Team Leader (m/f/d) for Infrastructure Technical Assistance Facility in South Africa

Job description

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is a state-owned organisation. We work worldwide in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development. GIZ International Services (InS) is an integral division of GIZ. We offer the experience, the regional and technical know-how of GIZ in the global market and provide international clients with expertise in terms of economic and result-oriented services.

GIZ International Services is implementing the EU-funded tender Infrastructure Technical Assistance Facility (ITAF) project in South Africa.

The project’s overarching objective is to promote sustainable development that is aligned with South Africa's National Development Plan (NDP) 2030 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By addressing key challenges such as insufficient infrastructure planning, regulatory inefficiencies, and capacity gaps, the ITAF seeks to improve the policy environment, introduce innovative financial and technical solutions, and foster resilience and inclusiveness in infrastructure projects.

The ITAF focuses on three main outputs:

1. Improving policy and regulatory frameworks,
2. Enhancing capacities through training and expertise, and
3. Strengthening coordination and accountability mechanisms.

Your tasks

The Team Leader plays a pivotal role in the ITAF project, providing strategic leadership, managing multi-stakeholder collaboration, and ensuring the successful delivery of project objectives. The ideal candidate will bring a strong background in infrastructure development, policy reform, and project management, combined with excellent stakeholder engagement skills.

Key Responsibilities

1. Provide overall strategic and technical leadership for the project, ensuring alignment with EU standards and South African national priorities.
2. Oversee the development and implementation of project activities, including policy reviews, capacity-building initiatives, and infrastructure planning frameworks.
3. Lead and manage the technical assistance team, including key and non-key experts, ensuring high-quality deliverables and adherence to timelines.
4. Facilitate stakeholder engagement and collaboration with government institutions, development partners, and civil society.
5. Ensure effective project reporting, monitoring, and evaluation per EU guidelines.
6. Promote knowledge sharing and the integration of sustainability and inclusivity principles across all project components.

Your profile

Qualification and skills

1. A completed Master’s degree awarded in development economics, development or infrastructure finance, engineering, business administration, or any related field with over 15 years of experience. OR in the absence of a Master’s degree academic level, a Bachelor’s academic level in economics, business administration or any related field with 20 years’ experience of general professional experience instead of 15.
2. Number of national and international infrastructure projects the leader has participated in or led.

General Professional experience

1. Professional experience of at least 15 years in the infrastructure or related sectors.
2. At least 10 years of experience working with government (including SOEs) and the private sector.
3. At least 10 years of experience in training, facilitation or organisation of learning programmes would be an added advantage.

Specific professional experience

1. At least 15 years of experience in leading project teams and managing multi-component infrastructure-related projects.
2. At least 15 years of experience in the policy or regulatory environment, developing policies, standards, frameworks, or guidelines in the emerging market/developing country public sector.
3. At least 15 years of experience in the preparation of key technical documentation such as feasibility studies and/or cost-benefit analysis and/or technical project designs for infrastructure projects.
4. Experience in sustainable or green infrastructure would be considered advantageous.
5. Experience in preparation of EU or another international donor technical documentation and/or reporting would be advantageous.

Location information

Pretoria, South Africa

Notes

This position is suited to a full-time position.

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About us

Your professional and personal development is important to us. At GIZ, you will be offered global work opportunities and an atmosphere that is characterised by diversity, respect and genuine equal opportunities. Gender equality promotion is a matter of course for us. Our benefits are also impressive in terms of work-life balance and family friendliness. Flexible working hours that fit your life situation, comprehensive onboarding and internal health management are an integral part of our corporate culture, along with the opportunity to use childcare facilities and parent/child offices.

GIZ is a signatory of the Diversity Charter. Recognition, appreciation and inclusion of diversity in the company are important to us. All employees shall be valued - regardless of gender and gender identity, nationality, ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, social background, age or sexual orientation.

We support equal opportunities and welcome applications from people with disabilities.