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

Major Responsibilities:

Emergency Preparedness, Anticipatory Action (AA), and prepositioning response capacity (50%)

• Continuously improve and adapt emergency preparedness frameworks and tools based on learning and feedback and ensure any tools are aligned with wider IRC processes and standards
• Proactively lead preparedness technical assistance to Watchlist countries and coordinate EmU support and engagement across country program teams as outlined in preparedness action plans.
• Facilitate preparedness planning and transition strategies with country programs facing imminent risks or dynamic shifts due to emergency contexts, as requested
• Collaborate with Global Crisis Analysis (GCA), Humanitarian Access (HA), and Safety and Security (S&S) to define and provide a modular service offer to manage complexities in regions and country programs (this includes defining the model, facilitating calls/meetings on complexity, providing strategic guidance around requests for support, aligning tools, reflection and learning).
• Coordinate and support anticipatory action with activated contexts that have a high likelihood of emergency response.
• Support the QiE and the AA teams to finalize ways of working, coordination and tools/resources that better integrate anticipatory action into the program cycle of IRC emergency program priorities. Participate in and coordinate EmU and QiE engagement in anticipatory action’s strategic direction, inclusive of upcoming joint/shared business development between EmU and TechEx and participate in the AA community of practice with regular coordination between leadership teams.
• Support the Finance and Fundraising team to document crisis modifiers and other preparedness / emergency response funding across global portfolios and to develop a systematic and sustainable way to maintain this database.
• Lead cross-functional analysis and learning around areas for improvement of emergency preparedness and anticipatory action. 
• Coordinate QiE STAs to design and maintain emergency preparedness/ tools and resources as part of the S100 Phase 2 workstream.

Quality in Emergencies Response Leadership (30%)

• Support and coordinate the QiE contributions to the Emergencies Roadmap, and coordinate the design and finalization of the Sector Toolkits for Emergency Programs (STEP).
• Contribute to the MEAL plan for the S100 Phase 2 workstream and the Emergencies SAP work, where relevant or assigned.
• Support response management coordination for ongoing qualifying emergencies, including tracking and following up on programmatic actions agreed by the Emergency Response Management Team (ERMT). This also includes collaborating with the MEAL team to support SAP reporting requirements and ensuring key decisions (such as global go/no-go determinations) are properly documented and communicated.
• Support and coordinate the design and strategy for response prioritization decision making guidance and tools for S100 Phase 2 workstream. 
• Backstop and support response leadership as assigned (CD / DDP / TL) and in coordination with EmU SMT, including:    
• Support the development of emergency response strategies and design. 
• Continually monitor response quality and provide guidance, coaching, and mentorship on management / leadership and alignment with IRC response standards   
• As needed deploy for maximum of 6 weeks for emergency response start-up in complex or large-scale emergencies
• Leadership Support and Learning (20%)
• Work closely with the POPs team and ERT CDs to develop a learning package for new IRC frontline leaders, with a focus on emergency protocols and the Emergency Roadmap.
• Host or co-host capacity-building workshops for staff around EmU and the emergency protocols and the Emergency Roadmap.
• Conduct ongoing training for key stakeholders on IRC’s existing emergency processes and tools.
• As needed, provide strategic support and oversight of capacity strengthening and sharing on humanitarian and emergency competencies among country response teams. 
• As needed, support business development and grants management focusing on emergency preparedness and anticipatory action. 
• As required, support QiE MEAL with the development of thematic regional or global learning agendas and promote new resources developed as a result of that learning process.
• Contribute to the annual QiE work plan and project prioritization in collaboration with the MEAL team and EmU STAs that is driven by the EmU SAP ambitions and Implementation Plan.
• Participate in the QiE Leadership Team to ensure cohesive decision-making and learning. 
• Other strategic projects within QiE as assigned.
• Team Culture
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with EmU 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, EmU and the wider organization
• Advance efforts across EmU 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. 

Key Working Relationships:

• Position Reports to: Senior Director, Quality in Emergencies 
• Position directly supervises: Emergency Response Team, Deputy Director of Programs

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.