WASH Technical Advisor – Operations and Maintenance

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Washington.

📋 Description

• Convert Splash's worldwide O&M strategy into actionable, locally managed operational models.

• Assist country teams in executing the sustainable O&M strategy within workplans for Ethiopia, Zambia, and Malawi.

• Transform the global strategy into actionable plans, tools, decision gates, and country-specific guidance for pilot, delivery, and exit phases.

• Monitor O&M readiness across school cohorts, service providers, utilities, and government partners, adjusting strategies based on implementation evidence.

• Facilitate discussions on O&M financing at both national and sub-national levels, including OPEX commitments and matrices outlining responsibilities and payments.

• Create templates for O&M roles, budgets, decision-making rights, escalation processes, and handover conditions.

• Oversee government and school-level commitments in relation to Splash's exit criteria.

• Integrate O&M into the planning processes of education, water, utility, and municipal sectors.

• Identify and prioritize O&M partners, including service providers, utilities, technical partners, and local implementers.

• Progress partner discussions into agreements detailing scope, service levels, roles, and costs.

• Assist in the creation of service agreements and contracts that delineate responsibilities, performance expectations, and handover conditions.

• Manage relationships with global O&M partners and escalate issues regarding delivery or performance.

• Design O&M service models that encompass preventive, scheduled, and reactive maintenance.

• Implement tools for measuring service provider performance, developing SOPs, and establishing maintenance schedules.

• Enhance local workforce capacity through mentoring, documentation of handover processes, peer learning, and sustainable support systems.

• Analyze O&M supply chain requirements, focusing on spare parts availability, supplier reliability, and procurement standards.

• Create streamlined monitoring strategies to assess infrastructure functionality, repair response times, and service provider performance.

• Collaborate with program, infrastructure, finance, procurement, impact, and country teams.

• Engage with government counterparts, utilities, and schools to clarify expectations and foster shared ownership.

• Report to the Senior Director of Programs.

⛳️ Requirements

• Over 7 years of experience in WASH, infrastructure sustainability, municipal service delivery, public systems strengthening, operations, maintenance, or utilities.

• Proven experience in managing complex workstreams involving government counterparts, local partners, service providers, and technical teams.

• Strong expertise in O&M systems, including both preventive and reactive maintenance, lifecycle costing, service standards, and planning for handovers.

• Demonstrated ability to develop tools, SOPs, workplans, dashboards, or frameworks for implementation.

• Exceptional writing and facilitation abilities.

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience required.

• Preferable experience in East or Southern Africa, school WASH, or performance-based contracting.

• Capacity to work effectively across diverse cultures, time zones, and levels of seniority.

• Proven ability to independently manage multiple tasks and projects.

🏝️ Benefits

• Flexible work arrangements and self-managed schedules tailored to the employee's time zone.

• 18 days of paid time off, increasing by 2 days each year, reaching a maximum of 28 days (US benefits).

• 11 paid holidays (US benefits).

• Wellness Fridays with reduced working hours on Fridays.

• Two weeks of paid time off during the week of July 4th and the final week of the year (US benefits).

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance (US benefits).

• 401(k) plan with a 3% matching contribution (US benefits).

• Occasional off-hours work compensated by personal time.