Technical Senior Manager, Financial Services (Vietnam)

The Organization:

Lutheran World Relief, which is part of Corus International, has been present in Vietnam since 2025. Corus International is the parent of a family of world-class organizations working to deliver the holistic, lasting solutions needed to end extreme poverty once and for all. We are a global leader in international development, with 150 years of combined experience across our brands. Our nonprofit and for-profit subsidiaries include IMA World Health and its fundraising brand Corus World Health, Lutheran World Relief, CGA Technologies, Ground Up Investing, and Farmers Market Brands. In Vietnam, Corus operates under Lutheran World Relief. Our more than 400 employees around the globe are experts in their fields and dedicated to helping the world's most vulnerable people break the cycle of poverty and lead healthy lives.

At Corus we believe that good only grows stronger and we reflect that belief in our workplace culture. We value every employee's specialized area of expertise and nurture professional growth. We promote an engaging and supportive work environment, where employees feel enabled and driven to innovate, learn and collaborate. And because our subsidiaries often function as partners, our employees have the opportunity to work across our enterprise family.

Job Brief:
Lutheran World Relief (LWR) job description for the Technical Senior Manager, Financial Services for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funded Food for Progress (FFPr) project is described below. USDA FFPr Vietnam project is a 5-year project develop the tilapia aquaculture and feed sector value chains in Vietnam between October 1, 2025, and September 30, 2030. This position will be an employee of Lutheran World Relief. The project is funded by the USDA FFPr.

The program has three interlinked components:
•Develop the supply of quality fry and fingerlings;
•Increase high value soy usage in aquafeed for tilapia production
•Improve tilapia production and processing to meet domestic and export market demand

Position Summary: The Technical Senior Manager (TSM), Financial Services, is responsible for managing the technical delivery and activities on the project in supporting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) to access financial packages that develop and grow their businesses and expand LWR/Corus' technical qualifications in programming to position LWR's technical work. In addition, this role will evaluate, promote and implement best practices relating to effective and practical business development support services (BDS) for MSMEs and farmer based organizations. The competencies required to be successful in this position include extensive theoretical and practical understanding of MSMEs ability to access to financial services and innovative financial approaches, good exposure and understanding of BDS especially in the agribusiness and aquaculture sectors, and an ability to manage technical direction across the project locations, with minimal management support. The position requires managing, contributing to, and supporting the technical implementation of focused activities and by providing technical inputs into project workplans, budgets, technical guidelines, training curricula, implementation tools, and reporting, monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) in compliance with the requirements and regulations of the award. Duties include organizing and coordinating with the Chief of Party, Deputy Chief of Party, sub-recipients, consultants, and headquarters or regional Technical Business Unit (TBU) staff.

Responsibilities:

1. Technical Delivery Services, Quality and Impact (70%)

• Conduct a financial sector assessment to map credit flows, savings groups, financial institutions (FI), micro-finance institutions (MFIs), insurance gaps, and fintech opportunities.
• Identify and implement appropriate financial services and support for MSMEs and apply innovative approaches and activities that support the implementation and monitoring of these interventions in alignment with the project goal and objectives, and donor standards.
• Review financial literacy gaps and needs amongst key value chain actors and develop training and extension support as needed
• Work with key aquaculture agribusinesses including seafood exporters, input suppliers, feed mills and others on improving contract transparency and governance, price negotiations and credit arrangements for farmers and other SMEs.
• Review and adapt business development support services in the aquaculture sector including strategic planning, market access and market facilitation, business planning and coaching, digital technologies and women and youth entrepreneurs.
• Work with farmer based organizations, MSMEs, and other strategic value chain actors to conduct organizational capacity assessment, and development tools and methods to improve organizational capacities for sustainable operations and growth
• Identify needs and manage consultant and/or BDSP firms' expertise in BDS and finance value chain constraints and opportunities as needed, and ability to uptake consultant/BDSP recommendations
• Manage, model and coach colleagues, including sub-recipient staff, on best practices in engaging with FIs, MFIs, fintech companies, and the use of digital payment networks.
• Identify and make use of grant fund opportunities that offer a return on investment (ROI) for the grantee and the donor, and track grantee delivery and performance.
• Work in partnership with project team and sub-recipients, LWR Vietnam team, PBU EMEA, and headquarters/regional Technical Business Unit staff.
• Track progress of milestones, deliverables, and performance indicator targets, identifying issues/challenges that need to be addressed, and ensuring that technical reporting requirements are met in line with Project Management Manual as well as complementary tools, policies, and procedures.
• Provide input into budgeting and forecasting exercises related to technical activities spending within the fiscal year.
• Participate in forums that enhance financial sector knowledge to incorporate into technical activities on the project.

2. Coordination and Collaboration: (15%)

• Manage documentation of LWR and Corus' technical capacities based in the financial services sector and document project achievements in coordination with project team and in collaboration with TBU team.
• Contribute to the wider work of TBU through active participation in the achievement of the project deliverables, team meetings, TBU community of practice and the development and sharing of technical knowledge and resources.
• Assess and advocate for supportive policy reforms in the financial sector.

3. Data Management, Documentation, and Reporting: (15%)

• Contribute to the quality performance indicator data reported into the project reporting system, in collaboration with the project MEL team.
• Prepare high quality, timely technical content, including monthly and/or semi-annual performance reports, and other project documents under the guidance of the Chief of Party, with support from PBU, headquarters, and TBU, as applicable.
• Apply knowledge of donor rules and regulations to monitor for technical and MEL compliance for various actions during project start up, implementation, and close out.
• Ensure data integrity and completeness by maintaining project documentation in electronic databases.

Supervisory:

This position has no direct reports.

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor's with at least 7 years' experience in finance, banking, business, enterprise development, or social science or equivalent combination of education and experience; Master's desired.
• Prior experience working in the FI/MFI in agriculture and/ or aquaculture, preferred.
• Experience working with colleagues in a multicultural, multi-linguistic environment.
• Demonstrated experience managing teams and conditions as well as other international donors.
• Proven track record of developing and maintaining strong working relationships with target beneficiaries, private sector entities, as well as host country counterparts and NGO/FBO/CBO actors, preferred.
• Experience working with local and/or US-based and international partners (NGO/FBO/CBOs, universities and other technical institutions), desired.
• Experience working in BDS and Fi/MFI in the aquaculture and/or agriculture sectors, preferred.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Strong knowledge of international development, BDS in agriculture or aquaculture sectors, development finance and financial tools, product designs and literacy initiatives.
• Strong working knowledge of international donor funding mechanisms (including grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements), preferred.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills to communicate effectively and credibly, both verbally and in writing in Vietnamese and English, required. The ability to communicate in local dialects is an asset.
• Ability to work effectively both independently and as part of a team.
• Proficiency in Office 365 applications including Word, Excel, SharePoint, and PowerPoint. Experience with Salesforce a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical delivery, coordination of/collaborate on program implementation across multiple teams (between departments, between HQ and country offices, etc.).

Physical and Mental Requirements:

• The physical requirements that may be needed to execute responsibilities may include bending, standing, and walking, etc.
• The mental requirements that are essential to satisfactorily executing the responsibilities outlined in this job description include, but are not limited to: learning new tasks, comprehending, and retaining information, completing tasks independently, effectively communicating verbally and in writing, demonstrating proficiency in using computer software to perform assigned tasks.

Working Conditions, Travel and Environment:

• LWR has an in-person work policy, with all employees reporting to the office Monday through Friday. The employee must be available to work outside normal office hours or on the weekends as required.
• This position must be able to travel as required for standard domestic and international business purposes. While performing the duties of this job in different locations, the employee may be exposed to precarious settings under high-security risks and/or very basic living conditions and outside weather conditions, as well as to infectious diseases.
• If applicable, must have authorization to work in Viet Nam.
• The position will be based in Hanoi with frequent travel to provinces in the north and south of Viet Nam.

As a member of the Corus Family, each employee is expected to:

• Foster a work environment where everyone feels valued and included.
• Support employees' evaluation and promotion processes based on skills and performance.
• Promote a safe, secure, and respectful environment for all members of Corus family, stakeholders in general, and particularly for the communities we serve.
• Follow Corus Code of Conduct helping to prevent any type of abuse including workplace harassment, sexual abuse and exploitation, and trafficking in persons.
• Adhere to the Organizational Core Values

Corus International prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type and affords equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability status, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by U.S. or International law.