Support Services Manager At Danish Refugee Council

Danish Refugee Council, one of the world’s leading humanitarian NGOs, is currently looking for a highly qualified Support Services Manager for Poland, Moldova and Romania to be based in Warsaw, Poland.

The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) is a leading protection agency with a mandate to promote and protect durable solutions to conflict and displacement affected populations on the basis of humanitarian principles and human rights. DRC is implementing a multi-sector response to support Ukraine refugees, IDPs and host populations both within Ukraine and in the neighbouring countries of Poland, Romania and Moldova and wider Europe. Since late February 2022, nearly 4 million Ukrainians and third-country nationals have crossed the border to Poland. As part of its neighboring country response, DRC is establishing an operational presence in Poland to support displaced populations through partnership with civil society organizations and national NGOs, duty bearers and other actors.

About the job

As Support Service Manager you will develop and implement the operations strategy for the neighbouring countries (Poland, Moldova and Romania) by establishing support services systems in Poland, Moldova and Romania (as relevant) and ensuring compliance to DRC Dynamics and Operations Handbook manuals and policy briefs, and DRC Dynamics. Your main duties and responsibilities will be:

Establishing the support services functions for PMR

• Support the new strategic plan for the DRC PMR by setting up an appropriate support services structure and team that ensure support functions meet the programmatic needs in Poland, Moldova and Romania
• Ensure support services planning for DRC field operations is well planned
• Ensure the field office is compliant to DRC operational handbook and DRC Dynamics User Guides and policy briefs by conducting regular field visits and mini-internal audits to ensure capacity is sufficient for the operation
• Provide guidance on policy issues at field level in liaison with the Europe Region and Response Director
• Support the Response Managers/Coordinators in strategic plan development

Staff Management

• Manage senior support staff based in Poland and conduct regular monitoring visits to all field offices.
• Lead regular staff meetings and bilateral meetings with senior support team members across all three countries
• Manage direct reports to agreed job priorities and identify learning and development needs for support staff, under your direct and indirect supervision. Bring issues of concern to the Response Director for decisions.
• Ensure that support teams work closely with the programme team to delivery DRC policies and procedures in finance, procurement and logistics including effective planning weekly, monthly and quarterly.
• Conduct other relevant activities as requested by the Response Director.

Administration and Human Resources

• With support of Regional HR manager and HQ HR colleagues, manage all components of human resources for DRC PMR including enforcing DRC HR Manual and International Compensation Policies as well as being responsible for correct and updated HR files for staff
• Supervision of HR Coordinator and HR Officer in Poland, including technical guidance to program colleagues.
• Oversee payroll management for staff and ensuring that the salary payments take place in a transparent and coherent manner and in line with DRC Dynamics for payment processing as well as any locally developed SOPs
• Implement, manage and develop internal controls in coordination with the Response Manager/Coordinators in PMR
• Ensure effective archiving for DRC offices as per the Operations Handbook and DRC Dynamics chapters on document archiving.
• Ensure that all necessary agreements, permits, and licenses necessary for DRC‘s operations (including VAT exemption) are in place and kept up to date in line with national administrative rules and regulations pertaining to the activities of DRC.
• Ensure a sound HR and payroll management system compliant to DRC HR policies is in place and according to the current local laws with respect to VAT withholding and severance policies.

Finance

• Overall responsibility for ensuring sound financial management in the Field Office, especially via the DRC enterprise resource planning online system Dynamics
• Ensure DRC finance regulations and procedures are adhered to in the Field Office.
• Review cash flow forecast and money request for the field is done in a timely manner and submitted to management on at least a monthly basis
• Training, mentoring and capacity building of national finance, support, and program staff in good grant management practices and other finance procedures.
• Consistently assess and identify gaps for further capacity building of staff on DRC financial regulations and procedures.
• Responsible for ensuring that all financial documentation is archived in line with DRC Dynamics and local SOPs on scanning, filing, and archiving
• Constantly check the integrity and robustness of financial procedures and advise the Response Managers/Response Coordinators and the Regional Finance Specialist on corrective actions to minimise losses.
• Manage the PMR master budget in DRC Dynamics as advised by the Europe Regional Finance Specialist and develop the tools to make sure that all funding gaps are identified and communicated regularly with relevant country management
• Ensure that project budget proposals and all financial reporting is done in accordance with relevant donor and DRC’s internal guidelines
• Ensure that Project Budget Follow Ups are done regularly, and any questions are addressed in a timely manner in coordination with relevant program staff.

Supply chain

• Overall response for effective supply chain management with is both compliant and timely and supports the programme deliverables.
• Ensure DRC procurement guidelines are adhered to in the field office
• Actively engage and support the program teams in procurement planning to ensure timely delivery of project inputs and activities.
• Monitor DRC procurement procedures and ensure complete accountability of stock and asset inventories.
• Supervise and review the bi-annual physical inventory of all assets and follow due procedure for disposal of obsolete assets according to DRC Operations Handbook and donor requirements/procedures.
• Develop a database for prequalified suppliers or service providers to improve efficiency in procurement, in line with current DRC procedures for supplier vetting and that all new suppliers are uploaded onto the DRC Dynamics database for pre-qualification. Similarly responsible for ensuring that vender performance is recorded and any and all issues are recorded on the DRC Dynamics master vendor data.

IT

• Ensure the office is compliant with DRC Dynamics and Operations Manual
• Develop and maintain robust electronic data storage and backup policies and procedures for all three offices
• Ensure staff are trained on DRC Dynamics

About you

To be successful in this role we expect you to have at least 3 years’ experience implementing support services in humanitarian programs, preferably in a NGO setting and with DRC. Moreover, we also expect the following:

• University degree in a relevant field (Finance, accounting or any humanitarian activity) or proven work experience that would match a University degree
• Experience in providing oversight of support functions: IT, Human Resources, Supply Chain, Administration
• Good knowledge of IT, especially with Microsoft suites and in troubleshooting for staff with little command of IT
• Previous knowledge of enterprise resource planning online system, MS Dynamics knowledge is advantageous
• Good interpersonal, communication skills with experience in liaising with local authorities and local partners
• Flexible, pro-active, and with the ability to follow through on tasks
• Excellent skills in English mandatory
• Working knowledge of regional languages is beneficial

In this position, you are expected to demonstrate DRC’ five core competencies:

Striving for excellence: You focus on reaching results while ensuring an efficient process.

Collaborating: You involve relevant parties and encourage feedback.

Taking the lead: You take ownership and initiative while aiming for innovation.

Communicating: You listen and speak effectively and honestly.

Demonstrating integrity: You uphold and promote the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct in relation to our values and Code of Conduct, including safeguarding against sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.

We offer

Contract length: 12 months (extension depending on funding availability)

Band: Management, F

Designation of Duty Station: Warsaw, with travel to other locations

Start date: 1 August

We offer competitive salary and benefits in accordance with Danish Refugee Council’s Terms of Employment for National Staff.