Regional Head of Risk & Compliance – Middle East Office At Norwegian Refugee Council

Regional Office Background:

NRC in the Middle East is responding to the Syria and Iraq crisis, assisting refugees in Jordan, Libya, Lebanon and Iraq as well as the displaced. NRC also works in Palestine and with Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. NRC works in shelter, emergency distributions, education, water and sanitation and legal assistance. Our response on the ground has grown rapidly with the dramatic rise in displacement and we now have over 3,000 staff members working on the NRC regional response.

Our Ideal Candidate:

NRC is actively seeking an experienced Risk, Compliance and Investigations Expert to lead the Risk & Compliance function in the region, based in Amman, Jordan.

For this key role our ideal candidate will be a University graduate with minimum 5 years of experience working in a senior management position (s) at country, regional or similar level of responsibility in an international organisation and or humanitarian sector and; Minimum 3 years of experience working as manager in compliance, auditing or risk management functions.

We are particularly looking for a driven Risk & Compliance leader with proven track record and demonstrable knowledge and skills in international regulatory context applicable to INGOs as well as the Middle East region. They are an individual with exceptional people skills and an ability to partner with clients in a supportive and customer-oriented manner. Specific experience in team leadership and capacity building with the ability to collaborate, influence and negotiate with key stakeholders effectively is a plus.

Additional desirable skills and knowledge include;

• Knowledge of counter-terrorism legislation and sanctions on humanitarian assistance.
• Proficiency in Arabic is desirable
• Fluency in English, both written and verbal.
• Knowledge of U.S. Export Regulations is desirable.

Role and Responsibilities

As a consultative member of the Regional Management Group (RMG) and the leader of the risk and compliance function in the region, the Regional Head of Risk and Compliance is responsible for leading the region’s efforts to effectively manage risks, monitoring and improving Country Offices’ (COs’) by supporting regional risk owners in their efforts to manage risks and working with COs in the region to provide assurance to the regional management team on regional (COs) compliance within high risk areas/issues.

The role holder will foster a risk management culture in the region through training and communication, and contributing to the development of NRC’s Risk & Compliance frameworks. In addition, this position will lead and manage the investigation’s function for the region.

Position responsibilities include:

1. Providing assurance to the RMG and the Regional Director (RD) that ; Risks in the Regional Office’s operations are identified, assessed and controlled effectively; and CO’s compliance within high-risk areas/issues is ensured through; identification of high-risk areas/issues; regular compliance checks on those areas/issues (e.g. spot checks); reporting regularly to the Country Management Group (CMG); and leading the implementation of compliance improvement measures (e.g. High Value Tender Committee
2. Providing technical leadership and direction to the R&C function in the region.
3. Ensure Regional Risk Register is complete and up to date, and facilitate the identification and assessment of regional risks with key functional leaders.
4. Ensure that COs receive advice and support for implementing compliance improvement measures related to high-risk areas/issues.
5. Act as the focal point for institutional donors’ audits, which includes coordinating the work among the different COs to respond to external audits initiated by institutional donors and facilitating the follow up of these audits’ recommendations.
6. Ensure that COs and the Regional Office (RO) receive training, support and advice on the following: i) Areas of expertise held by the Risk Management Section (RMS) at HO (Risk management, compliance, Anti-corruption, Data Protection, Code of Conduct, legal and complaints management) and ii) compliance with regulations not specific to a given function (i.e. SSD, COTER, sanctions).
7. Contribute to the development of the NRC’s Risk Management framework by ensuring the documentation of lessons learned and best practices in the region’s risk management and compliance assurance efforts and by leading concrete initiatives agreed with the RMS.
8. Ensure that systems to receive, process and respond to complaints on NRC’s performance and staff behaviour from internal and external stakeholders are operational in the RO.
9. Management of the R&C staff and resources (budget holder) at RO.
10. Ensure technical supervision of Risk & Compliance staff in COs.

More specifically, the Regional Head of Risk and Compliance will focus on:

1. Monitoring the implementation of high and critical recommendations in countries within the Middle East region, and provide regular reports to the Country Management Groups (CMGs) and the Regional Management Group (RMG).
2. Overseeing MERO’s U.S. Export Control Compliance Programme.
3. Overseeing the investigations function in the Middle East region.

Additional Information:

Duty Station: Amman, Jordan

Reports to: Regional Support Director

Duration of Contract: 2 years

Travel: Up to 40% within the region

About Us

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent humanitarian organisation helping people forced to flee. We work in crises across 31 countries, providing emergencies and long-term assistance to millions of people every year. We stand up for people forced to flee, advocating their rights. NORCAP, our global provider of expertise, helps improve international and local ability to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from crises. NRC also runs the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre in Geneva, a global leader in reporting on and advocating for people displaced within their own country.

Employment with NRC may lead to employment in or deployment to Regions, Countries, Areas or Offices that may be host to considerable health, safety and security risks. NRC takes this very seriously and we have procedures in place to reduce known risks, but will never be able to take away all risks. NRC requires staff members who travel on an international contract to the field to undergo an medical examination with our medical provider. Employees must produce a Health Clearance Certificate before departure stating that there are no relevant health concerns. If staff are unable to provide this, NRC reserves the right to terminate the Contract of Employment.