United States of America: Deputy Director, EPRU

BACKGROUND:

The IRC's Emergency Preparedness and Response Unit (EPRU) oversees IRC's global emergency preparedness and response activities. The mission of the EPRU is to help meet the immediate survival needs and reduce suffering in conflict or disaster affected populations during the acute phase of an emergency. The EPRU is charged with enhancing the IRC's global and country level emergency preparedness capacity. The Emergency Response Team (ERT) serves as the standing team of specialized professionals ready to deploy to an emergency within 72 hours.

SCOPE:

The Deputy Director of the EPRU oversees organizational preparedness systems that ensure the IRC is ready to respond with a contextualized knowledge base, and adequate human and material resources. The Deputy Director will oversee capacity measurement and building initiatives that will empower and equip IRC country teams around the globe to respond to medium sized crises. The Deputy Director will finally manage all EPRU administrative processes that ensure staff and resources are deployed in an efficient and accountable manner.

The Deputy Director will provide management to a team of five project management and support staff. The Deputy Director will collaborate closely with other IRC departments that include among others, Finance, Human Resources, Global Supply Chain, IT, Revenue, AMU, Communications, and Legal.

The Deputy Director will be based in the IRC's Headquarters office in New York and reports to the Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Deputy Director will work closely with all members of the SMT to ensure their teams have the adequate capacity and resources through leadership of the following areas:

Response Context, Quality, Accountability:

• Oversee the Emergency Accountability Team; working to ensure that accountability to affected populations is at the center of all IRC's emergency responses through providing timely information, guidance, tools, best practices, training and technical support to ERT and CETs throughout all phases of a response.
• Oversee the EPRU's Humanitarian Risk Analyst and systems (which include the Watch List and the Classification System), which work to enable the IRC to monitor countries that are exposed to high risk of crisis.
• Equip IRC senior staff and the ERT with high levels of situational and context awareness through the production and dissemination of country reporting, and ongoing briefing and analysis products.

Operational Capacity and Integrity:

• Ensure that Emergency Response systems, tools, and approaches are designed to maximum efficiency, effectiveness and usability, while ensuring full compliance with organizational policies. Conduct regular review and any necessary revision to systems and tools, based on strong feedback channels from field teams as well as relevant findings from RTEs.
• Oversee the IRC's pre-positioned Emergency Supplies and Equipment capability in collaboration with the Global Supply Chain Dept. Ensure that IRC emergency missions have timely access to sufficient and appropriate commodities and equipment to mobilize programs and sustain emergency teams.
• Work to ensure the IRC Emergency Roster systems (internal and external) are responsive to the surge capacity needs of the ERT (and CETs) at the onset of acute emergencies.
• Proactively lead processes (including building a pipeline) to attract new internal and external staff that have a proven track record in delivering within complex emergency environments as well as developing talent management and career-pathing practices within the EPRU.
• In collaboration with IPD management and Safety and Security colleagues, contribute to on-going efforts to review and, as needed, revise safety and security management tools and policies.
• In collaboration with the IRC Human Resources Department and other relevant teams, design and execute high-quality orientations and tailored trainings for new and current ERT and roster staff that build core capacities as well as knowledge of response tools and approaches.
• Supervise administrative functions and staff, including international travel, emergency tool and visibility provisioning, and information management systems ensuring clear systems and efficient service resulting in emergency staff being deployed rapidly and cost efficiently, with appropriate equipment and resources.

Financial Resource Management and Development:

• Manage EPRU budgeting and financial management systems, ensuring that annual operating budgeting is achieved, and that expenditure and funding allocations are monitored and managed throughout the fiscal year.
• Oversee the management of EPRU grants at the Headquarters level, ensuring that funding is spent in an appropriate and timely manner, and that donor reporting is produced and submitted accurately and on schedule.
• Together with EPRU Director and Revenue teams, work creatively to identify, attract and retain emergency donors for core EPRU operations as well as to grow the pool of rapidly deployable emergency funds.

Strategy and Project Management:

• Manage the execution of initiatives under the Emergency Unit's goals set out in the IRC 2020 Strategy. Work closely with the Strategy Unit to ensure timely and accurate measurement, reporting of progress towards those goals.
• Manage the selection of projects and initiatives identified throughout the course of the year and provide associated project management support for these initiatives and projects.
• Serve as the focal point for other project management teams within the broader organization to ensure the EPRU's voice and perspective in cross-departmental initiatives and projects, working closely with the GOTO and IT teams.

Staff Management and Team Morale:

• Maintain and promote a positive work environment for direct reports including providing timely support, encouraging learning and skills development, providing effective feedback and holding regular staff meetings.
• Further lead efforts to maintain and promote a diverse, inclusive and fun environment for all of the EPRU; developing creative ways to further foster strong team morale despite the realities of a global team.
• Ensure staff understand the roles and responsibilities of their position, have agreed performance objectives for each year and receive required training on IRC systems and processes to be effective
• Monitor quality, activity timelines and due dates for deliverables to ensure staff meet internal and/or external requirements and deadlines.

Representation and Communications:

• Together with the Communications team and the ERT, work to ensure the production of high-quality content on the work of the Emergency Unit for dissemination to internal and external audiences.
• Act on behalf of the Director of the EPRU during periods where he/she is traveling including leading on emergency response briefing and planning sessions with IRC Senior Staff, and other HQ constituents as well as on external engagements as required.

REQUIREMENTS:

The IRC is looking for an industry leader in the development and management of systems that enable IRC as a global organization to be prepared to deploy robust responses to humanitarian crises around the world. Specifically:

• Minimum 7 years total experience managing complex humanitarian program in the field, or large institutional capacity building programs at HQ level
• Demonstrated leadership, management, organizational skills, including systems and policy development.
• Excellent interpersonal and oral and written communication skills; demonstrated ability to successfully work in a fast paced environment, within and across departments/functions and develop positive relationships with locally and remote based staff.
• Graduate level degree in relevant field (management, public administration, finance, etc.) preferred.
• Ability to travel up to 15% of the time.
• French language skills preferred.

Please follow this link to apply: http://www.aplitrak.com/?adid=YXN0cmlkLm1hdGhldy43MjA0OC4zODMwQGlyYy5hcGxpdHJhay5jb20