Program Delivery Support Deputy Director

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world's largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 40 countries and 29 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. A force for humanity, IRC employees deliver lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions. If you're a solutions-driven, passionate change-maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future.

Crisis Response, Recovery, and Development (CRRD) 

The CRRD department’s Program Delivery (PD) is one of CRRD's four pillars, along with Technical Excellence, the Emergencies Unit, and the Awards Management Unit. The Program Delivery team collaboratively leads the work of our regional and country teams to deliver high-quality programs which result in positive outcomes for our clients. The Strategy & Performance team within the PD pillar is responsible for supporting country and regional teams to i.) develop & deliver country-specific Strategy Action Plans (SAPs) that outline how each country contributes to the global Strategy100, ii.) reinforce business process & systems improvements that enable quality program delivery, iii.) support the achievement of our organizational goals to dramatically scale up our work with local partners and systems as the key delivery pathway, and iv.) support country teams with the staffing, structure, skills, tools and data & performance routines for excellent project management.. 

The Purpose of the Role

In order to be able to be effective in responding to fast moving crises and complex contexts the IRC has to be adaptive and responsive. The purpose of this role is to provide thought leadership and support on the integration of adaptive practices into delivery strategies and country/project routines – this includes a focus on expanding and strengthening both the quantity and quality of our work in partnership with local system actors. The postholder will work closely with other team members, and collaboratively with colleagues in Program Delivery, Technical Excellence, Emergencies, and the Awards Management Unit.

KEY ACCOUNTABLITIES AND MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:

Leadership and influence in adaptive, data-driven project management

• Serve as technical focal point to our multi-year framework agreement donor on aspects of adaptive management.
• Play a leading role in ensuring that adaptive management is integrated into IRC’s definition of good project and program management and essential for quality program design and delivery.
• Engage in discussions with key internal stakeholders (in particular Emergencies and specific leads or TAs) to ensure transitions between emergency response, early recovery and longer-term programs are fluid.
• Engage in discussions with strategic donors to advocate for funding models that support flexibility and adaptation, including transitions from response mechanisms & long-term and recovery programs. 

Lead IRC’s learning agenda related to adaptive programs 

• Lead on the definition of a learning agenda to identify the critical enablers and the ways in which IRC country programs continuously adapt to various types of crises and employ adaptive management skills and tools for high quality delivery of programs.
• Lead learning processes and final evaluation to assess adaptive programs’ impact, using a mix of quantitative and qualitative data and providing insights for continuous improvement.
• Support the uptake of Project Learning Meetings (PLM), as part of wider Project Cycle Meeting (PCM) approach, helping to understand what are the barriers and what are the opportunities to expand good practice for learning. 

Training, capacity sharing, and practical support on adaptive/good project management 

• Develop and lead training with country and regional teams on good/adaptive project management and provide support to the assessment of staffing & structure, skills, use of tools and routines to support program delivery.
• Identify and address gaps in country teams' ability to analyze and use data for learning and adapting, particularly through Project Cycle Management (PCM) routines.
• Provide targeted support to country teams through hands-on advice & support, learning workshops, and direct mentorship, ensuring rapid learning and adaptation to changing contexts.
• Enhance existing training packages and guidance on strategy development, project cycle processes to include an adaptive project management lens, facilitating the incorporation of adaptive practices into existing routines.
• Provide support on overall country program (re)structuring discussions and help to maintain/update IRC’s guidance material on org design for optimal delivery. 

Mentorship and team development

• Provide guidance and mentorship to team member(s), focusing in particular on informed and adaptive decisions and learning, fostering a culture of learning and growth.
• Promote a culture of open collaboration by creating spaces for shared learning on adaptive practices.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Skills, Experience, and Qualifications:

Essential:

• Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant field; Master’s Degree a distinct advantage
• Progressively responsible experience within the humanitarian sector (and development sector is a plus), including significant experience working at the country, regional and/or global level;
• Demonstrated expertise in best practice project management skills, applying data-driven adaptive management approaches to improve the performance of programming.
• Demonstrated experience of providing technical capacity building support to frontline implementation teams.
• Experience developing & rolling out technical guidance and building capacity of field teams.
• Demonstrated ability to lead collaborative projects with stakeholders from various departments to develop/deliver a cross-functional process or product.
• Demonstrated experience in leading program design processes that are based on lessons learned from implementation.
• Ability to co-design, roll out, and support change management for tools and resources that are responsive to program delivery teams’ demands.
• Networking and influencing skills and experience of donor liaison.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to effectively manage a variety of multi-level relationships in a multicultural environment;
• Excellent written communications and ability to develop simple and accessible communications materials.
• The ability to work productively and accurately while under pressure in a fast-paced, demanding environment;
• A flexible work attitude, with the ability to work in a team environment or independently, and the ability to pivot to meet unexpected demands;
• Ability to prioritize effectively;
• Strong attention to detail to ensure own work, and work of others is of a consistent high quality
• Ability to travel (up to 25%) to IRC country program locations. 

Desirable:

• Product development experience
• Research and/or learning experience
• Mastery of MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
• The ability to work (read and write) in English and at least one additional IRC language: French, Spanish or Arabic 

Equal Opportunity Employer: IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Standard of Professional Conduct: The IRC and the IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way – our Code of Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Accountability, and Equality.

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