Head of Support - Syria

NRC is assisting more than 500.000 people inside Syria, providing over 1,7 million humanitarian services per year. Using innovative approaches, working through strong field offices and dedicated staff, NRC is reaching some of the most vulnerable communities in hard to reach areas across all of Syria.

NRC’s Syria Response Office is located in Amman, leading the response across the country through strategic leadership and dedicated support. In line with NRC’s new strategy for 2018-2020, we are expanding, changing and renewing our team to ensure we are able to scale up and help more people in better ways.

With this anticipated evolution of the Syria Response Office, we are looking for new team members to support us in this next step. To help build a cohesive team NRC is currently recruiting for the following four key positions:

1)    An experienced leader to be our Head of Support, managing strategic initiatives and change processes aimed at making our operation fit for purpose and able to reach our goals.

2)    A passionate HR Manager who will develop and lead our strategic HR work across NRC’s Syria Response. It is a strategic leadership role with a broad scope who will work through others to ensure that NRC’s most important resources - our staff – are taken care of and able to perform to their best.

3)    A Special Advisor for Leadership and Capacity Building, who will be based in Damascus and travel across Syria to give strategic support to our leaders, as well as lead on the important work of developing NRC’s next generation of national managers inside Syria.

4)    A hard working and motivated HR Coordinator to lead our HR team in one of our largest Area Offices. The HR Coordinator is responsible for the overall implementation of NRC’s HR systems and procedures and will have a direct impact on our work to assist and protect Syrians in need.

The recruitment processes will be done in parallel to ensure we hire new team members with complementary skills and experience since these positions will work closely together.

Position Description:

The Head of Support (HoS) is a key member of the Country Management Group and actively contributes to the strategic direction of NRC’s Syria Response. The HoS will lead the Support Unit and has the overall responsibility for ensuring that NRC’s HR, finance, logistics and administration systems provide relevant and adequate support to NRC’s programmes. She/he is responsible for developing and implementing SoPs for support functions.

The HoS wil also be responsible for designing, planning and leading the implementation of key strategic initiatives to improve systems and structures. This includes managing and providing oversight for critical change management processes to ensure that NRC’s structure stays ‘two-steps-ahead’ in terms of having the right resources and structures to reach the objectives in our strategy. The HoS will be plaing a key role in planning processes, incl the annual budget process.

Our ideal candidate :

NRC is looking for an experienced manager who has a high capacity and proved track record to lead and deliver on strategic projects. Experience in change management processes is ideal. We are looking for a leader who can motivate and support other senior managers to be able to deliver on joint priorities. A hands-on approach and passion for building capacity of staff will be key. We are looking for someone who is highly organized and structured. Candidates with NRC background will be encouraged to apply, but we are also open for external candidates who can show a commitment to NRC and being part of a challenging, but important mission to make a difference in Syria.  

The position is based in Amman which is a family duty station, but the person must be ready to travel extensively to Syria to support and work alongside NRC’s field teams.

Key Professional competencies:

• Minimum 5 years’ experience from a senior management position preferably in a humanitarian/ recovery context

• Proven track record to lead and deliver on strategic projects.
• Experience in change management processes is ideal.
• Ability to lead and motivate other senior managers to be able to deliver on joint priorities
• Knowledge of the context in Syria
• Knowledge of Arabic would be an asset

For more information related to the position responsibilities please refer to the full Job Description, attached at the bottom of the page.

Additional Information:

Candidates are encouraged to apply early, as applications may be screened prior to the vacancy deadline

Contract period: 24 months

Duty Station:  Amman, Jordan

Salary/benefits: According to NRC’s salary scale and terms and conditions

Approved health certificate will be requested before contract start

NB: Please enter the geographical location in the "Company name" field for both company and location on your application.