Director, Program Quality and Performance in Emergencies

Job description

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.

The IRC's Emergencies Unit (EmU) is responsible for IRC's global emergency preparedness and response activities.

The mission of the EmU is to expand and improve IRC's ability to help affected communities survive in acute emergencies and hard-to-reach contexts by investing in people, systems, and solutions to complex humanitarian challenges.

The EmU team achieves this mission through ongoing thorough risk analysis, investing in capacity strengthening of frontline humanitarians, partnership with local actors, offering collaborative support and technical assistance to teams working in emergencies and hard to reach places, and deploying and supporting world class emergency response staff as they help people affected by acute crisis situations.

Job Overview
The Director, Program Quality and Performance in Emergencies is responsible for managing and ensuring strategic alignment and performance across the Quality in Emergencies (QiE) pillar, the largest within EmU.

This pillar includes technical teams specializing in emergency programming across health, protection, cash and basic needs, education, MEAL, and partnerships.

The Director plays a pivotal role in enabling QiE to deliver high-impact, coordinated responses in complex emergencies.

To achieve this, they will design and manage the systems, routines, and forums that foster collaboration, drive performance, and support effective delivery across the pillar.

They will also lead large-scale, multi-sectoral initiatives that are critical to QiE's success, while providing strategic support to the Senior Director in areas such as management and communications.

In addition to coordinating internally within QiE, the Director will actively collaborate with colleagues in EmU and CRRD to ensure strategic alignment, promote integration of efforts, and facilitate shared learning across teams and functions.

A core aspect of the role involves partnering with the MEAL team to define and measure performance, using evidence and analysis to inform decision-making and strengthen program quality.

This is a unique opportunity for a dynamic leader to shape how EmU delivers emergency programs at scale, cultivate a culture of alignment and excellence, and contribute meaningfully to the IRC's humanitarian impact under Strategy 100 and the Emergencies SAP.

Major Responsibilities
Emergency Preparedness, Anticipatory Action (AA), and prepositioning response capacity (50%)

• Continuously improve and adapt emergency preparedness frameworks and tools based on learning and feedback and ensure any tools are aligned with wider IRC processes and standards
• Proactively lead preparedness technical assistance to Watchlist countries and coordinate EmU support and engagement across country program teams as outlined in preparedness action plans.
  
  
• Facilitate preparedness planning and transition strategies with country programs facing imminent risks or dynamic shifts due to emergency contexts, as requested
• Collaborate with Global Crisis Analysis (GCA), Humanitarian Access (HA), and Safety and Security (S&S) to define and provide a modular service offer to manage complexities in regions and country programs (this includes defining the model, facilitating calls/meetings on complexity, providing strategic guidance around requests for support, aligning tools, reflection and learning).
  
  
• Coordinate and support anticipatory action with activated contexts that have a high likelihood of emergency response.
  
  
• Support the QiE and the AA teams to finalize ways of working, coordination and tools/resources that better integrate anticipatory action into the program cycle of IRC emergency program priorities.
  
  Participate in and coordinate EmU and QiE engagement in anticipatory action's strategic direction, inclusive of upcoming joint/shared business development between EmU and TechEx and participate in the AA community of practice with regular coordination between leadership teams.
  
  
• Support the Finance and Fundraising team to document crisis modifiers and other preparedness / emergency response funding across global portfolios and to develop a systematic and sustainable way to maintain this database.
  
  
• Lead cross-functional analysis and learning around areas for improvement of emergency preparedness and anticipatory action.
  
  
• Coordinate QiE STAs to design and maintain emergency preparedness/ tools and resources as part of the S100 Phase 2 workstream.
  
  

Quality in Emergencies Response Leadership (30%)

• Support and coordinate the QiE contributions to the Emergencies Roadmap, and coordinate the design and finalization of the Sector Toolkits for Emergency Programs (STEP).
  
  
• Contribute to the MEAL plan for the S100 Phase 2 workstream and the Emergencies SAP work, where relevant or assigned.
  
  
• Support response management coordination for ongoing qualifying emergencies, including tracking and following up on programmatic actions agreed by the Emergency Response Management Team (ERMT).
  
  This also includes collaborating with the MEAL team to support SAP reporting requirements and ensuring key decisions (such as global go/no-go determinations) are properly documented and communicated.
  
  
• Support and coordinate the design and strategy for response prioritization decision making guidance and tools for S100 Phase 2 workstream.
  
  
• Backstop and support response leadership as assigned (CD / DDP / TL) and in coordination with EmU SMT, including:
• Support the development of emergency response strategies and design.
  
  
• Continually monitor response quality and provide guidance, coaching, and mentorship on management / leadership and alignment with IRC response standards
• As needed deploy for maximum of 6 weeks for emergency response start-up in complex or large-scale emergencies

Leadership Support and Learning (20%)

• Work closely with the POPs team and ERT CDs to develop a learning package for new IRC frontline leaders, with a focus on emergency protocols and the Emergency Roadmap.
  
  
• Host or co-host capacity-building workshops for staff around EmU and the emergency protocols and the Emergency Roadmap.
  
  
• Conduct ongoing training for key stakeholders on IRC's existing emergency processes and tools.
  
  
• As needed, provide strategic support and oversight of capacity strengthening and sharing on humanitarian and emergency competencies among country response teams.
  
  
• As needed, support business development and grants management focusing on emergency preparedness and anticipatory action.
  
  
• As required, support QiE MEAL with the development of thematic regional or global learning agendas and promote new resources developed as a result of that learning process.
  
  
• Contribute to the annual QiE work plan and project prioritization in collaboration with the MEAL team and EmU STAs that is driven by the EmU SAP ambitions and Implementation Plan.
  
  
• Participate in the QiE Leadership Team to ensure cohesive decision-making and learning.
  
  
• Other strategic projects within QiE as assigned.
  
  

Team Culture

• Build and maintain strong working relationships with EmU colleagues and continually promote a culture of partnership and collaboration.
  
  
• Cultivate and maintain a positive, inclusive, safe and caring work environment, while additionally setting an example of 'One IRC'-way of working within the team, EmU and the wider organization
• Advance efforts across EmU to promote gender equality, diversity and more inclusive practice across our programming and our ways of working.
  
  
• Engage in effective power-sharing practices and ensure colleagues have the knowledge, support, and power to do their work with autonomy.
  
  

Key Working Relationships

• Position Reports to: Senior Director, Quality in Emergencies
• Position directly supervises: Emergency Response Team, Deputy Director of Programs

Requirements

• 8-10 years' experience providing advice and support to country teams in the setting up and implementation of emergency responses.
  
  
• Extensive experience planning, leading and delivering large-scale, cross functional projects, and managing change in a complex, global organization.
  
  
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
  
  
• Ability to anticipate and assess situations accurately and recommend/implement effective courses of action required.
  
  
• Proven track record of advancing multiple critical initiatives and a myriad of complex details on a concurrent basis.
  
  
• Ability to communicate effectively with internal and external collaborators with tact, both orally and in writing, including working with all staff levels and diverse personalities.
  
  
• Proven ability to build influence and alignment between diverse cohorts.
  
  
• Consistent record of serving as a role model, empowering others to translate vision into results; effective at supporting the power sharing and power building of team members.
  
  
• High integrity and ethical standards, collegial and collaborative behavior, high energy, resiliency, and creativity.
  
  
• Experience leading and inspiring leaders toward the achievement of joint goals.
  
  
• High dedication to fostering a working environment of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
  
  
• Ability to expand on own initiative in performance of duties.
  
  
• Excellent judgment, tact, initiative, creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, organizational skills, and self-motivation.
  
  
• Ability to travel up to 25-30% of the time.
  
  

Language Skills:
Fluency in English required; fluency in French, Arabic and/or Spanish desirable.

EmU strives to build a diverse and inclusive team at all levels who as individuals, and as a group, embody our culture statement creating a working environment characterized by critical reflection, power sharing, debate, and objectivity for us to achieve our aspirations as a unit and deliver the best possible services to our clients.

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.

Required Skill Profession

Other General