Project Manager-Local Position
Organization: Expertise France
Closing date: 21 Aug 2026
English:
1. DESCRIPTION OF THE AGENCY
Expertise France is the French public agency responsible for designing and implementing international technical cooperation projects. The agency operates 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 provides project engineering and implementation support, contributes to capacity-building initiatives, mobilises technical expertise, and acts as a project integrator bringing together public expertise and private-sector know-how.
The Lebanon-Jordan Country Direction, established on 1 January 2025, provides the strategic and operational framework for managing Expertise France's activities in both countries. Led by a Country Director based in Beirut, the Country Direction brings together approximately 70 staff members across Lebanon and Jordan. In Lebanon, the team includes around 30 staff members, including 4 project-based expatriates and 5 International Technical Experts (ITEs).
1. PROJECT BACKDROUNG AND DESCRIPTION
Lebanese citizens routinely face administrative procedures that lack transparency, traceability and predictability. Many services involve significant administrative discretion, weakly documented and hard to audit. This opacity feeds informal practices: reliance on intermediaries (wasta), informal payments, and access to information that depends on personal connections. The reliance on physical stamps and paper-based authentication further weakens the integrity of public documents, which can be falsified, lost or contested without effective recourse.
Lebanese public administrations face a severe capacity deficit, deepened by the prolonged economic crisis. The departure of qualified staff, the erosion of salaries and the limited renewal of the workforce have left many institutions structurally weakened. Internal processes are often outdated, training in digital tools and modern management is uneven, and change management capacity is limited. These administrations therefore need sustained external support to design, deploy and operate digital services that are genuinely user-centered and integrity-driven.
In this context, AI-assisted public services respond directly to the human resources constraint. By compensating for the shortage of qualified staff, taking over repetitive high-volume tasks, and improving the efficiency and responsiveness of service delivery, they free up administrative capacity for higher-value work while improving the citizen experience.
Digitalization has emerged as a strategic priority across government reform agendas. Efforts are underway to modernise public administration through the adoption of digital tools, the development of e-government platforms, and the introduction of more efficient and transparent service delivery mechanisms. Key areas of focus include the digitization of core administrative processes, the expansion of online public services, and the strengthening of digital infrastructure and connectivity across institutions.
Within this framework, the initiative led by the Office of the Minister of State for Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence (OMSITAI) plays a central role in advancing Lebanon's digital transformation agenda. OMSITAI is actively supporting the development of national digital government priorities, promoting interoperability between public institutions, and guiding the rollout of key e-government services aimed at improving accessibility, efficiency, and transparency. OMSITAI has developed Lebanon's Digital and AI Roadmap and identified a portfolio of priority e-services to be digitalised in pilot administrations.
Despite a vibrant technology sector in Beirut, the Lebanese GovTech ecosystem remains underleveraged in the public sector transformation agenda. Incubators, accelerators and start-ups hold strong technical skills and entrepreneurial energy, but their engagement with public administrations on service delivery is limited. Access to financing is constrained, particularly in the post-crisis context. As a result, opportunities to mobilise local capabilities for public services digitalisation are missed, and the ecosystem's potential to anchor a sustainable transformation - including through viable, revenue-generating models - is not yet realised.
To address these challenges, the proposed action intends to support the deployment of user-centred digital public services designed to improve accessibility, transparency, and efficiency for citizens and businesses. Adopting a "quick wins" approach, the action prioritizes the digitalisation of high-impact services capable of delivering tangible benefits within a short timeframe, while demonstrating the value of digital transformation and building momentum for broader reforms.
Accordingly, a new EU Action, starting in September 2026 (to be confirmed) will be implemented to support anti-corruption efforts through processes' reforms and digitalisation of high-impact public services.
The Action is implemented by a consortium led by Expertise France, acting as the pillar-assessed entity and the e-Governance Academy (eGA) is the consortium partner responsible for leading the trust services component.
The action is structured around four complementary outputs, each led by one of the two consortium partners with cross-contributions where the complementarity of expertise adds operational value:
1. Output 1 (EF lead). Accessible, user-centered and integrity-enhancing digital public services developed and deployed.
2. Output 2 (EF lead). Pilot administrations' capacities strengthened for transparent and integrity-driven service delivery.
3. Output 3 (eGA lead). Cybersecurity frameworks, European trust services and integrity standards implemented for digital public services.
4. Output 4 (EF lead). Lebanese GovTech ecosystem strengthened and mobilised in support of public services digitalisation, towards the long-term financial sustainability of digitalised services.
5. MISSION DESCRIPTION:
For the implementation of the project, Expertise France is currently recruiting a Project Manager.
The Project Manager will be responsible for ensuring the effective implementation of the three project outputs under the responsibility of Expertise France. The Project Manager will report to the Governance Portfolio Manager and will work in close coordination with the e-Governance Academy (eGA) team to ensure alignment between the different components, maximize synergies, and support the overall successful implementation of the Action.
The Governance Portfolio Manager provides the strategic oversight of the action, ensuring its overall quality, coherence and alignment with Expertise France's governance portfolio in Lebanon, particularly the Public Administration Reform (PAR) programme.
He/she will be responsible for the following tasks:
3.1. Project Leadership and Management:
* Provide overall leadership, strategic guidance, and operational oversight for the successful implementation of the project.
* Ensure effective planning, coordination, implementation, and monitoring of project activities in line with the work plan, budget, contractual obligations, and expected results.
* Anticipate implementation challenges, identify risks and opportunities, monitor the political, institutional, and regulatory context, and recommend appropriate mitigation measures.
* Provide timely strategic alerts and recommendations to the Portfolio Manager on key risks, delays, or issues affecting project implementation.
3.2. Technical Supervision, expert management and Quality Assurance:
* Provide technical leadership and supervision to the Project Officer, Long-Term Experts (LTEs), and Short-Term Experts (STEs).
* Lead the preparation of Terms of Reference for project experts, ensuring alignment with project objectives, contractual requirements, and expected results.
* Ensure effective coordination of experts' contributions and alignment with project objectives.
* Guarantee the quality, relevance, consistency, and timely delivery of project outputs and key deliverables.
* Review, provide guidance on, and validate key technical documents, including work plans, reports, dashboards, and communication materials.
* Support, together with the Project Officer, the planning, coordination, and follow-up of expert missions to ensure their effective implementation and alignment with project objectives.
3.3. Stakeholder Engagement and Partnership Coordination:
* Establish and maintain effective working relationships with project partners (eGA), beneficiaries, institutional stakeholders, civil society organisations, development partners, and other donor-funded initiatives.
* Facilitate coordination, dialogue, and synergies among stakeholders to maximize project impact and sustainability.
* Represent the project in strategic meetings, conferences, workshops, technical working groups, and other relevant forums.
* Support the Portfolio Manager in maintaining effective communication and coordination with the European Union representatives and relevant donor counterparts, including through the provision of timely updates on project progress, implementation challenges, and key risks.
3.4. Project Planning, Monitoring, and Reporting:
* Under the supervision of the Governance Portfolio Manager, lead the coordination of internal project planning and operational management processes, including work planning, budget forecasts, project reviews, dashboards, and management reporting ; and the preparation, consolidation, quality assurance, and timely submission of donor reports in compliance with contractual requirements and Expertise France procedures.
* Coordinate with the MEAL Officer on the implementation of the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) system and ensure regular analysis and reporting of project progress, results, risks, and challenges.
* Ensure that monitoring findings inform decision-making and support continuous improvement of project implementation.
1. REQUIRED PROFILE
Qualifications and skills:
* Master's degree or equivalent in international development, public administration, governance, political science, economics, project management, law, digital transformation, or a related discipline.
* Proven ability to coordinate a project with ambitious indicators
* Strong management skills
* Ability to work in a team and bring out ideas and operational solutions;
* Excellent interpersonal and communication skills;
* Proactive, with a sense of responsibility;
* Organizational skills and attention to detail;
* Strong Institutional representation capacity;
* Demonstrated autonomy, flexibility, and responsiveness;
* Analytical mindset and ability to synthesize information;
* Proficiency in office tools (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.);
* Diplomatic and discreet approach;
* Demonstrated ability to work in a multicultural environment;
* Demonstrated ability to work in a complex context;
* Trilingual candidates (Arabic, English and French) are favored.
Professional experience:
* Minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in project management and/or international cooperation in the field of public reforms, the fight against corruption and digitalisation;
* Proven experience in leading and managing complex, multi-stakeholder projects, preferably in an international cooperation context.
* Proven experience working with Lebanese public institutions, including ministries, government agencies, and public administrations, and understanding of the institutional and regulatory environment in Lebanon.
* Demonstrated experience managing donor-funded projects in Lebanon or the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, particularly projects involving public institutions and government counterparts.
* Demonstrated experience in governance, institutional strengthening, digital transformation, public sector reform, or related areas.
* Strong project management skills, deadline compliance, high quality of internal and external documents.
1. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The position is available from September 2026, contingent upon the signature of the project.
The Project Manager will be based in Beirut and will report directly to the Governance portfolio manager, based in Beirut.
Competitive package.
French:
1. AGENCY PRESENTATION:
Expertise France is the French public agency responsible for the design and implementation of international technical cooperation projects. The agency operates 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 provides project engineering and support for their implementation, contributes to capacity building initiatives, mobilizes technical expertise and plays a role as a project integrator by combining public expertise and private sector know-how.
The Lebanon-Jordan Country Office , established on January 1, 2025, provides the strategic and operational framework for managing Expertise France's activities in both countries. Headed by a Country Director based in Beirut, the office comprises approximately 70 staff members working in Lebanon and Jordan. In Lebanon, the team consists of around 30 staff members, including 4 expatriates working on projects and 5 International Technical Experts (ITEs).
1. PROJECT CONTEXT AND DESCRIPTION:
Lebanese citizens regularly face administrative procedures lacking transparency, traceability, and predictability. Many services involve significant administrative discretion, which is poorly documented and difficult to audit. This opacity fuels informal practices: the use of intermediaries (wasta), informal payments, and access to information dependent on personal relationships. Furthermore, the reliance on physical stamps and paper-based authentication undermines the integrity of public documents, which can be falsified, lost, or challenged without effective recourse.
Lebanese public administrations face a severe capacity gap, exacerbated by the prolonged economic crisis. The departure of skilled staff, wage erosion, and low staff turnover have structurally weakened many institutions. Internal processes are often outdated, training in digital tools and modern management is uneven, and the capacity to drive change is limited. These administrations therefore require sustained external support to design, deploy, and operate truly user-centric and integrity-based digital services.
In this context, AI-assisted public services directly address the human resource constraint. By compensating for the lack of qualified staff, taking over high-volume, repetitive tasks, and improving the efficiency and responsiveness of service delivery, they free up administrative capacity for higher-value tasks while enhancing the citizen experience.
Digitalization has emerged as a strategic priority across all government reform agendas. Efforts are underway to modernize public administration through the adoption of digital tools, the development of e-government platforms, and the introduction of more efficient and transparent service delivery mechanisms. Key areas of focus include the digitalization of essential administrative processes, the expansion of online public services, and the strengthening of digital infrastructure and connectivity between institutions.
Within this framework, the initiative led by the Office of the Minister of State for Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence (OMSITAI) plays a central role in advancing Lebanon's digital transformation agenda. OMSITAI actively supports the development of national priorities for digital government, promotes interoperability among public institutions, and guides the deployment of key e-government services aimed at improving accessibility, efficiency, and transparency. OMSITAI has developed Lebanon's digital and AI roadmap and identified a portfolio of priority digital services to be digitized within pilot administrations.
Despite a vibrant technology sector in Beirut, the Lebanese GovTech ecosystem remains underutilized in the public sector transformation agenda. Incubators, accelerators, and startups possess strong technical skills and entrepreneurial drive, but their engagement with public administrations in service delivery remains limited. Access to funding is constrained, particularly in the post-crisis context. As a result, opportunities to mobilize local capacity for the digitalization of public services are missed, and the ecosystem's potential to anchor sustainable transformation--including through viable and revenue-generating models--remains unrealized.
To address these challenges, the proposed action aims to support the deployment of user-centric digital public services designed to improve accessibility, transparency, and efficiency for citizens and businesses. Adopting a "quick wins" approach, the action prioritizes the digitalization of high-impact services capable of generating tangible benefits quickly, while demonstrating the value of digital transformation and creating momentum for broader reforms.
Thus, a new EU action, starting in September 2026 (to be confirmed) , will be implemented to support anti-corruption efforts through process reform and the digitalization of high-impact public services.
The action is implemented by a consortium led by Expertise France, acting as pillar-assessed entity, with the e-Governance Academy (eGA) being the consortium partner in charge of the trust services component.
The action is structured around four complementary products, each managed by one of the two partners in the consortium, with cross-contributions when the complementarity of expertise brings operational value:
1. Product 1 (led by EF). Accessible, user-centric, and integrity-enhancing digital public services are developed and deployed.
2. Product 2 (led by EF). The capacities of the pilot administrations are strengthened for transparent and integrity-based service delivery.
3. Product 3 (led by the eGA). Cybersecurity frameworks, European trust services and integrity standards are implemented for digital public services.
4. Product 4 (led by EF). The Lebanese GovTech ecosystem is strengthened and mobilized to support the digitalization of public services, with a view to the long-term financial sustainability of digitalized services.
5. MISSION DESCRIPTION:
For the implementation of the project, Expertise France is currently recruiting a Project Manager.
The Project Manager will be responsible for the effective implementation of the three project deliverables under the responsibility of Expertise France. They will report to the Governance Portfolio Manager and work in close coordination with the e-Governance Academy (eGA) team to ensure consistency between the different components, maximize synergies, and support the overall success of the project implementation.
The Governance Portfolio Manager ensures the strategic supervision of the action, guaranteeing its overall quality, consistency and alignment with Expertise France's governance portfolio in Lebanon, in particular the Public Administration Reform Support Programme (PAR).
He/she will be responsible for the following tasks:
3.1. Leadership and Project Management:
* To provide overall leadership, strategic direction and operational oversight for the successful implementation of the project.
* Ensure effective planning, coordination, implementation and monitoring of project activities, in accordance with the work plan, budget, contractual obligations and expected results.
* Anticipate implementation difficulties, identify risks and opportunities, monitor the political, institutional and regulatory context, and recommend appropriate mitigation measures.
* Provide the Portfolio Manager with timely strategic alerts and recommendations on major risks, delays or difficulties affecting the implementation of the project.
3.2. Technical supervision, expert management and quality assurance:
* Provide technical leadership and supervision to the Project Manager, Long Term Experts (LTEs) and Short Term Experts (STEs).
* Lead the preparation of the terms of reference for the project experts, ensuring their consistency with the project objectives, contractual requirements and expected results.
* Ensure effective coordination of expert contributions and their alignment with project objectives.
* Ensure the quality, relevance, consistency and timely delivery of key project products and deliverables.
* Review, guide and validate key technical documents, including work plans, reports, dashboards and communication materials.
* Support, with the Project Manager, the planning, coordination and monitoring of expert missions in order to ensure their effective implementation and alignment with the project objectives.
3.3. Stakeholder engagement and partnership coordination:
* Establish and maintain effective working relationships with project partners (eGA), beneficiaries, institutional stakeholders, civil society organizations, development partners and other donor-funded initiatives.
* Facilitate coordination, dialogue and synergies between stakeholders in order to maximize the impact and sustainability of the project.
* Represent the project at strategic meetings, conferences, workshops, technical working groups and other relevant forums.
* Support the Portfolio Manager in maintaining effective communication and coordination with representatives of the European Union and other relevant donors, including through the regular and timely transmission of information on project progress, implementation difficulties and major risks.
3.4. Project planning, monitoring and reporting:
* Under the supervision of the Governance Portfolio Manager, lead the coordination of internal project planning and operational management processes, including work planning, budget forecasts, project reviews, dashboards and management reporting; as well as the preparation, consolidation, quality assurance and timely submission of reports to donors, in accordance with contractual requirements and Expertise France procedures.
* Coordinate with the MEAL Officer the implementation of the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) system and ensure regular analysis and reporting of the project's progress, results, risks and difficulties.
* Ensure that the results of the monitoring inform decision-making and contribute to the continuous improvement of project implementation.
1. PROFILE SOUGHT:
Qualifications and skills:
* Master's degree or equivalent in international development, public administration, governance, political science, economics, project management, law, digital transformation, or related discipline.
* Proven ability to coordinate a project with ambitious indicators
* Strong management skills
* Ability to work in a team and to generate ideas and operational solutions;
* Excellent interpersonal and communication skills;
* Sense of responsibility and proactive spirit;
* Sense of organization and attention to detail;
* Strong capacity for institutional representation;
* Demonstrated autonomy, flexibility and responsiveness;
* Analytical mind and ability to synthesize;
* Proficiency in office software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.);
* Diplomatic approach and discretion;
* Demonstrated ability to work in a multicultural environment;
* Demonstrated ability to work in a complex environment;
* Preference is given to trilingual candidates (Arabic, English and French).
Professional experience:
* Minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in project management and/or international cooperation in the field of public reforms, the fight against corruption and digitalization;
* Proven experience in leading and managing complex projects involving multiple stakeholders, preferably in an international cooperation context.
* Proven experience working with Lebanese public institutions, including ministries, government agencies and public administrations, and a good understanding of the institutional and regulatory environment in Lebanon.
* Demonstrated experience in managing donor-funded projects in Lebanon or the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, particularly projects involving public institutions and government counterparts.
* Demonstrated experience in governance, institutional strengthening, digital transformation, public sector reform, or related fields.
* Strong project management skills, adherence to deadlines, high-quality internal and external documentation.
1. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The position is available from September 2026, subject to the signing of the project.
The Project Manager will be based in Beirut and will report directly to the Governance Portfolio Manager, also based in Beirut.
Competitive package.
How to apply:
English:
To apply for this position, please submit your application through the following link:
https://expertise-france.gestmax.fr/15970/1/project-manager-h-f/fr_FR
Please note that only applications submitted through this link will be considered.
French:
To apply for this position, please submit your application via the following link:
https://expertise-france.gestmax.fr/15970/1/project-manager-h-f/fr_FR
Please note that only applications submitted via this link will be considered.