USAID CATALYZE MS4G Receptionist and Office Assistant

About Palladium:

Palladium is a global company working to design, develop and deliver positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the globe; broaden access to health, water, power, and infrastructure; build enduring, sustainable, and transformative institutions and market systems to address global challenges; and conserve the natural world. We operate in over 90 countries and have a workforce of 4,000 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions, races, languages, and gender identities.  

Project Background

This Opportunity:

Palladium International, LLC is implementing the $250 Million, 5-year USAID CATALYZE contract which offers a facilitated partnership model that will craft solutions to crowd in $2 Billion in blended finance (i.e., blended concessional and commercial finance) to USAID partner countries; it can work in any development sector or region. Launched in October 2019, CATALYZE is a buy-in mechanism that allows USAID Bureaus and Missions to efficiently deploy investment facilitation solutions that respond to the needs of specific sectors, issues, and geographies. 

USAID CATALYZE Market Systems for Growth (MS4G) focuses on creating transformative outcomes in the food security and WASH sectors to benefit all Ethiopian people. To achieve these goals, the activity engages youth, mobilizes capital, increases access to finance, connects enterprises to markets, and supports stakeholders to self-advocate towards policy change which will promote opportunities for the private sector community. The project supports activities in Addis Ababa and secondary cities. 

To strengthen the private sector in the food security and WASH sectors, MS4G uses a market-based approach to enhance enterprises’ performance, product/service delivery, and inclusion. The activities are designed to build institutional capacity, enhance knowledge and skill transfers through workforce development initiatives, advance the business enabling environment, accelerate digital transformations and scale best practices to increase productivity and quality.

Location: The position is based in Palladium’s Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Office

You and Your Career:

If you are a problem-solver, collaborator, and doer, and you have expertise in supervising program activities, we are interested in hearing from you. 

We are a learning organization and provide growth opportunities from the start. We pride ourselves on giving you the freedom, resources, and guidance to chart a fulfilling career!

Reporting and Supervision:

The CATALYZE MS4G Receptionist and office assistant will report to the CATALYZE: MS4G Operations Manager. S/he will be responsible for serving as the first point of contact for visitors: Answers phone calls and accurately & professionally direct phone calls; Greets clients and visitors positively; Make travel arrangements, book flights and hotel accommodations. S/he must also be able to interact with different Palladium international staffs and guests comfortably. Primary duties and responsibilities of the Receptionist and office assistant include, but are not limited too: 

• Welcome and receive visitors and guests in a cordial and respectful manner.

• Answering telephone calls, responding to requests for information and other different queries

• Assist on arranging and managing national and international travel including accommodation, itineraries, and all correspondence related to arrangements as needed for Palladium staff and incoming visitors.

• Assist on organizing and making arrangements for meeting and appointments.

• Keep the organization’s distribution list updated.

•  Manage staff infrastructure and office cleaning resources to maintain a smooth office reception. 

• Handle all incoming and outgoing correspondences and file in a proper manner; ensure that all incoming mail is distributed to the appropriate persons in a timely manner; all outgoing mail reaches its destination within a reasonable period of time.

• Receive and send documents or parcels by courier service, distribute the mail to whoever is listed on the internal contents and ensure local and international pouches are sent timely.

• Provide administrative/secretarial support services to regional Office Staff as required

• Take bookings and organize the scheduling of conference rooms and ensure that any equipment required for the meeting is delivered to the meeting room.

• Maintain an up-to-date contact list of all numbers of staff & partners and distribute it to all staff on a regular basis.

• Undertake any other activity as directed by the immediate supervisor.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion:

 Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success, and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status. 

Should you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or for any other circumstance, please email our team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com and we will be in touch to discuss. 

Safeguarding - We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse. All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.

Minimum Qualifications

• Previous experience working as a receptionist and/or office management preferred.
• Experience with office management software like MS Office (MS Excel and MS Word, Powerpoint),
• Solid knowledge of office procedures with a problem-solving attitude, attention to detail
• Experience working with International NGOs, experience in USAID funded projects, preferred.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English  
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision, to prioritize work assignments, meet deadlines, and exercise good, professional judgment.
• Graduates of 2022 and 2023
•  DAAP Trainee