Head of Support - Syria

NRC Syria Response Office

The Syrian Crisis is well into its eighth year, but the level and intensity of conflict in the country remains high. Humanitarian and protection needs are overwhelming. According to OCHA, 13 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance inside of Syria and millions have been forced to flee. Approximately 6.2 million people in Syria are living in protracted displacement. Most IDPs have sought refuge with host families and in abandoned or unfinished buildings, which are often overcrowded. Elsewhere, they reside in tents or makeshift accommodation in informal settlements and camps. 6 million school-aged children and education personnel are in need of support. 1.8 million school-aged children are internally displaced and 2 million children remain out of school and disconnected from learning and their peers.

NRC’s programming in Syria is supported by multiple donors, including NMFA, SIDA, ECHO, SDC, DG NEAR, UNICEF and UNHCR.

Position Description:

The role of the HoS is to 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 Syria Country Programme. 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 playing a key leadership role in planning processes, incl the annual budget process.

Specific responsibilities for this position include:

• Ensure NRC’s finance, HR, administration and logistics systems provide relevant and adequate support to NRC’s Syria Country Programme
• Ensure strategic development of all the support functions in the country programme
• Responsible for the strategic development of projects and pro-active planning in line with country wide strategies, working closely with senior management in the programme unit to ensure support functions proactively meet the needs of the programme
• Provide sound and consistent leadership to the Support Unit
• Work closely with Area Managers and Support Managers in the Syria Country Programme to ensure effective and constructive communication between related functions

• Provide leadership, management and supervision of human resources which include recruitment, staffing, training and development, staff care, performance monitoring and employee counselling.
• Responsible for ensuring Area Offices are complying with NRC standards and procedures, and

  support Area Managers and Support Managers in running effective support units in the Area Offices

• Ensure the country programme meets compliance requirements in all support functions, especially in regards to securing supporting documentation
• Build plans for emergency response and quick scale ups

• Act as CD when appointed
• Step into the role of Finance, HR and Logistics managers in their absence
• Oversee the timely recruitment of support staff

Additional Information:

We welcome applications from interested and qualified candidates. Candidates are encouraged to apply early, as applications may be screened prior to the vacancy deadline

Duty Station: Damascus, Syria

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