Job description:

The Output 1 Lead will provide strategic leadership, technical oversight, and programme management to ensure effective monitoring, supervision, and support for secondary schools by district education offices. This role is central to strengthening education system accountability and performance monitoring, ensuring that data-driven decision-making at the district and school levels leads to improved school management and better learning outcomes. The Output 1 Lead will work closely with the MBSSE, School Quality Assurance Officers (SQAOs), district education offices, and other key stakeholders to enhance school supervision frameworks, data use, and performance monitoring mechanisms, and capacity building/professionalisation of the SQAO cadre. A core part of this role involves developing and implementing systems and tools that improve school visits, performance tracking and reporting, and follow-up processes—ensuring that education officials at all levels have the capacity and resources to track school performance, identify challenges, and drive improvements, fostering strong partnerships between the national, district, and school levels.

Scope of Work:

Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership and Programme Oversight

• Lead the implementation of Output 1 interventions, ensuring alignment with SSEIP2’s objectives and MBSSE’s education policies.

• Provide technical guidance to strengthen district monitoring, supervision, and support systems to improve school performance.

• Work closely with MBSSE to professionalise the SQAO cadre and ensure that their support to schools is structured, targeted, and impactful.

• Oversee the design of output 1 activities, ensuring a sustainable and scalable approach to systems strengthening.

• Develop tools for the implementation and monitoring of activities under Output 1

• Ensure effective integration and coordination of Output 1 activities with other programme outputs.

• Provide line management and mentorship of the Output 1 Senior Programme Officer

Enhancing Data Use for Decision-Making & Problem-Solving

• Strengthen monitoring, reporting and performance management routines at the central government, district, and school level. These routines should track progress, inform decision makers, ensure decisions are taken and followed up, and understand and unblock obstacles to progress. The Output 1 Lead should track the extent to which these routines are happening and intervene as appropriate where they are not.

• Improve the effectiveness of the management routines at all levels. In particular provide support to improve:

  • Performance information accuracy and regularity: this includes overall responsibility in working with partners including FabInc to ensure update of the integrated dashboard.

  • The quality of performance reports by ensuring they provide accurate data, summarise performance and key insights, and identify the right obstacles and recommendations.

  • Decision taking and follow-up across the school, district and central ministry levels

  • Support to ‘problem solve’: understanding problems and identifying potential solutions

• Build the capacity of education officials and district teams to collect, analyze, and use data for school improvement.

• Support the development of problem-solving mechanisms that help district teams identify challenges and develop practical solutions to improve school performance.

• Develop and refine tools, guidelines, and monitoring systems to improve how SQAOs conduct school visits, engagement, and reporting.

• Strengthen data collection and reporting mechanisms, ensuring accurate and timely school performance data is available for decision-makers.

Professional Development of SQAOs

• Support MBSSE in strengthening the professionalism and effectiveness of the SQAO cadre, ensuring they are equipped for their roles.

• Strengthen coordination between central and district education teams, ensuring that SQAOs are well-connected within the education system.

• Promote peer learning and knowledge-sharing between SQAOs and district officers to improve school monitoring and supervision practices.

Stakeholder Engagement & Coordination

• Represent SSEIP2 in technical working groups, policy discussions, and stakeholder meetings related to school monitoring and supervision.

• Work closely with education development partners, NGOs, and other relevant actors to coordinate efforts in strengthening school support and monitoring systems.

• In collaboration with the SSEIP II leadership, advocate for the institutionalisation of effective school monitoring and accountability mechanisms within the MBSSE at all levels.

Reporting, Learning & Programme Adaptation

• Ensure timely submission of quarterly reports and other key updates, highlighting key achievements, challenges, and lessons learned under Output 1.

• Contribute to SSEIP2’s results-sharing efforts, ensuring MBSSE and other stakeholders have access to relevant data and insights on school monitoring performance.

• Work with the MERL Team to track progress on monitoring and reporting routines and intervene when needed to strengthen implementation.

• Identify scalable and sustainable approaches from the programme that can inform long-term education system strengthening efforts

This job description reflects the present requirements of the post. As duties and responsibilities change and develop, the job description will be reviewed and be subject to amendment in consultation with the post holder and line manager.

Candidate Specification:

Skills

• Ability to work effectively as part of a team, especially with government officials, and to coordinate across the wider programme and with other development partners, building collaborative relationships and coaching team members as needed

• Ability to frame a strategy to achieve an objective, and follow through to execution

• Ability to create and maintain detailed work plans, down to daily logistics as needed (e.g., training workshops, team travel to districts)

• Ability to create and maintain full programme budgets, down to monthly cash flow level

• Ability to create synthesised reports, both formal written documents in Word and PowerPoint presentations with exhibits

• Sensitivity to working in a complex cultural and resource-constrained environment, whilst upholding the highest standards of business ethics and personal conduct in line with the company’s values, directives and procedures

• Fluent use of core computer skills, including Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

• Strong communication skills to communicate clearly and succinctly both in written form (e.g., email updates) and verbally (e.g., presenting in stakeholder meetings, remote phone management of learning coaches and updates with district education offices)

• Ability to prioritise and work under pressure

• Good organisational skills, project planning and management

• Autonomous professional practitioner with the ability to exercise judgement

• Adaptability & Problem Solving – Ability to identify challenges and implement innovative solutions in a dynamic environment.

• Sound understanding of Sierra Leone’s education system, decentralisation and local government processes and practices, particularly with regard to district and school levels systems and processes, including their relationships with different stakeholders.

• Ability to work effectively as part of a team to coordinate across the wider

• Ability to create synthesised reports, both formal written documents in Word and PowerPoint presentations with exhibits

• Willingness to learn and adopt Mott MacDonald norms, procedures, and systems.

• Commitment to uphold the highest standards of ethics, and personal and professional conduct, and lead by example on safeguarding, safety, financial integrity, inclusion, and respect for others.

Language

• English (professional proficiency)

• Krio (fluent spoken)

Qualifications and Experience

• Higher (postgraduate) qualification in relevant field

• Experience of working within or alongside MBSSE officials at national and local levels. Experience influencing and/or sustaining education initiatives within education systems.

• Experience of planning, designing, and running a workstream independently, ideally within a development programme context

• At least 5 years of experience in education system strengthening, school monitoring, supervision, and policy implementation.

• Demonstrated experience working with education ministries, district education offices, and school monitoring structures.

• Strong technical expertise in education data collection, analysis, and performance management.

• Proven experience in designing and implementing capacity-building programmes for education officers.

• Strong project management skills, with experience in leading multi-stakeholder coordination efforts.

• Experience in writing reports, donor communications, and policy briefs.

• Excellent communication and leadership skills, with the ability to engage effectively with government stakeholders, donors, and education partners.

• Ability to think strategically and propose innovative solutions for strengthening education supervision and monitoring.

Job Profile:

The SSEIP II builds on the work of the first phase: the Sierra Leone Secondary Education Improvement Programme (SSEIP), also called Leh Wi Lan (Krio for “Let’s Learn”), on behalf of FCDO.

The programme is supporting the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) to improve learning outcomes for boys and girls at the secondary level and to increase the enrolment, retention and well-being of girls and children with disabilities in school.

We expect that the programme will work at a national scale to deliver outputs including:

• Strengthened monitoring, supervision, and support for schools by the district office

• Strengthened school leadership and teaching for inclusive learning

• Strengthened systems for inclusive education for children with disabilities.

• Improved safety and wellbeing of secondary school students through addressing School-Related Gender-Based Violence (SRGBV) and improving knowledge about Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH).

The team consists of different technical and programme support leads who work together closely to ensure coordinated and streamlined delivery as one programme team under the overall direction of the Team Leader.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We put equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of our business, seeking to promote fair employment procedures and practices to ensure equal opportunities for all. We encourage individual expression in our workplace and are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels they have the opportunity to contribute.

Agile working

At Mott MacDonald, we believe it makes business sense for you and your manager to choose how you can work most effectively to meet your client, team and personal commitments. We embrace agility, flexibility and trust.