Senior Operations Associate, FEWS NET 8 - Decision Support

Chemonics seeks a Senior Operations Associate to join the Famine Early Warning Systems Network 8 - Decision Support project (FEWS NET 8 DS). The Senior Operations Associate will provide administrative, operational, human resources, finance, and logistical support to the FEWS NET 8 DS Team in the United States and country teams. The Senior Operations Associate is expected to work in collaboration with the FEWS NET 8 DS Technical Team, the project management unit (PMU), and other FEWS NET teams to carry out his/her responsibilities, ensure that the US-based project office and country teams are well-managed, and contribute to the timely completion of project deliverables. The Senior Operations Associate is a full-time position located in Washington, DC and reports to the Technical Operations Manager. This role requires on-site work in our Washington, DC office location as part of our hybrid, flexible work structure. We are looking for individuals who have a passion for making a difference in the lives of people around the world.

FEWS NET is an integrated set of activities funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and is intended to provide timely, accurate, evidence-based, and transparent food security early warning information and analysis. Created in 1985 in response to famines in East and West Africa, FEWS NET provides global coverage of acute food insecurity. FEWS NET’s work is implemented across several mechanisms by a team of partners that includes the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the University of California-Santa Barbara’s Climate Hazards Center (UCSB-CHC), NASA Harvest at the University of Maryland, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), American Institutes for Research (AIR), Tetra Tech, and Chemonics International (Chemonics). Chemonics implements FEWS NET’s Decision Support (DS) team, which is charged with providing integrated monitoring and analyses of current and forecast acute food insecurity in countries worldwide to support the United States Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) policy and programmatic decisions. The DS Team operates through a Washington-based technical office and regional and select local FEWS NET offices established in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and eastern Europe.  Based on an in-depth understanding of local livelihoods, DS Team members monitor information and data on factors that affect food security, such as conflict, weather conditions and climate, crops, pasture, markets and trade, and nutrition. The FEWS NET DS Team produces regular reports, including Food Security Outlooks and Outlook Updates, emergency alerts, market and price updates, and targeted analyses. FEWS NET makes reports available and distributes them globally to governments, relief agencies, and other organizations engaged in humanitarian response and development programs.         The eighth phase of FEWS NET began in 2024. The work of the FEWS NET DS Team relies on close collaboration with international, regional, and national partners on food security data and information gathering and analysis. Major activities include joint monitoring and assessments, data sharing and exchanges, collaborative analysis and reporting, and technical capacity strengthening. FEWS NET supports local and regional food security networks with the global objective of achieving food security for all.     

Responsibilities:

• Assist with procurement, travel, logistical, operational, recruitment, personnel management and administrative tasks for the FEWS NET 8 DS Team, together wit