Senior Editor

About the Project

Through the Private Sector Engagement Modernization Contract (PSEMC), Dexis supports the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) PSE Hub to expand and deepen collaboration with the private sector to achieve greater development outcomes. The PSE Hub’s mission is to create the institutional conditions, operating infrastructure, and capacity necessary to expand engagement with the private sector in the United States and partner countries. The PSE Hub works to transform and modernize how USAID does development by institutionalizing USAID’s PSE policy and delivering capacity- and systems-building support for PSE across all sectors, operating units, and countries where USAID operates.

About the Position

Dexis is seeking a short-term Senior Editor (Print)/Graphic Design Consultant to support the Office of the Chief Economist (OCE). OCE supports USAID in improving the effectiveness of its programming and broader global engagement by bringing strong economic theory and evidence to bear on USAID’s work. Toward this end, OCE:

1. Promotes the use of high-quality evidence of “cost-effectiveness” (i.e., how much impact does an intervention deliver per dollar spent) in Agency decision-making;
2. Promotes the generation of more cost-effectiveness evidence that the Agency is uniquely placed to catalyze;
3. Provides analysis and advice to Agency leadership on pressing macroeconomic issues.

The Consultant will work directly with OCE to understand their design and editing needs and preferences, provide creative solutions and recommendations, and ensure designs are suitable for print and web production and meet quality standards. Specifically, the Consultant will (1) provide review and copy editing for communications materials produced by OCE technical leads, ensuring readability, clarity, and consistency of materials for internal and external audiences; and (2) create easily accessible and professionally designed reports, potentially including infographics and other graphic design collateral, to help communicate core concepts around how USAID innovates and incorporates cost-effectiveness evidence into its activity design and implementation process.

This is a short-term, remote consultancy with an expected duration of approximately five (5) months, with an immediate start date. Anticipated Level of Effort (LOE) is 230 hours. Dexis anticipates occasional need for full-time (e.g., 40 hours/week) support, with slower periods as well. The Consultant should expect and be available for occasional surge needs, primarily in later September 2024.

Responsibilities

• Lead graphic design and layout for several 10-15 page technical documents and position papers (content and information provided by OCE), focusing on creating a polished and professional formatting and visual style for print and online use
• Copy edit documents for consistency, clarity, and readability, ensuring the use of consistent formats and editorial voice
• Create infographics and other graphic collateral to help communicate core concepts around cost-effectiveness or results from evidence reviews
• Create slide decks, distilling core conclusions and relevant graphics
• Iterate or adapt existing graphics for various audiences

Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s Degree with 10 years of relevant experience, or Master’s Degree with 8 or more years of experience.
• Experience developing, designing, and editing in Adobe InDesign
• Experience with designing for print as well as web publishing
• Experience collaborating with others to understand and distill technical information and communicate that information visually
• Familiarity with conformance of digital information to Section 508 (Section 508 is an amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requiring federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities)
• Ability to think critically and provide feedback on overall readability of materials for both technical and lay audiences
• Demonstrated ability to work independently to meet time-sensitive deadlines

Preferred

• Prior experience supporting scientific and/or data science focused communications, and communicating to technical audiences
• Familiarity with USAID’s style guide and branding and marking standards
• Current holder of an active FAC or Secret-level security clearance