Chief Delivery Officer Job Blue Ventures

Project Management Jobs. Blue Ventures Jobs

Summary job description

• The Chief Delivery Officer (CDO) is a pivotal Executive Leadership Team role
  accountable for delivering the impact of BV’s fisheries and marine conservation
  programme at scale—with a particular focus on implementation through frontline
  partners. This is a new role.
• As part of BV’s distributed leadership model, this role provides expert executive
  leadership with clear decision rights and accountability.
• The CDO leads and enables BV’s regional and country leadership to consistently
  deliver high-quality programming, rapid partner onboarding, effective capacity
  strengthening, strong portfolio performance, and reliable execution against BV’s
  scale ambitions.
• This role ensures that BV’s delivery model is operationally excellent, measurable,
  safe, and replicable across contexts—while protecting BV’s values and “communities first” approach.
• In BV’s regionalised model, Regional Directors own operational delivery in their
  regions; the CDO sets delivery governance, enables execution, resolves
  cross-regional constraints, and ensures consistent standards, risk management and performance.

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Responsibilities

In practice, the CDO will:

• Translate BV’s global strategy into operational delivery plans that can be executed
  consistently across regions and partners.
• Lead Regional Directors / Country Directors to deliver scale with and through
  partners, ensuring quality, safeguarding, learning, and accountability.
• Drive delivery excellence, including portfolio management, performance rhythms,
  operational discipline, risk management, and continuous improvement.
• Strengthen and standardise BV’s partner implementation systems (onboarding, due
  diligence, capacity strengthening, quality assurance, MEL, and reporting).
• Coordinate closely with technical, evidence/learning, fundraising, policy/advocacy,
  and operations to remove barriers and accelerate impact.
  Responsibilities
  1) Executive Leadership (10%)
• To act and behave according to the ELT Terms of Reference and BV’s Leadership
  Competencies
• Collaborate with the Trustee Board, ELT and SLT to define and establish BV’s
  long-term strategy and priorities in alignment with its mission and vision. Facilitate
  informed decision-making by ensuring the SLT has all the necessary information and
  fostering a collaborative forum for sound discussions and decisions.
• Set the agenda and pace for regional excellence, ensuring coordination and
  cohesion across functions to optimise operational efficiency.
• Model distributed leadership; reduce reliance on any single individual through
  systems/deputies/shared accountability
• Oversee the effective allocation of resources to achieve the organisation’s
  objectives.
• Support the professional development of SLT members, individually and collectively, as leaders.
• Work with the SLT to define OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) and hold them
  accountable for delivering results.
• Align and oversee organisation-wide strategic communications, ensuring clear and
  effective communication between the Board and the broader organisation.
• Lead communication and engagement with trustees, including reporting on
  functional areas to the Board.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders, including the Board,
  donors, and partners.
• Monitor major strategic areas such as risk management, implement mitigation
  strategies, and develop contingency plans to address emerging challenges and
  crises.
• Take ultimate accountability for the operational delivery of agreed plans within
  functional areas, ensuring the organisation’s growth, sustainability, and impact.
  2) Partner-led scale-up & implementation model (30%)
• Drive rapid and responsible scale by strengthening BV’s ability to identify and
  prioritise geographies/partners, onboard efficiently, deliver capacity strengthening
  at scale, maintain programme quality and community legitimacy, and track
  performance and adapt quickly. Translate BV’s strategy and “pathway to scale” into a
  partner-led delivery model with clear standards, roles, resourcing assumptions, and
  decision rights.
• Ensure programme delivery plans are realistic, costed, sequenced, and aligned with
  partner and community needs.
• Strengthen BV’s partner lifecycle approach, including partner selection, due
  diligence, readiness assessment, onboarding, agreements, delivery support, quality
  assurance, and exit/transition where needed.
• Ensure partners receive a coherent “beyond funding” support offer (tools, training,
  mentoring, data, learning exchange), tailored to context and maturity.
• Ensure consistent application of minimum standards for programme quality,
  safeguarding, financial controls (where relevant), and ethical practice across partner
  delivery.
• Co-led (with the Chief Programme Officer) the operating model for partner funding
  and support, ensuring grantmaking/partner investments align with delivery
  readiness, safeguarding, performance, and regional priorities; built an effective
  matrix partnership with the Partnerships Director and Regional Directors
  3) Leadership of regional & country delivery teams and ways of working (30%)
• Lead and empower Regional Directors and Country Directors to deliver results with
  partners through clear objectives, support, and accountability.
• Build a strong, field-focused leadership culture that prioritises practical
  problem-solving, coaching, and delivery discipline.

Ensure effective cross-functional working between programme delivery and
technical support functions (e.g., fisheries, livelihoods, safeguarding, MEL,
policy/government engagement).

• Promote a culture of high performance and continuous improvement grounded in
  evidence and learning.
  4) Portfolio performance, delivery governance & delivery risk management (20%)
• Establish and maintain a clear delivery governance structure and cadence (e.g.,
  portfolio reviews, performance dashboards, quarterly business reviews, delivery risk
  reviews).
• Ensure consistent programme and partner reporting, with timely escalation and
  resolution of delivery risks and issues.
• Oversee delivery prioritisation and trade-offs across regions to maximise impact and
  ensure resources match commitments.
• Lead implementation troubleshooting across complex operating environments,
  ensuring delivery remains community-centred and safe.
  6) Safeguarding, ethics, compliance, operational effectiveness & organisational
  learning (10%)
• Uphold BV’s commitment to safeguarding and community safety; foster a work
  environment free from harassment and bullying.
• Ensure delivery teams and partners understand and implement safeguarding
  expectations, reporting pathways, and minimum standards; ensure serious
  incidents are escalated and reported appropriately and lessons learned embedded.
• Anticipate and mitigate programmatic and organisational risks in line with BV’s risk
  management and reporting procedures.
• Drive continuous improvement in delivery efficiency, resourcing, and
  cost-effectiveness, especially in partner-led implementation; work with Finance on
  planning, budgeting, forecasting, and compliance.
• Ensure delivery is supported by fit-for-purpose systems (planning, grants/partner
  management, MEL, knowledge management) and champion improvements.
• Cultivate proactive internal communication so programme colleagues can articulate
  BV’s mission and stay up to date on policies/procedures; partner with External
  Engagement and Evidence/Learning to document, share, and apply learning.
• Support delivery-focused strategic partnerships by ensuring delivery feasibility,
  mutual accountability, sustainability, and strong delivery narratives and credible
  plans for Development colleagues as needed.
  Role Impact
• Enable Strategy 2030 scale targets: Build the delivery engine and partner model
  that allows Blue Ventures to reach 10,000 coastal communities, strengthen 400
  community-based organisations, and support work across 200,000 km2 by
  2030—without compromising community legitimacy, quality or safety.
• Make partner-led implementation fast and dependable: Standardise and
  strengthen the full partner lifecycle (prioritisation, due diligence, onboarding,
  capacity strengthening, QA, transition) so partners can deliver consistently “beyond
  funding”.
• Lift portfolio performance across regions: Embed delivery governance,
  performance rhythms and clear trade-offs so programmes are delivered on time/on
  budget, risks are surfaced early, and course-corrections happen quickly.
  Protect communities and BV’s reputation: Ensure safeguarding, ethics and
  minimum standards are consistently applied across delivery teams and partners,
  with strong escalation, incident learning and corrective action.
• Increase impact per pound: Improve operational discipline, systems and
  resourcing so BV can scale efficiently and sustainably across diverse contexts.
• Progress against Strategy 2030 delivery targets: 10,000 communities / 400 frontline
  community organisations / 200,000 km2 supported (via partner delivery
  Knowledge, Skills, Experience and Other Attributes
  Knowledge and Experience
• Uphold and promote Blue Ventures’ human rights-based approach to
  conservation and safeguarding commitments for the communities we serve.
• Strengthen systems that prevent exploitation and abuse and reinforce the Code
  of Conduct and safeguarding policies.
• Foster a positive work environment free from harassment and bullying,
  grounded in equity, fairness, inclusiveness and respect for diversity.
• Demonstrated success scaling through partner-led models (not only direct
  implementation
• Strong track record leading in matrix organisations (influence without direct
  authority
• Experience as a Regional Director/Country Director (or equivalent) strongly
  preferred
• Track record of achievement in a comparable senior leadership role focused on
  delivery, implementation, and/or scaling in complex contexts.
• Significant proven field and people management experience, including leading
  senior managers across multiple countries/regions.
• Marine/coastal expertise is valued, but we particularly welcome candidates who
  have scaled frontline-community outcomes in international development, public
  health, climate resilience, inclusive finance, or comparable fields
• Significant operational experience delivering large-scale, multi-year international
  development and/or conservation programmes, ideally through partner-led models.
• Demonstrated ability to build delivery systems that enable consistent performance:
  planning, execution, monitoring, risk management, and continuous improvement.
• Strong understanding of what high-quality community-based programming looks
  like, and how to maintain quality while scaling.
• Excellent leadership and coaching skills—able to set direction, build accountability,
  and enable others to deliver.
  Strong change management capability: can redesign ways of working and embed

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