North Syria Director of Programs- Jordan

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Program/ Department Summary:

Syria is in the midst a major humanitarian crisis impacting the entire country as well as a number of neighboring countries. More than 11 million people have been displaced from their homes and the number relying on humanitarian assistance continues to grow. The main thrust of the work of Mercy Corps along with its national and international partners for the foreseeable future will be primarily focused on meeting urgent humanitarian needs across the country while building resilience and social cohesion elements in its programming strategy. The heightened insecurity and continuous acts of violence and war make the humanitarian response not only more challenging, but increasingly complicated. With a large and complex portfolio of work across the country, Mercy Corps has established itself as an analytical, strategic and flexible responder, adapting continually to shifting front lines and operational realities to respond effectively and efficiently through multiple modalities with teams inside Syria and working cross-border from neighboring countries. Mercy Corps Syria country program is moving to a structure where teams report into a single managerial architecture to allow transversal consistency among programs and unity of purpose at the strategic level.

General Position Summary:

The North Syria Director of Programs is directly responsible for all aspects of program design, development and implementation in North Syria. The Director of Programs mobilizes the internal and external technical resources to ensure the quality of the programs implemented under his/her supervision; works closely with the Operations, Finance, HR and Security departments to ensure that all the aspects of the program implementation under his/her responsibility are compliant with MC and donors standards, rules and regulations. S/he ensures that the team working in North Syria and on North Syria programs is properly set up to deliver at scale and managed to achieve excellence. The Director leads the development and implementation of sustainable, multi-sector programming and is accountable to beneficiaries and donors. S/he is an innovative and visionary leader responsible for resourcefully directing, strategizing and planning all programming, resulting in lasting improvement in the lives of millions of Syrians in Mercy Corps area of operations. The position will support the strategic positioning of Mercy Corps and ensures all Mercy Corps work is planned and executed with quality, accountability and measurable impact.

Essential Job Responsibilities:

STRATEGY & VISION

• Communicate a clear vision of present and future program goals and strategies to North Syria program team members and stakeholders, translating into concrete work plans;
• Contribute to countrywide strategy development and prioritize and organize actions and resources to achieve objectives set through those processes;
• Follow analysis of the Syrian crisis, with an emphasis on North Syria regions and the impact of policy, political and military changes on the context, ensuring that this analysis is recognized and incorporated in planning for both short-term humanitarian and longer-term recovery and resilience programming;
• Ensure that analytical and technical support teams are collaborating with program and other internal stakeholders effectively, adding value to the program and maintaining strategic focus;
• Recognize opportunities for innovative action and create an environment where alternative viewpoints are welcomed.

PROGRAM LEADERSHIP

• Work closely with the Syria Country Director and Deputy Country Director and other Senior Members of the Syria Program to ensure that Mercy Corps strategy is understood and guides decision-making throughout the response;
• Provide leadership to increase coordination, collaboration, communication and harmonization of Mercy Corps programming and operations inside North Syria;
• Build consensus around a common vision of what shared success inside Syria looks like, including development and tracking of appropriate indicators;
• Build consensus around priorities to improve the delivery of assistance inside North Syria and to make program strategies and frameworks more consistent across the response;
• Oversight to ensure programs are able to meet donor and internal obligations on scope, time and budget, including efficient coordination on common program, operational and funding issues;
• Facilitate sharing and learning across different Mercy Corps North Syria offices and support teams to incorporate learning from the response, and other regions, in project design and management;
• Engage Syria program leadership in ongoing context analysis that enables programs and teams to adapt to significant changes in the geopolitical/conflict environment;
• Create and maintain systems to ensure efficient and transparent capture of program data for management decision-making and timely and informative internal and external reporting;
• Create and maintain systems to ensure technical coherence and promote creative programming across the programs portfolio.
• In coordination with Syria Country Director, Deputy Country Director and other senior leadership, engage in strong regional-level representation with donors, international and local NGOs and networks;
• Participate in shaping policy positions and advocacy messages pertaining to the overall humanitarian situation inside North Syria.

TEAM MANAGEMENT

• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence;
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback via regular performance reviews;
• Supervise, hire and orient new team members as necessary;
• Provide team members with information, tools and other resources to improve performance and reach objectives;
• Contribute to country team-building efforts, help team members identify problem-solving options and ensure the integration of all team members into relevant decision-making processes.

FINANCE & COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT

• Recognize the high level of donor scrutiny imposed on Syrian programming and ensure continuing effective, transparent and responsive compliance mechanisms are in place;
• Maintain oversight of overall program budgets ensuring appropriate allocation of resources to meet program objectives;
• Ensure adequate technical, analytical and administrative support for programs;
• Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations.

INFLUENCE & REPRESENTATION

• Represent Mercy Corps programs with national and international media and participate in community activities as appropriate;
• Ability to work with formal and informal government structures and representatives, maintain and develop relevant and productive relationships with a wide range of stakeholders;
• Maintain productive relationships with internal and external constituents such as private partners, local NGOs and civil society organizations and academic institutions;
• Anticipate program needs, understand donor pool and contribute to shaping donor views on the evolving context and its impact on civilians in North Syria;
• Explore, evaluate and present innovative funding opportunities that support program objectives;
• Ensure that Mercy Corps maintain a high degree of risk awareness and impartiality;
• Respect and understand differing cultural and ethnic differences and nuances and have the ability to navigate between them, recognizing the complexities involved;
• Identify, build and manage collaborative partnerships with consortium partners, sub-grantees, donors, governments and other stakeholders.

SECURITY

• Maintain oversight of access provisions to ensure Mercy Corps' continued ability to access our most vulnerable and hard-to-reach beneficiaries;
• Regularly review the Humanitarian Access Team and other Advisors' analysis of security and its outlook in Syria and Turkey and ensure that planning is relevant to that;
• Coordinate with the Syria Country Director and Deputy Country Director on crucial events, high-risk periods, incident reporting and any security policy changes;
• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies;
• Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

ACCOUNTABILITY TO BENEFICIARIES:

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts towards accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING**:**

• As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

Supervisory Responsibility: Managers and Advisors for North Syria Program.

Accountability:

Reports Directly To: Syria Deputy Country Director

Works Directly With: Syria Country Director, Syria Leadership Team, Regional Director, Technical Support Unit, Mercy Corps Europe, Global Security Advisor, SRGE Director, Regional Finance Officer, Internal Audit, People and Strategy team and PALM team, Policy and Advocacy, Communications. Turkey close out team.

Knowledge And Experience:

• BA/S or equivalent in relevant field required, MA/S preferred;
• At least 7 years of senior-level leadership and management experience in large and complex programs including humanitarian operations, previous work experience in the Middle East and insecure environments preferred;
• Substantial knowledge of the international humanitarian system, institutions and donors, and of compliance requirements, accountability frameworks and best practices; prior experience with funding from USG, DFID, ECHO and other leading donors;
• Robust experience in developing, operationalizing, and implementing program strategies;
• Demonstrated expertise in representation and negotiation resulting in securing significant new opportunities for the organization;
• Demonstrated success working effectively and respectfully with host country government, private sector, INGO, NGO partners and other stakeholders in complex environments;
• Highly-developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation and coaching;
• Solid project management skills related to international, cross-functional teams;
• Experience of solving complex issues collegially, defining a clear way forward, and utilizing best practices in management to ensure shared success;
• Outstanding analytical and strategic thinking skills, with a focus on results and impact;
• Excellent oral and written English skills required, proficiency in Arabic preferred.

Success Factors:

The successful candidate is an opinionated, fast thinking, experienced leader. S/he has a thorough understanding of what it takes to deliver impactful programs in challenging environments. S/he is an excellent communicator who can inspire broad and diverse teams towards achieving a shared goal and drive a fast-paced and adaptive program. S/he is able to create a stimulating working environment encouraging innovation and accountability. S/he is a confident representative in public settings, able to speak up when needed to defend Mercy Corps' positions and influence key stakeholders internally and externally to further and expand MC Syria's role in the response. S/he is able to work effectively with an ethnically diverse team in a sensitive environment and prioritize team-building and capacity-building of national staff. S/he has excellent information management skills, is a strategic thinker. S/he has an outstanding ability to design, implement and manage innovative programs that respond to current needs and reinforce the future program structure of Mercy Corps in Syria.

LIVING CONDITIONS/ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS:

This position is unaccompanied at this moment, and is based in Amman with travel to other locations in the Middle East region. Personnel in this location are expected to follow all security protocols at all times. Good medical services are available.

Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting. Staff are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and Mercy Corps' policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

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