Director, Program Quality and Performance in Emergencies at International Rescue Committee

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.