Country Director at International Rescue Committee

Major Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership & Representation
• Provide visionary leadership to shape and execute strategies that deliver high-impact, client-centered programs aligned with IRC’s global mission and Kenya’s evolving humanitarian context.
• Serve as IRC’s principal representative in Kenya, articulating the organization’s vision and priorities at national, regional, and global platforms—including donor briefings, inter-agency coordination bodies, and high-level policy forums.
• Lead the development and delivery of a country strategy aligned with IRC’s Strategy100 and Kenya’s evolving context while providing strategic leadership to develop and implement high-quality programs that meet client needs.
• Forge and sustain strategic partnerships with national NGOs, civil society actors, and community-based organizations to enhance program reach, local ownership, and sustainability.
• Lead IRC’s engagement in humanitarian coordination mechanisms, proactively shaping collective responses and advocating for principled, needs-based action.
• Maintain constructive relationships with government counterparts to facilitate operational continuity, including timely registration renewals, access permissions, and policy dialogue.
• Cultivate a culture of collaboration, inclusivity, and accountability across the country team, fostering high staff morale and enabling peak performance.
• Lead IRC-hosted events and strategic dialogues in-country, positioning IRC as a thought leader and convener on critical humanitarian and development issues.
• Represent IRC to diverse audiences—including media, diplomatic missions, UN agencies, and global stakeholders—in close coordination with the Regional Vice President (RVP), ensuring consistent messaging and strategic alignment.
• Strategic Direction & Program Quality
• Collaborate with the Regional Vice President (RVP) and senior management team to implement the country program's strategic vision, ensuring high-quality programming tailored to the Kenya context and aligned with IRC’s Strategy 100.
• Drive program innovation and excellence, ensuring interventions are evidence-based, contextually relevant, and client-centered and high program quality is consistent throughout the country program. 
• Actively seek out and pursue opportunities to expand humanitarian programming in Kenya to reach underserved and hard-to-reach areas.
• Foster learning, accountability, and adaptive management to strengthen program quality
• Integrate GEDI principles into all IRC operations and programming to enhance inclusivity and foster a positive impact.
• Establish strong communication and working relationships with key internal stakeholders at the regional and HQ level to support country program operations and delivery. 
• Fundraising & Donor Relations
• Lead the design and execution of a diversified funding strategy, proactively engaging donors, cultivating strategic partnerships, and driving proposal development and negotiations to secure a broad range of sustainable funding streams.
• Proactively monitor donor priorities and position IRC for emerging opportunities, and stay updated on issues the program and partners and develop strategies to adapt to changing donor priorities. 
• Maintain strong relationships with donors, government bodies, and coordination mechanisms by demonstrating program excellence, operational integrity and strategic alignment with donors and different stakeholders
• Oversee the production of high-quality proposals and reports, ensuring timely submissions and compliance with donor requirements.
• Operational & Financial Management
• Ensure compliance with IRC’s global policies and standards for finance, supply chain, and operational systems.
• Oversee the Kenya country program budgets, ensuring financial sustainability through accurate forecasting, funding gap analysis, and cost-effectiveness measures.
• Drive operational excellence for cost-effective and timely program delivery, while strengthening systems for transparency, accountability, and operational agility.
• Governance and Compliance 
• Champion a proactive risk management agenda that safeguards the organization’s people, assets, reputation, and operational capacity in Kenya’s complex and evolving context.
• Shape and embed a risk-informed strategy that aligns with organizational priorities, donor expectations, and the geopolitical landscape, ensuring resilience and adaptability.
• Integrate risk management into strategic planning and operational culture, fostering shared ownership across all teams and levels.
• Guide crisis preparedness and response frameworks, ensuring that contingency measures protect staff, beneficiaries, and program delivery under adverse conditions.
• Influence and engage key stakeholders — including government, donors, and peer agencies, to strengthen collective risk mitigation and advocacy efforts.
• Safety & Security
• Take primary responsibility for the overall management of safety and security for the country program, including appropriate response to emergencies and crises.
• Maintain a culture of safety and security throughout the country program and keep security, evacuation, and contingency plans current and accessible to country program staff.
• Coordinate closely with the Regional Safety and Security Director on emerging threats and access issues.
• People & Culture
• Foster a high-performance, inclusive culture by ensuring a professional, forward-looking People & Culture function that aligns talent management with organizational strategy.
• Champion leadership accountability for creating and sustaining development pathways, ensuring every manager actively nurtures and advances their teams.
• Partner with regional and HQ P&C teams to design and execute innovative talent acquisition, retention, and succession strategies that anticipate future skills needs.
• Lead strategic implementation of People & Culture practices, embedding them into decision-making, operations, and organizational culture.
• Embed staff care and resilience into organizational systems, actively monitoring well-being indicators and modeling healthy work-life integration.
• Communications & Advocacy
• Model and encourage active practice of the “IRC Way – Global Standards for Professional Conduct” principles throughout the Kenya country program.
• Maintain a healthy and empowering office environment that encourages open, honest, and productive communication among IRC staff and with partner organizations. 
• Model a culture where constructive feedback is actively given and received.
• Maintain open communication with regional management staff, technical advisors, and HQ departmental staff.
• Advance IRC’s advocacy agenda to influence policies and practices that benefit the people we serve.
• Emergency Preparedness and Response
• Lead Country Emergency Responses: Serve as the designated Response Lead for country-led emergencies, ensuring the timely activation of IRC emergency protocols, clear internal coordination and communication, and effective decision-making.
• Develop and Operationalize Emergency Preparedness Plans (EPPs): Ensure that country teams maintain fit-for-purpose EPPs (if country is on the WatchList).
• Mobilize Support and Resources: Coordinate with regional and HQ teams to secure rapid technical, operational, staffing, and financial support during crises, and proactively engage with donors in emergency contexts.
• Safeguard Staff Safety and Duty of Care: Uphold the IRC’s duty of care commitments by ensuring holistic and contextually feasible measures are in place to support the physical, emotional, and psychological wellbeing of staff during an emergency.
• Key working relationship
• Position Reports to Regional Vice President – East Africa
• Position directly supervises: Country Leads –Deputy Director Finance, Deputy Director P & C, Deputy Director Operations , Deputy Director Programs & Deputy Director Grants & Accountability 

Key Internal Contacts: 

• Country Program: All staff
• Region: East Africa Regional Team
• HQ: Crisis Response and Recovery Department (CRRD), Ethics & Compliance, Safeguarding, GEDI, External Relations, Policy and Advocacy, Operations and Strategy, Finance, Global Philanthropy & Partnerships, Technical Excellence and General Counsel
• Key External Contacts:  
• Partner organizations
• Host country government officials 
• Public and private donor agencies 
• International and national NGOs 
• UN agencies 
• Foreign government

Job Requirements:

• You should have strong leadership abilities and interpersonal skills, and be able to deploy strong communications effectively, both internally and externally. You should enjoy developing networks to build partnerships and diversify program resources. 
• Graduate degree in a relevant field.
• At least 10 years of dynamically responsible international work experience, including leadership at the Country Director level of multi-site, multi-sectoral operations in a complex operating environment, supervising large teams.
• Experience working in conflict/post-conflict or disaster response situation.
• Professional fluency in written and spoken English. 
• Demonstrated Technical Skills:
• Experience managing security in a complex and rapidly changing security context.
• Confirmed ability to negotiate and work with partner organizations. Experience with organizational capacity strengthening and partnership building is helpful.
• Strong budget and fiscal oversight capacities.