Annoncør: DRC Danish Refugee Council

Ansøgningsfrist: 21/06/2023

Job: Senior Operations Advisor



Department: Operations (HQ)

Workplace: Copenhagen

Contract Type: National contract

Expires: 21 Jun 2023

Do you want to be part of a global team of humanitarian professionals who help DRC Senior Management Teams to excel operationally? We are looking for a Senior Operations Advisor to support our operations in West Africa and East Africa.   

Who are we?

The Operational Support and Oversight section (OSO) within DRC’s HQ-Operations Department (HQ-OPS) provides the global support and oversight needed to sufficiently mitigate the risks DRC is exposed to across our implementing entities globally. The section continuously does so by enabling our 4 Regional Offices and 40 Country Offices to proactively identify and mitigate operational risks and by promoting and supporting decision-making that efficiently aligns with DRCs internal global standards and policies, and with external laws and regulations in the countries we operate.

About the job

The Senior Operations Advisor (SOA) promotes operational standardisation and global consistency in line with DRC’s 2025 Strategy, HQ-OPS Department Strategy and OSO work plans. Furthermore, the SOA is a HQ support capacity for Regional Offices (ROs), Country Offices (COs) and other implementing entities to draw on when operationalising DRC’s operational tools, policies, and frameworks.

The SOA job description falls within 5 core areas. Specifically, the SOA for designated Senior Management Teams in COs in West Africa and East Africa provide:

  • General Support Capacity: Act as an HQ entry point for issues that require high-capacity facilitation, engagement, and coordination with more than one department and crosscutting among various DRC stakeholders. As such, the SOA is working closely with colleagues in ROs and COs to support on finding tangible solutions to the daily operational challenges faced on the ground.
  • Risk management support: Support COs and ROs to enable them to live up to their Risk Management responsibilities through regular collaboration and engagement with colleagues in West Africa and East Africa. This entails providing scheduled support and direct capacity to ROs and COs on the application of DRC’s global Risk Registers (RRs) as well as ad hoc support and verification of the use of the RR as a management tool throughout the year, and mobilisation and coordination of relevant (often HQ based) technical support when necessary.
  • Global roll-out of new policies, tools and framework: Provide direct roll-out support, capacity and follow-up to colleagues in the COs and ROs on operationalisation of core global compliance tools such as the DRC Risk Management Framework (RMF), Project Cycle Management (PCM) Field Guide etc.
  • Internal Compliance Support Capacity: Concurrently share information – both RO and CO specific as well as global lessons learned – with relevant global technical leads at all levels of the organisation to ensure that our policies, tools and frameworks remain fit-for-purpose, simple and easy to understand and use for colleagues in the COs and ROs and that operational deliverables coming from Internal Audits and Code of Conduct reports are followed-up.  
  • Case handling: Support COs and ROs in the case-handling of operational challenges that arise on a continuous basis in DRC’s COs and ROs, and assist ROs and COs on finding operationally hands-on, cost efficient and timely solutions to these.  

As a fundamental prerequisite the SOA is required to maintain an overall operational knowledge about designated countries in West Africa and East Africa as part of a global team of humanitarian professionals within OSO who share and analyse global information and knowledge about potential operational gaps, irregularities, inconsistencies and/or lessons learned amassed across COs and ROs around the world.

About you

To be successful in this role we expect you to have a minimum of 7 years’ experience within the humanitarian/development sector. Additionally, you have at least 3 years of field experience from being permanently based in a country office in a humanitarian/development organization (either as a national or as an international staff) – preferably as a senior manager/key member of a Senior Manager Team with staff, budget and oversight responsibilities.  

You can translate your field and managerial experiences and capacity into constructive operational support and advisory to country offices and regional offices. As such, you will be able to provide high level support to ROs and COs in finding tangible and efficient operational solutions to often complex and high-risk issues.

Moreover, we also expect the following:

Required

  • Excellent communication skills.
  • Professional proficiency in written and oral French and English.
  • Relevant academic background, to bachelor’s level or equivalent.
  • Willingness and ability to travel up to 30 days a year to COs and ROs.
  • Ability to translate vast experiences into concrete tangible support and advisory rendered to ROs and COs.
  • Analytical skills to produce tangible and efficient operational solutions to often complex issues.

Desirable

  • Senior manager experience: key member of a Senior Manager Team with staff, budget and oversight responsibilities.  
  • Sound understanding of how the humanitarian system is organized, current developments and risks posed to international NGOs, like DRC.
  • Sound experience working with donors; fundraising, negotiation and contracting.

We offer

Contract length: Permanent (37 hours per week including lunch)

Workplace: Borgergade 10, Copenhagen Denmark

Start date: 1st of July or as soon as possible thereafter

Salary and conditions will be in accordance with the agreement between DRC and AC (fuldmægtig niveau). This is a national position for which local terms and conditions apply.

Please note that you need to have the right to work in Denmark (through nationality or obtaining a work visa) to be considered for this role.


Application process

All applicants must send a cover letter and an updated CV in English. Apply online on our page Current Vacancies at www.drc.ngo.

Closing date for applications: Due to the urgency in filling this role, we will conduct interviews on a running basis.

DRC encourages all applicants to apply. DRC provides equal opportunity in employment and prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of race, nationality, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability.

Further information

For questions regarding the vacancy please contact: Svend Monrad Graunbøl, Head of Operational Support and Oversight, [email protected].

For further information about the Danish Refugee Council, please consult our website drc.ngo.


DRC as an employer

Founded in 1956, DRC Danish Refugee Council is Denmark’s largest, and a leading international NGO. We have continuously been ranked as one of the best NGOs in the world – and are one of the few with a specific expertise in forced displacement. In over 40 countries, we protect, advocate and build sustainable futures for refugees and other displacement-affected people and communities.

By working in DRC, you will be joining a global workforce of around 8000 employees. We pride ourselves on our:

  • Professionalism, impact & expertise
  • Humanitarian approach & the work we do
  • Purpose, meaningfulness & own contribution
  • Culture, values & strong leadership
  • Fair compensation & continuous development

DRC’s capacity to ensure the protection of and assistance to refugees, IDP’s and other persons of concern depends on the ability of our staff to uphold and promote the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct in relation DRC’s values and Code of Conduct, including safeguarding against sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment. DRC conducts thorough and comprehensive background checks as part of the recruitment process.

Danish Refugee Council is an equal opportunity employer and we consider all applicants regardless of race, age, ability, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, or marital status. We have a strong ambition to further enhance the diversity of our workforce and our goal is to achieve 50% gender balance and at least 50% representation of national staff in management roles. We acknowledge the crucial significance of fostering a diverse and inclusive team to successfully achieve our organizational goals and positively impact the communities we serve. We strongly encourage applications from underrepresented groups. 

Apply now