Position Title: Project Director, Responsible Critical Minerals
Location: Chile or Argentina with regular travel between locations
ABOUT WINROCK INTERNATIONAL:
Winrock International is a nonprofit organization that empowers communities, expands economic opportunity, strengthens institutions, and sustains natural resources. Winrock seeks a full-time Project Director to lead an anticipated project advancing labor standards compliance and transparency in critical mineral supply chains in Argentina and Chile.
POSITION SUMMARY:
The Project Director will provide overall technical, managerial, financial, and representational leadership for a cooperative agreement focused on copper, lithium, and/or silver supply chains. The position will guide strategies that reduce labor-related risks, strengthen fair and reliable mineral supply, and link improved labor standards in Argentina and Chile to resilient U.S. manufacturing.
The Project Director will lead a multi-country team and partners working with government, employers, mining and processing companies, contractors, workers, civil society, and other stakeholders, and will serve as the primary point of contact with the funder in coordination with Winrock’s Home Office.
ESSENTIAL Responsibilities:
Technical Leadership
- Lead an evidence-based theory of change linking stronger labor standards and supply chain transparency to reliable supply for U.S. manufacturers and benefits for American jobs and wages.
- Oversee technical assistance to labor and government institutions to strengthen enforcement gaps, inspectorate transparency and integrity, and risk-based enforcement in mining, refining, and processing.
- Guide assurance, due diligence, traceability, and transparency approaches aligned with international standards and U.S. manufacturer needs.
Stakeholder Engagement and Partnerships
- Maintain relationships with national and subnational labor and mining authorities in Argentina and Chile while avoiding duplication of government responsibilities.
- Engage workers, worker organizations, employers, industry associations, civil society, communities, research institutions, U.S. Government representatives, and other relevant actors.
- Manage subrecipients, contractors, and technical partners, including roles, performance, compliance, risk, and integration into project strategy.
Project Management
- Lead start-up, work planning, implementation, closeout, and orderly termination procedures if required.
- Translate strategy into sequenced work packages, milestones, targets, responsibilities, and budgets aligned across planning, monitoring, technical, and country-budget documents.
- Oversee monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning to define outcomes, verify milestones, ensure data quality, and adapt implementation.
- Ensure timely submission of high-quality technical deliverables, progress reports, economic impact narratives, financial reports, and final/closeout reports.
Financial, Operational, and Award Compliance
- Oversee budget management, country allocations, expenditures, forecasting, controls, procurement, subawards, and financial performance.
- Ensure compliance with the cooperative agreement, funder requirements, Winrock policies, and country requirements.
- Oversee recruitment, onboarding, supervision, and staff development to build a collaborative, accountable, results-focused team.
- Ensure project-funded products meet accessibility, communications, acknowledgment, records-retention, and open-licensing requirements.
Representation and Travel
- Serve as the principal project representative and primary point of contact for the funder and maintain constructive relationships with host-country stakeholders.
- Travel regularly to project sites and mining regions in Argentina and Chile and internationally as required.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Qualifications and Background:
Education
Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree strongly preferred in a relevant field such as labor relations, law, public policy, international development, human rights, mining, engineering, occupational safety and health, supply chain management, or economics.
Required Experience and Competencies
- At least 10 years of relevant experience, including at least 5 years leading complex donor-funded project delivery.
- Demonstrated leadership experience in the mining, mineral processing, extractive, industrial, or critical mineral sector, preferably involving copper, lithium, and/or silver.
- Established professional networks and demonstrated experience in Argentina and/or Chile, particularly in mining regions and/or with labor or mining institutions.
- Knowledge of fundamental labor rights and acceptable conditions of work, including OSH, freedom of association, collective bargaining, wages, hours, and grievance/remediation systems.
- Experience engaging labor ministries, labor inspectorates, mining authorities, employers, contractors and subcontractors, workers and worker organizations, civil society, and private-sector supply chain actors.
- Experience with labor compliance, responsible sourcing, human rights due diligence, assurance, traceability, contractor risk management, industrial relations, or supply chain transparency.
- Success managing multi-country teams, subawards, consultants, budgets, work plans, performance targets, compliance systems, and high-level donor relationships.
- Knowledge of U.S. Government assistance requirements and cooperative agreement management; prior experience strongly preferred.
- Excellent facilitation, negotiation, partnership-building, written communication, and public representation skills.
- Professional fluency in spoken and written English and Spanish required.
- Ability and willingness to travel frequently within Argentina and Chile and internationally.
- Proficiency with Microsoft word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, collaboration, and project management tools.
Position contingent on funding.
Winrock is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing equal treatment for all people. All qualified applicants receive consideration for employment regardless of race, color, religion, sex, gender, national origin, age, disability or any other basis protected by law.
At Winrock we have a clear mission: Empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity and sustain natural resources through unwavering dedication to accountability, equity, innovation, integrity and transformation.