Deputy Regional Director, Latin America

The opportunity could be based in any IRC location in Latin America or the US.

The Deputy Regional Director (DRD), Latin American region (LATAM) will have significant management and international experience, a passion for humanitarian relief and development work, relevant language skills, and be capable of thoroughly understanding and successfully overseeing program design and delivery in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia and Venezuela. The DRD will ensure the quality of IRC's programs, develop new program opportunities, and drive performance and results in the region. S/he is expected to be an outstanding communicator and team leader, and a committed humanitarian.

Job Overview/Summary:

The LATAM Programs Deputy Regional Director is a new position that will play a key leadership role in delivering IRC’s growing portfolio of programs in Latam.The DRD serves as a trusted partner of the Regional Director and actively participates in the management and representation of IRC in LATAM, shaping an organizational culture that is fit for future and harnesses the extraordinary engagement, diversity, talent and commitment of IRC’s people.

Exercising the delegated authority of the Regional Director, the DRD provides a range of strategic, programmatic and operational management support to country programs and regional colleagues, with a particular focus on programming in LATAM. A key function of the role is to navigate the organization on behalf of the country programs. The DRD will travel regularly to field offices to provide management support and to monitor program quality. A significant portion of the DRD’s time will be spent on program management, quality and fundraising activities, in coordination with the Program leads and Regional Director.

Length of Assignment: 2 years, potential to extend
Location: Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico, or U.S. (only in locations IRC has an office)
Languages: Fluency in both written/verbal English & Spanish.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategy & Programs

•Work closely with the Regional Director to ensure that the IRC’s global strategy is understood and guides decision-making throughout the region.

•Drive institutionalization of the Outcomes and Evidence Framework, IRC’s program design tools.

•Support delivery of country-level strategy action plans (SAPs).

•Facilitate and coordinate regional participation in global strategy discussions, initiatives and pilots.

•Oversee implementation of SAP monitoring mechanism and review process, including leading annual SAP reviews and reporting.

•Build consensus around a common vision of what shared success in Latin America looks like, including developing and tracking appropriate indicators.

•Drive seamless coordination between programming and operations and across sectors and outcomes, with the objective of improving the quality of IRC programs and impact on the people IRC serves. Lead quarterly in-person meetings at program level and, as relevant, multi-country grant management meetings.

•Build consensus around priorities to improve the delivery of programs in LATAM and to make business processes more consistent within the region and between country programs

•Ensure that programs are designed and implemented in support of IRC’s vision of cost-effective, outcomes-driven and evidence-based interventions that are responsive to the local context and the priorities of our beneficiaries.

•Regularly assess IRC’s program portfolio in LATAM, as well as the operational modalities and partnerships through which it is delivered.

•Strengthen the region's readiness to respond to new emergencies in line with global IRC emergency response and preparedness guidelines as well as entry and exit criteria

•Engage the regional team and country programs in on-going context analysis to ensure IRC programs are continually adapted to the evolving contexts across the region.

•Manage the region’s relationships with Technical Units, and support TU-country program collaboration to optimize impact on program quality within and across country programs.

•Facilitate sharing and learning across countries and programs, and support programs to incorporate learning from LATAM, the US and other regions into project design and operations management.

Team Leadership & Development

•Supervise and mentor direct-report staff, including communicating clear expectations, setting performance objectives, providing regular and timely performance feedback, and leading documented semi-annual performance reviews.

•Support the Regional Director to foster an environment of cross-functional collaboration and a ‘One IRC’ way of working both within the region and between the region and the wider organization. Act as a champion for collaborative ‘Management in Partnership’ demonstrated through joint planning, shared commitments to outcomes, mutual accountability, alignment of resources and quality assessment.

•Facilitate close and efficient coordination of regional staff’s support to the country programs, and with headquarters departments on common programming, operational and funding issues.

•Support the Regional Director to cultivate a safe and protective working environment for all staff, combining locally-led initiatives with wider organizational efforts related to Diversity, Inclusion & Equality; Safeguarding; Duty of Care; and Safety & Security.

Business Development & Partnerships

•Take go/no-go decisions regarding pursuit of LATAM funding opportunities. In coordination with colleagues, engage in strong regional-level representation with donors, international and local NGOs, and networks.

•Support teams on timely submission of competitive, responsive and high-quality proposals that align with Country level SAP and Strategy 100, and support country program colleagues in negotiations with donors.

•Oversee the design and implementation of IRC’s work in partnership to support and build capacities of local civil society and other key stakeholders, positioning IRC as a valued INGO partner.

•Lead the region’s engagement with the Awards Management Unit on matters above the individual project level.

•Participate in shaping policy positions and advocacy messages pertaining to the overall humanitarian situation and IRC operations in LATAM.

•Advise country programs in networking and alliance-building activities, promoting cross-sectoral engagement with the private sector, universities, research institutions, corporations and the private sector, and other potential “non-traditional” partners.