Materials and Labor Specialist

Role Overview

This position sits at the intersection of construction innovation, affordable housing, and market systems development across Eastern and Southern Africa. You will investigate how building materials, construction labour, and incremental owner-driven building practices can be made more efficient and accessible for low-income households, then work directly with private sector actors, training institutions, and industry professionals to put those findings into action. Your day-to-day work involves field assessments, market research, partner facilitation, project management, and technical guidance—all aimed at reshaping how the region builds better homes for less money.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead sector assessments and provide expert technical recommendations on construction practices, value engineering, and cost-efficient building methods tailored to incremental housing in the region.
• Design and oversee studies that examine market conditions for both conventional and alternative building materials, with an emphasis on innovations that genuinely reduce costs for low-income families.
• Drive the Labour and Materials housing market systems agenda by identifying promising initiatives across the housing value chain, building relationships with market actors, and facilitating collaboration between firms, trainers, and other stakeholders.
• Manage end-to-end delivery of housing market systems mapping, value chain research, and market facilitation projects, including coordinating with private sector partners and ensuring timely, high-quality outputs.
• Support construction firms in discovering, testing, and adopting cost-effective building technologies and associated labour practices that can serve low-income households affordably.
• Develop and roll out a Housing Quality Standard guide that supports safe, resilient incremental construction practices across the region.
• Collaborate with the results and measurement team to build a data collection and feedback system that tracks progress, informs decision-making, and keeps internal and external stakeholders updated.
• Provide technical advice to internal teams and external partners on shelter and labour interventions, contribute to donor proposals and reports, and represent the organisation at industry gatherings and conferences as needed.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering, Construction Management, Architecture, or a closely related field.
• A minimum of five years of hands-on experience in construction, construction management, contracts management, and project management, including direct responsibility for project planning and execution.
• Proven skills in contracting, negotiation, and closing agreements with a range of parties.
• Demonstrable knowledge of green and sustainable construction materials, technologies, and labour practices, including how they apply to real-world affordability challenges.
• A clear grasp of Market Systems Development principles and how to apply them in housing value chains.
• Working knowledge of the housing construction labour sector, including skill gaps, training pathways, and workforce dynamics.
• Ability to examine and re-engineer construction operations and procedures, implement new strategies, and manage financial plans and resources, including interpreting financial data.
• Strong communication and public relations skills, with the ability to develop and deliver effective presentations to diverse audiences, including government officials and private sector leaders.
• Professional fluency in written and verbal English and Swahili, with excellent interaction skills across varied constituencies.
• Comfortable motivating teams, managing multiple projects simultaneously, working flexible hours, and travelling to remote locations when required.
• Private sector experience and PMP certification are highly valued, though not mandatory.