International Development Studies Jobs in Virginia

ENGAGEMENT
Contingent, project-based consulting; international travel may be required
COMPENSATION
Anticipated consulting fee: $200–$300 per hour, or a negotiated fixed price for a defined work package, depending on directly relevant experience and assignment requirements.
POSITION SUMMARY
Axyde Analytics is seeking a Global Critical Minerals USTDA Technical/Study Lead to serve as the accountable technical owner and primary author/principal investigator for contingent Global Critical Minerals project-scoping studies and products. The Lead will direct the discipline team and own assignment-specific technical integration, findings and recommendations, including scopes of work, terms of reference, work plans, budgets and schedules.
This is not a general program-management or business-development role. The successful candidate will personally convert prospective mining, mineral-processing, refining, recycling, infrastructure and supply-chain opportunities into evidence-based scopes, multidisciplinary work plans, defensible bases of estimate, terms of reference, budgets, schedules and decision-grade technical recommendations. The role is designed for an individual who has led USTDA definitional missions, feasibility studies or technical-assistance assignments—or closely comparable development-finance, infrastructure or emerging-market project-preparation work.
The Global Critical Minerals USTDA Technical/Study Lead will work with Axyde's Executive Program Director, contracts and administrative lead, independent reviewers and a broad expert cadre. The Technical/Study Lead is the accountable technical owner and primary author/principal investigator for the assigned study or product, directs the discipline team, and owns technical integration, findings and recommendations. Daniel Whalen, as Executive Program Director, enables and mentors the Technical/Study Lead, resolves program interfaces, assures corporate quality and controls final release. Supporting specialists and reviewers retain their bounded domain responsibilities.
CORE RESPONSIBILITIES
• Serve as the accountable technical owner and primary author/principal investigator for each assigned Global Critical Minerals study or product; own the assignment-specific methodology and technical work plan.
• Lead assignment intake and translate each request into decision questions, evidence needs, work breakdown structure, staffing plan, travel plan, deliverables, schedule, quality gates and basis of estimate.
• Configure and direct multidisciplinary teams spanning economic geology, mine planning, geotechnical engineering, tailings, mineral processing, metallurgy, infrastructure, markets, finance, environmental and social performance, regulation and regional execution.
• Lead preparation and review of scopes of work, terms of reference, budgets, schedules, implementation plans and funding recommendations.
• Ensure assessments integrate technical feasibility, commercial viability, capital and operating costs, bankability, sponsor capacity, environmental and social constraints, regulatory requirements, infrastructure dependencies, implementation risks, U.S. export opportunities and USTDA decision criteria.
• Chair evidence-sufficiency, fatal-flaw, interface-risk and independent-review sessions; identify gaps, uncertainty and conditions for project advancement.
• Control draft cycles and reviewer-comment disposition; recommend technical-release readiness to Axyde's Executive Program Director, who retains corporate quality assurance and final release authority.
• Lead or participate in international site visits, sponsor meetings, embassy and government engagement, technical interviews and stakeholder sessions when an assignment requires travel.
• Exercise the team before first delivery through scenario-based assignment rehearsals, role confirmation and release-gate testing.
• Protect proprietary information and comply with assignment-specific conflict, data, nondisclosure and technology-use controls. Any AI-assisted contract use will occur only after express written government approval when required.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
• At least 10 years of directly relevant professional experience; 15 or more years is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated leadership of mining, critical-minerals, mineral-processing, industrial-infrastructure, feasibility, project-preparation or technical-assistance assignments.
• Direct experience developing or approving terms of reference, scopes, work breakdown structures, budgets, schedules and implementation plans for complex technical studies.
• Evidence of multidisciplinary technical judgment across at least several of the following: geology/resources, mine planning, geotechnical/tailings, processing/metallurgy, infrastructure/logistics, environmental/social, markets/offtake, finance/bankability and regulatory execution.
• Experience producing, reviewing and releasing concise English-language reports and recommendations for government, development-finance, investor or executive decisions.
• Emerging-market or international assignment experience, including engagement with sponsors, government stakeholders, technical counterparts or local institutions.
• Ability to begin participating within approximately 20 days of an assignment request and to travel internationally when required.
• U.S. citizen or non-U.S. citizen lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States.
• No employment, confidentiality, intellectual-property, conflict-of-interest or organizational-conflict restriction that would prevent participation.
HIGHLY PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
• Personal leadership of one or more USTDA definitional missions, feasibility studies, technical-assistance assignments, Project Reports or comparable project-preparation engagements.
• Familiarity with USTDA funding recommendations, development impact, U.S. export opportunity analysis, terms-of-reference development and independent cost/budget preparation.
• Direct critical-minerals experience across extraction, beneficiation, processing, refining, recycling or supply-chain infrastructure.
• Experience with DFC, EXIM, MCC, USAID, World Bank, regional development banks, export-credit agencies or comparable development-finance institutions.
• Professional licensure, Qualified Person/Competent Person credentials, advanced technical degree, project-management credentials or equivalent evidence of senior technical responsibility.
• Regional or language capability relevant to Africa and the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Indo-Pacific, or Europe and Eurasia.
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS — SPECIFIC EVIDENCE REQUIRED
Breadth alone is not rewarded. General résumés that do not establish direct project-scoping, TOR/budget or technical-release depth will not be competitive.
Please provide:
• A résumé or CV identifying the assignments you personally led.
• A short cover note naming any USTDA or directly comparable assignments, your role, country, mineral/technology, sponsor/customer and the specific deliverables you personally scoped, authored, costed, reviewed or integrated.
• Your current location, citizenship or lawful-permanent-resident status, international-travel capacity, availability and anticipated hourly rate.
• If available and permissible, one sanitized example or description of a technical scope, TOR, budget, Project Report, feasibility-study plan or release decision you led. Do not submit proprietary information.
This opportunity is contingent on contract award, final assignment scope, eligibility, availability, mutually agreed compensation and execution of appropriate engagement documentation. No award, employment, minimum workload or specific assignment is guaranteed. Final engagement structure will be established before performance and may vary by assignment.
ABOUT AXYDE
Axyde Analytics integrates critical-minerals, supply-chain, industrial-base, technical-assessment and federal-program expertise to help decision-makers convert complex opportunities into executable, evidence-backed plans. Axyde is the prime contractor on a Defense Logistics Agency natural-graphite IDIQ with a $65 million cumulative ceiling across IDIQ holders and an initial approximately $5 million delivery order.