Country Director

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. Fluency in both written and spoken English & Spanish required. Within the Latin America region, IRC's Mexico and Central America response – known as CAMEX – covers Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. These countries continue to see high levels of violence, migration and instability.  Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, sometimes referred to together as the Northern Triangle, have recorded homicide rates among the highest ever documented, as deadly as many contemporary armed conflicts such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.  Disappearances, forced recruitment into gangs, and the sexual exploitation of women and girls also form part of the pattern of violence.  The overwhelming majority of survivors of sexual violence are between the ages of 10 and 19 years. Mexico is simultaneously a country of origin, transit and destination for people on the move, hosting growing numbers of asylum seekers, returnees and internally displaced people while confronting its own patterns of violence and insecurity in several states.  The scale and severity of the epidemic of violence across these countries has caused people to flee their homes and seek international protection in record numbers.  According to IDMC, hundreds of thousands of people were displaced last year across these countries due to high levels of violence, targeted threats, and instability. As part of a needs assessment conducted in 2017, the IRC found that families and individuals affected by violence and displacement were unaware of and unable to access quality support services and meet their basic needs. Even where services were available, the lack of knowledge about and fear of seeking help was widespread, and many weren’t seeking services at all, rather fleeing internally and increasingly externally. In response, the IRC is implementing an integrated protection serving individuals and families who are highly vulnerable including those internally displaced, returned asylum seekers and refugees, women, girls, youth, members of the LGBTQ community and others who have been victimized due to targeted, threatened and generalized violence in the region. SCOPE OF WORK The Country Director’s core responsibilities will be to: support the management of IRC's CAMEX response (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador), including guiding the office and activities in El Salvador while driving growth and expansion in Mexico, Honduras & Guatemala; represent the IRC to external stakeholders at all levels; develop strategic relationships and engage in national and CAMEX dialogue related to humanitarian and IRC areas of programming. The CD is directly responsible for the program's overall coordination and strategic direction; providing oversight and coaching for directly supervised senior managers; leading country program teams to identify, design and deliver responsive, high-quality programs; ensuring efficient management of public grants and private funds for results, compliance, and focused, timely reporting; and oversight of financial management and compliance systems. The CD will maintain continuity of humanitarian support in current operational areas, while, in collaboration with the regional office, exploring the possibility of expanding the geographic scope as needs warrant and conditions allow. Locations:Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala Major Responsibilities: Leadership and Representation - Lead the country program by maintaining open and professional relations with colleagues, promoting a positive work environment at all levels, and ensuring oversight and resources to enable staff to perform successfully. - Develop and maintain a high level of understanding of donor priorities and planned funding streams, seeking to establish IRC as a partner of choice for major international donors. - Maintain strong, mutually beneficial and authentic partnerships with local organizations. - Seek out and pursue opportunities to raise the profile of the work of IRC and its partners, as well as the lives and the needs of the people IRC seeks to serve. - Lead country program through collaboration with colleagues to deliver country programming and advocacy. - Ensure leadership and management processes enable the IRC to effectively adapt to contextual changes and fully make use of opportunities to expand humanitarian access and assistance. - Develop and carry out strategies that result in strong representation with: government ministries; UNOCHA; humanitarian coordination; donors and other international organizations; international and local NGOs; and networks. Strategic Direction, Quality, and Growth - Ensure the strategic vision and direction of the country program is aligned with IRC2020 strategy to serve people with responsive, high-quality and accountable programming, and secure the resources necessary for successful implementation - Ensure the strategy action plan promotes quality programming, is implemented and guides decision-making. - Ensure quality program implementation through consistent use throughout the country program of: rigorous assessment, design, and proposal development and review processes; comprehensive monitoring & evaluation, accountability and learning systems; staff development investments; and partner organization capacity strengthening. - Remain current on national and regional issues impacting the country program and partners, and develop responsive strategies to changing contexts. - Ensure the SMT delivers the leadership, management structures, staffing skills and approaches, and operational systems required to ensure a coherent ‘one IRC’ approach to achieve programming objectives. - Find opportunities for appropriate expansion and growth of programs, supported by the appropriate investment in human resources. Safety and Security Management - Take primary responsibility for overall management for the country program. - Oversee the management of all security issues, including appropriate response to emergency situations as they arise. - Maintain a culture of safety throughout the country program, including trainings and briefings that prepare all country program staff for security incident prevention and response. - Maintain close coordination and communication with the Regional Safety and Security Advisor on relevant concerns and evolving issues that could adversely affect IRC staff or operations. Staff Management, Learning and Development - Oversee the management, coaching and development of IRC CAMEX staff to build a team of skilled, committed and motivated staff. Coach, train, supervise and mentor direct-report staff, including communicating clear expectations, setting quarterly performance objectives, providing regular and timely positive and constructive performance feedback, and providing documented semi-annual performance reviews and promoting professional development - Hold high-quality 1:1 meetings with each direct report on a regular and predictable basis, at least bi-weekly. - Approve and manage all time, attendance and leave requests of direct reports to ensure adequate departmental coverage. - Promote and monitor staff care and well-being. Model healthy work-life balance practices. Support appropria