Deputy Director, Education at International Rescue Committee

Position Overview

The Deputy Director, Education will play a critical role in the Education Leadership Team (ELT). Primary areas of responsibility include:

• Lead: Thought partner to the Senior Director (SD) and engaged member of ELT, cultivating a kind, supportive team culture that reduces bureaucracy and anchors strategic decisions in evidence and good practice.
• Manage: of a team of highly skilled regional leaders to ensure the delivery of high-quality education programming across IRC.
• Oversee: the development and implementation of IRC processes and policies across the Education TU e.g. budget allocation, strategic workforce planning, wider people and culture goals and policies.
• Champion: and support the implementation of the Education Unit’s strategic plan. Providing strategic leadership to the design of programs that are evidence-based and evidence-generating, in close collaboration with the Senior Director, as well as with key stakeholders within and outside of the Education Unit.
• Resolve: operational problems to ensure program challenges are promptly addressed and staff are supported.
• Promote: cross-functional collaboration and a ‘One IRC’ way of working both within the Education Unit and between the Technical Excellence, CRRD and the wider organization.

Management of technical support functions: The Deputy Director will ensure that high quality, effective technical assistance is delivered to IRC’s Country and Regional programs by translating technical norms and standards to practice and elevating examples of good practice as accelerators of quality, scale and impact.

They will do this by:

• Providing excellent line management to education Regional Leads in close collaboration with the Deputy Regional Director for each region, to enable colleagues succeed, feel supported and work well in a regionally aligned structure.
• Creating strong connections and communication between the Regional Leads and the Technical Unit, as well as across each other.
• Cultivating a strong and inclusive culture of performance, accountability, and collaboration, and ensuring high quality of technical support is provided by the team to IRC’s country programs.
• Ensuring TA is fit for purpose and innovative, as a key bridge between regions and countries and global practice and technical leaders and amplifying the voices of our clients and frontline staff.
• Providing strategic leadership to the design of programs that are evidence-based where possible and
  evidence-generating where necessary, Collectively and in close collaboration with the Senior Director, as well as with key stakeholders within and outside of the Education Unit.
• Representing the Senior Director as required.

Technical Unit strategy and operations: The Deputy Director, in close collaboration with the Senior Director, will foster operational and strategic excellence by cultivating a culture of data-driven decision making and leading on the operationalization and delivery of both the strategy of the Technical Unit and the application of IRC’s overall strategy (“Strategy 100”) to Education programming.

They will do this by:

• Overseeing the implementation of IRC strategic processes and policies across the Education Technical Unit e.g. budget allocation, Strategic Workforce planning, wider people issues and policies.
• Taking forward strategic initiatives and change management processes as appropriate, contributing to the implementation of the IRC Education strategy, unit-wide ways of working, setting direction and workplans, as well as performance and knowledge management.
• Ensure the
• responsible management of the Education Unit funds, partnering with technical and finance colleagues to harmonize planning, budgeting, and reporting. Driving improvements in ways of working across the TU.
• Helping make the Education TU a great place to work. Identifying priority people issues on the back of People Survey scores and lead/coordinate on particular areas.
• Providing strategic oversight and assurance of portfolio, including quality and performance of programs, staff capability and management of delivery risk.
• Building a strong network and collaborative relationships with other TUs, Regional and Country Leadership, Finance, People and Culture and other central teams to support the delivery of Education Technical Unit objectives.

Professional Profile

• Success in this position requires an individual with outstanding leadership abilities and deep expertise in designing, operationalizing, and delivering high-quality education programming across geographies and contexts. Extensive lived experience and deep understanding of cultural, societal, and political context in at least one of the regions where IRC operates is desired. A people-centered leadership style, driving performance enablement culture, engagement, and wellbeing.

Work experience desired:

• 12+ years of relevant experience, including programmatic experience in a service delivery NGO or international organization.
• Experience and familiarity with education donors, peer agencies and national contexts required, preferably in humanitarian and transitional, post-crisis contexts, with familiarity with development programming strategies.
• Leadership and management experience in complex global organizations at regional/global levels.
• Experience and expertise raising funds from bilateral, multilateral, and private donors, and leading teams to design winning bids.
• Experience undertaking strategic planning and leading teams through change.

Demonstrated skills and competencies:

• Deep expertise in education programming and hands-on experience (preferably in 1 or more of the Education Technical Unit’s sub-sectors – early childhood development, social and emotional learning, foundational literacy and numeracy, girls’ education) in low-resource/conflict-affected environments.
• Understanding of the humanitarian/development sectors and effective practices used by aid organizations to design, implement and measure the progress of interventions.
• Fluency in the relevance and use of empirical evidence to know what works best to achieve meaningful program outcomes.
• Excellent analytical skills and a demonstrated ability and comfort in effectively managing and using data and evidence to inform program design, adaptation and monitoring and learning.
• Demonstrated leadership and management proficiencies including the ability to build a diverse team, foster an inclusive team culture, encourage confidence and trust and lead team in a unified vision and strategy.
• Commitment to creating a learning culture and supporting internal learning within and beyond the team.
• Communicates effectively with IRC program leadership, technical peers, and colleagues in fundraising, communications, and advocacy.
• Demonstrated ability to navigate a large multi-national organization.
• An established and collaborative professional network in humanitarian and development communities.
• Excellent public speaking and writing skills essential.

Education: 

• Masters’ degree in a relevant field or an equivalent professional experience of background is required. Sound training on the use of data and research evidence for programmatic decision making and rigorous analytic skills are an advantage.

Language Skills: Excellent spoken and written English essential. Proficiency in French or additional IRC relevant languages (Arabic, Spanish) strongly preferred.

Working Environment: Travel up to 30% of time. Preferably based in one of our international hubs in London, Nairobi, or New York. Other IRC locations may be possible.