Country Director - Kenya at United Mission for Relief & Development

Location: Kenya, with potential travel to multiple field locations within Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, and other eastern countries.

Reports to: Regional Representative

Position Summary:

United Mission for Relief and Development is seeking experienced candidates for the position of Country Director (CD) for Kenya, based in Nairobi-Kenya. The CD will have significant management and international experience, a passion for humanitarian relief and development work, and be capable of successfully leading program team and operations in Kenya, and coordinate with local offices in potential countries (Somalia and Ethiopia) and improve the quality of our field operations and programs management and the results of our work. United Mission for Relief and Development has carried out a portfolio that has a range of emergency response and development programs valued at 20 million USD.

The CD will provide guidance, supervision and support to future field staff. He/she is directly responsible for the overall country strategic planning, successful program delivery and performance management of country programs, as well as oversight of the program support operations (security, finance, HR, operations). In addition, the CD is responsible for strengthening country external relations and coordination. The CD will have a successful track record of building partnerships with academia, government, potential donors, and private sector organizations, and award winning.

For his/her country, the CD will identify and take steps to mitigate organizational risk. He/she will collaborate closely with all departments and support the future Country field Coordinators by making resources from the main country office support team available, in order to ensure that programs meet stated objectives, are in line with UMR’s mission, approach and strategy, meet the needs of partner communities, and are implemented to the highest standards, on time, and within budget. The CD also supports all efforts at the country-level in new program development, ensuring that new programs fit within UMR’s strategy, are technically sound, and meet budgetary requirements. As well as attracting funding opportunities for these projects/programs.

The CD will be building the country office, as well as multiple local offices where UMR’s major projects take place. The CD will also provide insight on regional strategy, approach, systems effectiveness and improvements, and provide to senior management and the CEO a vital field perspective of UMR’s work, impact, and efficiency. The CD will ensure and help to build strong leadership of all members of the UMR’s Country Team so as to build team spirit, cohesion, motivation, commitment, quality performance and fulfillment of all agency functions and compliance with all agency policies and procedures, as well as commitments to our stakeholders.

Skills, Experience, Knowledge:

• Demonstrated belief in UMR’s core values
• Ten years’ experience in relevant management positions in development or humanitarian organizations with a focus on Eastern Africa.
• Adequate mixture of field and HQ experience.
• Proven leadership skills and experience of managing multidisciplinary teams;
• Practical knowledge of applying development issues at a project or community level coupled with impact assessment and evaluation of poverty reduction and social change.
• Proficient English language writing and verbal skills. Swahili language skills is highly preferred.
• Substantial experience in the financial management of budgets, including preparing financial projections, general financial management, and reporting.
• Proven expertise of leading in fundraising, seeking and securing new donors,
• Demonstrated success at proposal writing as well as management of large and complex grants;
• Evidence of understanding the challenges of donor and grant/contract management and the implications for program management
• Demonstrated team leadership experience, particularly multi-cultural teams.
• Experience of working effectively as a team member with colleagues based outside the country.
• Sufficient computer comfort level to learn new relevant software tools.

Standards of Professional Conduct:

The UMR organization and UMR workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the UMR – Code of Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the UMR operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Harassment-Free Workplace, Fiscal Integrity, Anti-Retaliation, Combating Trafficking in Persons and several others.

Equal Opportunity: UMR is committed to provide equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. In addition, Medtronic will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.