Country Director

The Country Director leads IRC's CAMEX response covering Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. The role involves strategic leadership, program oversight, partnership development, and operational management to deliver high-quality humanitarian programs in a complex and volatile environment.

Responsibilities

• Support the management of IRC's CAMEX response including guiding the office and activities in El Salvador and driving growth in Mexico, Honduras & Guatemala.
• Represent IRC to external stakeholders at all levels and develop strategic relationships.
• Provide overall coordination and strategic direction of the program.
• Provide oversight and coaching for senior managers.
• Lead country program teams to identify, design and deliver responsive, high-quality programs.
• Ensure efficient management of public grants and private funds for results, compliance, and timely reporting.
• Oversee financial management and compliance systems.
• Maintain continuity of humanitarian support and explore geographic expansion as needs warrant.
• Lead the country program by maintaining open and professional relations and promoting a positive work environment.
• Develop and maintain understanding of donor priorities and funding streams.
• Maintain strong partnerships with local organizations.
• Raise the profile of IRC and its partners.
• Collaborate with colleagues to deliver country programming and advocacy.
• Ensure leadership and management processes enable effective adaptation to contextual changes.
• Develop and carry out strategies for strong representation with government, UNOCHA, donors, NGOs, and networks.
• Ensure strategic vision aligns with IRC2020 strategy and secure resources for implementation.
• Promote quality programming through assessment, design, monitoring & evaluation, accountability, learning, staff development, and partner capacity strengthening.
• Remain current on national and regional issues and develop responsive strategies.
• Ensure SMT delivers leadership, management structures, staffing skills, and operational systems for a coherent approach.
• Find opportunities for program expansion and growth with appropriate human resources investment.
• Take primary responsibility for overall management and security of the country program.
• Maintain a culture of safety including trainings and briefings.
• Coordinate with Regional Safety and Security Advisor on security concerns.
• Oversee management, coaching and development of IRC CAMEX staff.
• Conduct regular performance reviews and promote professional development.
• Approve and manage time, attendance and leave requests of direct reports.
• Promote staff care and well-being and model healthy work-life balance.
• Support adherence to IRC HR policies and procedures.
• Work with regional HR staff on recruitment and retention strategies.
• Drive operational excellence for efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
• Oversee development and utilization of financial and operational policies and systems for compliance.
• Ensure appropriate support to all offices in HR, finance and supply chain.
• Provide oversight of the country program’s financial position and budget monitoring.
• Seek opportunities to introduce efficiencies and eliminate redundancies.
• Model and encourage IRC Way principles for professional conduct.
• Maintain open and productive communication among staff and partners.
• Maintain communication with regional management and HQ staff.

Requirements

• Graduate degree in a relevant field, preferred.
• At least 10+ years of dynamically responsible international work experience, including leadership at the Country Director level of multi-site, multi-sectoral operations in a complex operating environment, supervising diverse teams.
• Experience working in conflict/post-conflict or disaster response situation.
• Professional fluency in written and spoken Spanish and English.
• Experience managing security in a complex and rapidly changing security context.
• Confirmed ability to negotiate and work with partner organizations.
• Experience with organizational capacity strengthening and partnership building is helpful.
• Strong budget and fiscal oversight capacities.
• Demonstrated representation and fundraising success, including prior experience with European, US, private and other international donors.
• Established capacity to handle stressful situations in a healthy, constructive manner.
• Ability to respond to multiple priorities in a timely manner, producing high-quality outcomes.
• Proficiency with the Microsoft Office Suite, especially Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.
• Experience using technology for response in humanitarian or development context a plus.
• Experience building personal networks at a senior level, resulting in securing new opportunities for the organization.
• Demonstrated successful leadership and management experience with multi-disciplinary teams in cross-cultural settings, including active mentoring and coaching.
• Effective in developing high-potential staff to achieve career growth and maximum contribution.
• Confirmed experience delivering suitable levels of oversight of a portfolio consisting of a variety of complex, high-value donor-funded projects.
• Opportunity-awareness.
• A successful innovative approach to unpredictable programming, operational, and funding contexts.
• Ability to represent program context, constraints, and successes to media, government, and other senior audiences.

Skills

• Country Program Leadership
• Multi-site Operations Management
• Multisectoral Program Management
• Conflict and Post-conflict Response
• Disaster Response
• Security Management
• Partner Negotiation
• Organizational capacity building
• Partnership Building
• Budget Oversight
• Fiscal Management
• Fundraising
• Donor Relations
• MS Word
• MS Excel
• MS PowerPoint
• Microsoft Outlook
• Humanitarian technology
• Senior Networking
• Cross-cultural Team Management
• Coaching and Mentoring
• Portfolio Oversight
• Innovation Programming
• Media Representation

Languages

English, Spanish