a means to scale ITDP’s impact and expand programming into new topics, cities or countries in accordance with ITDP’s mission;
• • Collaborate closely with ITDP regional staff and headquarters to identify new projects, new donors, and other mechanisms to strengthen the organizational presence incountry;

Management & Operation

• • Provide strong leadership that unifies the region within an international organization while nurturing initiatives in the regional office. Manage for results;
• • Lead, recruit, develop, mentor and manage the team in the region ensuring high morale, good performance and embodiment of ITDP’s culture and values. Manage professional development plans for each staff member and manage performance evaluation process. Conduct regular site visits and provide mentoring and backup support as needed;
• • Ensure that projects are high quality, well documented and effective; coordinate a quarterly review on progress of key project indicators and milestones. Track program budgets and ensure that projects are implemented in compliance with ITDP and donor financial policies;
• • Ensure institutional strength in the region, including sound financial and accounting practices, good project management, an organogram with clear roles & responsibilities and decision-making, strong human resources, inter-office collaboration, regulatory and legal compliance, etc;

Communications

• • In coordination with the CEO, oversee, identify and develop a plan to communicate ITDP’s goals, strategies and successes for the region;
• • Represent ITDP in public forums and public communications. Serve as an articulate, persuasive and effective spokesperson for ITDP and its mission, goals and successes to the external community;
• • Protect the reputation and technical credibility of ITDP by ensuring that products released in ITDP’s name are of the highest technical caliber and enhance the role of ITDP as a standard bearer for best practice in transportation systems;
• • Maintain sound working relationships and cooperative arrangements with outside organizations that are critical to the achievement of ITDP’s mission;
• • Other duties as assigned;

Required Qualifications

• • Master's degree in transportation, urban planning, economics, engineering, political science or reated field required;
• • 10+years of experience in the sustainbale transport field;
• • Strong commitment to advancing ITDP's mission and to environment and social equity with an excellent command of sustainable transportation issues and approaches in East Asia;
• • Proven track record of fundraising in a nonprofit environmentand strong connections with industry-related foundations and international aid institutions;
• • Strong experience engaging and maintaining relationships with high-level stakeholders and senior decision makers in Chinese government bodies relevant to ITDP’s work; experience working in a government department preferred;
• • Proven ability to manage a team with high morale and performance, and to collaborate effectively in an international organization with people of diverse cultures, perspectives and ideas;
• • An astute leader with the ability to set clear priorities, delegate, and guide investment in people and systems; sophisticated analytic, organizational and problem-solving skills which support and enable sound decision making;
• • Experience in a progressively responsible management role; an intuitive problem solver and motivator who can analyze complex issues and develop effective solutions that enhance ITDP’s relationships, goals and initiatives;
• • Strong commitment to the professional development of staff; successful track record of recruiting and retaining a diverse team;
• • Outstanding presentation and communication skills; demonstrated ability to be an outgoing spokesperson, relationship builder and fundraiser;
• • Fluent communication skills in English and Chinese;
• • Excellent coalition-building skills with an ability to communicate and work effectively with a variety of internal and external stakeholders; a persuasive negotiator able to achieve consensus amongst differing opinions;