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Director, Program Quality and Performance in Emergencies

Major Responsibilities

Strategic Project Leadership (50%)

• Balancing efficiency with broad engagement, the role will conceptualize, coordinate, simplify, structure, project-manage, and deliver results independently and through others on key QiE strategic priorities and special assignments critical for the future of the Pillar. The Director will lead on high-impact, inter-departmental, and complex strategic initiatives and coherence on strategic projects related, but not limited to:
  • Emergency response tools and guidance
  • Emergency Roadmap
  • Emergency Technical Frameworks and STEP
  • Piloting and improving QiE’s quality assurance accountability framework in emergencies
  • Business development strategies, including targeted fundraising approaches for emergencies
  • Climate change and adaptation framework in emergency settings
  • Partnerships in Emergencies, supporting EHAU’s commitments to invest in partnerships in the next three years
• To meet these goals, the role will build, improve, and implement lean and efficient governance systems to facilitate decision-making, risk mitigation, and quality assurance. Likewise, it will be responsible for ensuring knowledge management and supporting effective and inclusive collaboration. This will require the position holder to strengthen collaboration, prioritization, and execution across programming teams, serving as a partner, relationship builder, and leader within the department and across the IRC. 
• The role will demonstrate strong strategic leadership with minimal oversight and support and will ensure consistent communication and engagement of the QiE Leadership team, the EHAU SMT and/or other technical partners as relevant, on strategic projects. Strategic project management will include clear workplans, key results, benchmarks as well as transition or organizational change strategies. The Director will also advise the Senior Director of Quality in Emergencies on priorities, opportunities and challenges and ensure they are appropriately informed of key organizational issues. 

Emergency Preparedness and prepositioning response capacity (10%)

• Be responsible for the strategic roll-out and implementation of the preparedness and early action framework for quality in emergencies with Regional Emergency Directors. This includes establishing a change management process and practice integration assessment plan. Ensure the framework is kept updated and properly communicated across all relevant parties. 
• Ensure effective and efficient implementation of the preparedness framework with linkages to IRC’s strategic action planning process. 
• Support uptake and consistent use of the tools and resources for preparedness across regions. 
• Lead cross-functional analysis and learning around areas for improvement of the emergency preparedness framework and resource package, while promoting good knowledge management practices.
• Coordinate QiE support functions to ensure efficient, quality delivery on regional preparedness plans, in partnership with REDs and other IRC departments/ regional counterparts.
• Lead QiE STAs in maintaining emergency preparedness tools and resources for the Quality in Emergencies team.
• Participate in and coordinate QiE engagement in climate adaptation and anticipatory action strategic direction, inclusive of upcoming joint/shared business development between QiE and TechEx.
• As needed, provide strategic support and oversight of capacity strengthening and sharing on humanitarian and emergency competencies among country response teams. 

Quality Assurance and Performance Management (25%)

• This role will lead on governance and performance management for the pillar, working closely with EHAU’s Director of Strategy and Measurement to align and integrate with the Departmental Performance Framework and ecosystems. The role will:
• Support and design a vision and lead efforts to improve clarity, capacity, and commitment around IRC’s future quality assurance processes in emergencies. 
• Identify simple and practical solutions for raising program quality, which apply to existing routines and standard approaches.
• Partner with STAs and other EHAU pillars to identify key management and other relevant metrics.
• Supervise and communicate performance across the Pillar.
• Establish overarching routines for the pillar for tracking, coordination, discussion, and debate.
• Play a leading role in the implementation of the organizational SAP for emergencies by ensuring strategic areas of work, such as preparedness and partnerships are supported, progress metrics reviewed and developing corrective actions as required.
• Coordinate accountability practices across QiE for the areas of the SAP under the department’s remit (1.1, 1.4, 2.1). Collaborate with the relevant SAP conveners to develop and manage routines for QiE quarterly SAP progress reviews, implementation plan revisions, and engaging the full QiE department in strategic efforts. 

 Management of Partnerships & Safeguarding Teams (15%)

• Manage the Partnerships Senior Technical Advisor and maintain strategic oversight over  the integration of partnerships initiatives across QiE and EHAU. Provide leadership and guidance to the emergency partnerships team. 
• Provide strategic support on delivering safeguarding priorities, including planning and implementation in emergency responses. 
• Supervise and manage ERT and EST Safeguarding Coordinators. 
• Provide oversight and support on learning and impact overview on EHAU Safeguarding priorities. 
• Ensure coordinated technical support to safeguarding coordinators during deployments and response start-up.
• Ensure EHAU Safeguarding strategies are streamlined with the global IRC guidance. 

Team Culture

• Build and maintain strong working relationships with EHAU colleagues and continually promote a culture of partnership and collaboration.
• Cultivate and maintain a positive, inclusive, safe and caring work environment, while additionally setting an example of ‘One IRC’-way of working within the team, EHAU and the wider organization
• Advance efforts across EHAU to promote gender equality, diversity and more inclusive practice across our programming and our ways of working.
• Engage in effective power-sharing practices and ensure colleagues have the knowledge, support, and power to do their work with autonomy. 

Requirements:

• 8-10 years’ experience providing advice and support to country teams in the setting up and implementation of emergency responses.
• Extensive experience planning, leading and delivering large-scale, cross functional projects, and managing change in a complex, global organization.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to anticipate and assess situations accurately and recommend/implement effective courses of action required.
• Proven track record of advancing multiple critical initiatives and a myriad of complex details on a concurrent basis.
• Ability to communicate effectively with internal and external collaborators with tact, both orally and in writing, including working with all staff levels and diverse personalities.
• Proven ability to build influence and alignment between diverse cohorts.
• Consistent record of serving as a role model, empowering others to translate vision into results; effective at supporting the power sharing and power building of team members.  
• High integrity and ethical standards, collegial and collaborative behavior, high energy, resiliency, and creativity.
• Experience leading and inspiring leaders toward the achievement of joint goals.
• High dedication to fostering a working environment of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Ability to expand on own initiative in performance of duties.
• Excellent judgment, tact, initiative, creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, organizational skills, and self-motivation.
• Ability to travel up to 25-30% of the time.  

Director, Strategy and Measurement in Emergencies

Responsibilities

Lead Emergency and Humanitarian Action Strategy (60%)

• Lead, structure and project-manage the long-term development, improvement, delivery, and measurement of IRC’s Strategy Action Plan (SAP) for Emergencies and Humanitarian Action. This includes identifying and prioritizing initiatives relating to all areas of IRC’s emergency response strategy, influencing decision-making, advocating for and allocating resources, and establishing trusted metrics to measure progress. 
• Via close intra- and cross-departmental collaboration, identify opportunities for EHAU’s growth and improvement and facilitate discussion amongst relevant stakeholders regarding high-potential action areas. Ensure actionable strategies and goals are appropriately integrated into the broader unit expectations and areas of focus. 
• Utilizing insights from the MEAL team and other organizational sources, lead on governance and performance management for EHAU, providing quarterly data and insights, identifying key management and performance metrics, establishing overarching routines for tracking, coordination, discussion, and debate, and monitoring and communicating performance and financial health across EHAU teams.  
• Serve as a thought partner, sounding board, and idea crafter for the EHAU VP and SMT. Create written and presentation content to advance the unit’s major needs and requests. Support stakeholder management and presentation strategy with senior stakeholders.
• Be responsible for managing and identifying risks and challenges that may impact EHAU’s efficiency and ability to meet strategic goals. Develop contingency plans and partnerships to detect and prevent issues from arising. 
• Effectively manage the communication of the unit’s strategy to senior management, team members, CRRD regional leaders, and other IRC stakeholders to ensure all levels of the organization are aligned and working towards a shared goal. This includes managing the update of SAP content and narrative to reflect up to date priorities and progress, overseeing the proper implementation and focus of team events, and ensuring a “One-IRC” approach to messaging. 
• Establish routines and structures that support efficient working of the SMT in collaboration with VP Emergencies.
• Act as a full voting member of EHAU’s SMT. Routinely attend CRRD SMT as an advisor.

Lead EHAU’s MEAL Team (40%)

• Provide technical leadership and strategic direction to the Quality in Emergencies’ MEAL team.
• Participate in QiE Leadership team to ensure clear coordination and support of pillar-wide MEAL needs.
• Closely collaborate with QiE STAs to ensure relevant programmatic lens is brought into MEAL deliverables. Provide oversight to MEAL technical and strategic direction to responses and technical projects.
• Develop and lead QiE’s Learning Strategy in close collaboration with QiE and Delivery pillar leads. Work closely with the MEAL TA to establish routines and consistent learning products.
• Backstop and provide mentorship in the completion of learning exercises for relevant emergencies. 
• Foster and champion a cultural of data driven decision-making in emergencies.
• Ensure EHAU MEAL team is well synced with global Measurement Unit shifts, policies and guidance.
• Serve as focal point for any incoming EHAU level requests for MEAL support.
• Work with the Systems TA in the development of governance structure for Airtable and documentation around maintenance. Ensure EHA SAP measurement and analysis backend is maintained.

Team Culture

• Build and maintain strong working relationships with EHAU, TechEx, and regional colleagues and continually promote a culture of partnership and collaboration.
• Cultivate and maintain a positive, collaborative, safe and protective work environment, while additionally setting an example of ‘One IRC’-way of working within the team, EHAU and the wider organization.
• Contribute to efforts across EHAU to promote gender equality, diversity and more inclusive practice across our programming and our ways of working.

Key Working Relationships:

• Position Reports to: Senior Director, Quality in Emergencies 
• Position directly supervises: Strategy Officer, Unit & Events Officer, MEAL Systems Technical Advisor and MEAL Technical Advisor.
• Partners with: Vice President of Emergencies and Senior Director of Policy and Planning for CRRD
• Works closely with: EHAU SMT, ERT MEAL Coordinators, QiE Leadership Team, HQ Technical Leaders, TechEx Leaders, CRRD Regional Leaders, Regional Emergency Directors, Departmental Strategy focal points and Directors of Policy and Planning, Strategy Unit focal points.

Job Requirements: 

Essential:

• Strong strategic leadership and ability to drive forward project implementation with minimal oversight and support.
• Ability to proactively identify challenges and develop creative solutions in close collaboration with partners. Shown ability to understand the bigger picture, make connections across the organization, and identify trends and opportunities.  
• Exceptionally well-organized and structured critical thinking, work planning, and execution – with ability to remain adaptive and flexible to changing circumstances. 
• 10+ years’ experience working in the humanitarian sector.
• 5+ years in progressively senior roles in MEAL or strategic analysis; shown ability to design tools, guidance and learning exercises in emergency contexts.
• An ability to accurately distil information, data, and opinion to draw out key messages and critical details.
• Shown ability to collaborate across diverse roles, functions, and geographies to devise and inspire change.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, orally and in writing, within a diverse team. Includes active-listening and the ability to incorporate feedback.
• High integrity and ethical standards, collegial and collaborative behavior, high energy, resiliency, and creativity.
• Experience developing and leading capacity strengthening initiatives around MEAL.
• Experience leading teams toward the achievement of joint goals.
• High dedication to fostering a working environment of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Excellent spoken and written English.
• Ability to travel globally up to 20% of the year.

Preferred:

• Master’s degree or equivalent relevant work experience.
• Consistent record serving as a role model, empowering others to translate vision into results; effective at delegating the appropriate responsibility, accountability and decision-making authority.
• Receptive and collaborative leadership approach.
• Demonstrated ability to successfully work in fast-paced, often insecure and stressful environments.
• Working knowledge of Arabic, French, and/or Spanish.

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