PROCUREMENT AND CONTRACTS MANAGER – Project Support Unit (PSU), Ethiopia Full Time NEW

About Expertise France

Expertise France is the public agency for the design and implementation of international technical cooperation projects, a member of the AFD Group. The Agency intervenes around four priority areas:

• Democratic, economic and financial governance.
• Peace, stability and security.
• Climate, agriculture and sustainable development.
• Health and Human Development.

In these areas, Expertise France carries out engineering and implementation missions for capacity building projects, the mobilization of technical expertise as well as a project coordinator involving public expertise and private know-how.

With a turnover of €450 million in 2024 and more than 350 ongoing projects in 140 countries of intervention, Expertise France is the leading public agency for French international technical cooperation.

Expertise France in Ethiopia

With more than 120 million inhabitants, hosting the African Union headquarter, Ethiopia is a key country on the continent. In recent years, the country has seen a constant strengthening of its bilateral cooperation with France and benefits from the largest European programme in sub-Saharan Africa.

This has resulted in an increase of more than 140% in the Agency’s portfolio in 2024, which now stands at €32 million and is expected to reach more than €45 million by the end of the year. The country is also home to two strategic regional projects in education and heritage, and a team of 3 mid-caps, which is being reinforced by 6 additional mid-caps.

The Expertise France country team should increase to nearly 50 people.

To support this development, the Agency has decided to structure a country directorate and a project support unit in Addis Ababa, as of September 2025.

Location and position:

Based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the position of Procurement and Contract Manager (PCM) is under the direct reporting of the Support Services Coordinator (SSC) of the Project Support Unit (PSU).

The managerial report line is: SSC / Country Director / Geographical Department / Operations Department.

In addition, the position of Contracts and Purchasing Manager is more broadly part of the legal function of Expertise France, which is supervised and functionally managed by the Department of Legal Affairs (DLA) based in Paris, France.

The PSU is made up of the purchasing and contracting, logistics, finance and human resources departments necessary for the implementation of projects. The PCM will therefore collaborate internally with the PSU team and the project teams of the PSU portfolio.

He/she will collaborate, externally, with Suppliers, service providers, bank, public administration, partners, civil society organizations, legal service providers, tax administration.

The employees supervised by the PCM are: Procurement and Contract Officer, Procurement and Contract Assistant and – subject to confirmation – Grant Officer.

The PCM’s field of responsibilities covers the following areas: Legal advice and contractual approach, procurement procedure (award and contracting), purchasing, public procurement, subsidies, cooperation agreement, memorandum of understanding, taxation, supply chain, storage

Description of the mission:

Within the Project Support Unit (PSU) team in Ethiopia, under the supervision of the Support Services Coordinator (SSC), and in the supervisory and managerial functional link of the Department of Legal Affairs (DLA) of Headquarters, in conjunction with the Compliance Department, the function of Procurement and Contract Manager consists of:

• Secure the commitments/legal acts entered by the PSU and provide its expertise as necessary to all the services of the PSU;
• Guarantee the legal compliance of the contracts it enters with the applicable French regulations (in particular the Public Procurement Code) and with all the procedures and best practices defined by the Agency,
• Comply with the internal control system, compliance rules and all measures to prevent fraud, corruption and all other forms of prevarication.

In conjunction with the DLA, with the help of his/her team and within the framework of the rules and procedures adopted by the Agency, the Purchasing and Contracts Manager must:

• Provide 1st level legal and purchasing advice to projects in terms of expression of need, contractual approach, contracting, purchasing technique and execution monitoring
• Ensure the programming of the procurement procedures for which he is responsible through the establishment of Procurement Plans, as well as their optimization and consolidation for the PSU;
• Choose and implement the procedures for awarding purchase and subsidy contracts in accordance with the regulations applicable to Expertise France in terms of public procurement and subsidies;
• Draft any amending act that may be necessary during the execution (amendment, termination, decision to reject services/deliverables, etc.) of a contract in its portfolio;
• Organise the “purchasing optimisation” of programmed needs and recurring purchases for which he or she is responsible through all forms of useful procedures (benchmarking, sourcing, establishment of supplier databases, purchasing mapping, use of any pooling system, etc.);
• Contribute to the department’s cross-functional activities (reporting, advice, support);
• Contribute to cross-functional workshops launched by the DAJ.

To do this, the Procurement and Contract Manager:

• Takes ownership of all the rules applicable to the award of contracts by the Agency and keeps abreast of their updates;
• Ensures, in conjunction with the Coordinator of Transversal Functions, the implementation of an efficient organization of his division for the benefit of projects and PSU;
• Ensures a permanent link between the PSU and the DLA and, as necessary, with all the other services under the Agency’s legal function (PSU based in other countries, Procurement Contract Unit based in Paris, etc.);
• Contributes to and generally facilitates any control or audit of his or her department and the activities to which he or she has contributed.
• Participates in all bodies and other committees under the Agency’s legal function (DLA+ Network, Documentation Committee, Internal Training, Working Groups, etc.)
• Transmits to the DLA’s due diligence, in accordance with the Agency’s processes, the consultation files and other evaluation and award reports and all
• Ensures the implementation of an efficient organization of his department for the benefit of projects, combining respect for the schedule of activities and legal compliance.
• Assists the SSC in the management of legal activities of projects and the office.
• Oversees office and project procurement.
• Ensures the purchasing and legal reporting of the office.
• Acts as interim SSC on legal issues in case of absence.
• Pilots and manages activities related to the contract management information system and participates as necessary in the deployment of new tools related to contract management.

Detailed missions:

Scheduling contracts and identifying cross-functional purchases

• Provide advice and validation to project managers and the PSU in the context of the updating of the Procurement Plan
• Identify cross-functional purchases that can be shared, propose and schedule the implementation of appropriate contractual supports that can cover these needs

Supplier monitoring and database

• Monitor and capitalize on the national and international markets of suppliers (stakeholders, products, prices, etc.)
• Set up a supplier database, ensure the follow-up of relationships and preferential agreements as needed
• Ensure the capitalization of price lists and suppliers identified within a supplier database

Purchase and Grant Contracts

In accordance with the regulations applicable to Expertise France’s purchases:

• Take charge of the purchase requests of the requesters in its portfolio (PSU needs and project management)
• Provide support for the expression of needs, sourcing or the development of specifications in conjunction with the requesters
• Provide support to buyers in the realization of purchases, and the drafting of contracts
• Choose the most suitable procurement procedure and validate the selection criteria in consultation with the applicants
• Prepare the consultation file and launch the procedure (publication of notices, posting on the dematerialization platform, etc.)
• Management of the consultation (question/answer exchanges, modifications to the consultation, reception and sharing of applications and offers with the evaluators)
• Carry out administrative admissibility checks and due diligence of applications
• Supervise, contribute and organize the negotiation of bids in conjunction with the evaluators
• Supervise and control the evaluation of bids carried out by evaluators
• Centralize the purchase of durable equipment and have it validated by the SSC before sending it to the dedicated department at the head office
• Transmit to the DLA’s prior control, in accordance with the Agency’s processes, the tender files and other evaluation and award reports and any other documents produced during the award of the contract subject to control
• Developing, signing and notifying contracts for which he/she is responsible
• Ensure the archiving in accordance with the standards of Expertise France of all the documents constituting the documents of the consultation (procedure) and the contractual documents (contract)
• Ensure that procurement files are complete and archived according to internal procedures

Follow-up of contract execution

• Ensure the follow-up and compliance with contractual conditions: deliverables (interim and final narrative and financial reports) / deadlines in conjunction with the operational team, and verify and validate payment tranches
• Implement subsidy management tools in conjunction with the financial department and the SSC
• Train beneficiaries on FE rules and donors if necessary
• Participate in audits of beneficiaries on legal aspects
• Develop contract monitoring tables as needed for the USP and for each project
• Provide all support and advice to the project teams and the PSU prescribers in the application of the contractual clauses of their implementation contracts
• Participate as much as necessary in the implementation and contractual framing as part of the contractual execution kick-off
• Enforce sanctions, if necessary, upon SSC and project team validation
• Draft amendments and all amending implementing acts: rejection and termination decisions, start-up service orders, tranche consolidation orders, purchase orders/subsequent contracts, decision to extend deadlines, etc.

Supervision of the office’s procurement in conjunction with the purchasing teams

• Ensure the capitalization of price and supplier lists, as well as the documentation in use (import – export, exemption, taxes, etc.)
• Carry out the purchasing environment analysis at the national level
• Supervise the consolidation of procurement forecasts and ensure the proper constitution of procurement files at the office level
• Oversee supplier selection, price negotiation, delivery deadlines and modalities
• Follow up on relationships with suppliers in conjunction with buyers

Management

• Prepare the schedules of team under his/her responsibility
• Evaluate the performance of staff under his/her direct supervision
• Supervise the proper implementation of his/her team’s schedules
• Train purchasing teams on procedures
• Organize training workshops on themes according to the needs identified
• Participate in the briefing of new arrivals

Transversal activities

• Develop and implement internal tools to ensure compliance with contractual conditions, particularly in terms of deadlines and deliverables
• Carry out reminders of milestones/deadlines/deliverables to the service providers and the operational team of the project in order to ensure compliance with the terms of the contract
• Draw up monthly contract and purchase reports in conjunction with the SSC
• Actively participate in the drafting of project developments and donor reports
• Oversee the archiving of office and project legal and procurement documents
• Liaise with the law firm if necessary
• Participate as much as necessary in the projects launched by the DLA

Desired profile

Qualifications

• Advanced education (or proven experience) in law and preferably a specialization in public business law, public procurement and/or contract law
• Training (or proven professional experience) in procurement management with legal logic (such as Bioforce)

Professional experience:

• At least 5 years’ experience in a similar position, in humanitarian or development sector
• Experience in team management
• Experience with donors (European Union/AFD/World Bank/other development banks) or with any other technical cooperation operator

Expected skills

To know:

• Knowledge of public procurement rules, particularly French and European and Knowledge of the law of obligations
• Knowledge of purchasing techniques (sourcing, supplier database, pooling, framework agreement, negotiation, follow-up of purchasing gains, etc.)
• Knowledge of basic principles and rules in international supply chain and logistics is an advantage
• Fluency in oral and written English. Knowledge of French is an advantage.

Know-how:

• Good organizational and writing skills
• Excellent analytical and report writing skills
• Excellent negotiation skills
• Perfect mastery of office automation tools
• Practical experience in international external audit

Soft skills:

• Ability to work in a demanding and multicultural context
• Ability to communicate clearly and synthetically, both written and orally
• Strong capacity for autonomy, independence of mind and impartiality
• Strong ability to work, rigor and organization
• Interpersonal, management and teamwork skills
• Ability to work independently
• Experience in team management

Conditions of employment

• Status: Open to national or expatriate status. Fixed-term
• Duration of the assignment : one-year renewable fixed-term contract
• Mission location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• Start date : 15 December 2025

Tagged as: Ethiopia, Expertise France