CONTEXT:
The International Rescue Committee responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC provides lifesaving care and life-transforming assistance to refugees forced to flee war or disaster. Currently present in more than 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, the IRC restores safety, dignity, and hope to millions displaced by conflict or disaster. The IRC guides the way from home damage.
As the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela continues, the risk of hyperinflation and mobility restrictions severely limit access to basic goods and services. To date, approximately 8 million Venezuelans have left the country. The IRC has responded to the crisis by supporting Venezuelans both within Venezuela and across the diaspora, providing health, nutrition, WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene), economic recovery, protection, and education services. This response became even more urgent on June 24, 2026, when two powerful earthquakes (magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5) struck Venezuela’s densely populated northern coast, near Caracas and La Guaira, causing buildings to collapse, thousands to be killed and injured, and severely damaging health facilities and the electrical and water systems. The IRC has scaled up its emergency response alongside its existing programming to address the urgent needs created by the earthquakes, adding significant operational demands to an already complex humanitarian context.
Job overview:
Under the supervision of the Country Manager for Venezuela, the Emergency Field Coordinator will be responsible for all operational aspects of program implementation in Caracas, La Guaira, and Miranda. The Emergency Field Coordinator will work closely with the program, operations, security, humanitarian access, P&C (People and Culture), and finance departments based in Caracas and at the IRC headquarters in Bogotá. The Emergency Field Coordinator will directly supervise a Program Assistant and share supervisory responsibility with the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) leaders; Grants; and the technical leaders of a team of MEAL, Grants and Partnerships, Health, WASH, and Protection assistants and officers who support the emergency response. The Emergency Field Coordinator will work closely with the Health, WASH, and Protection Technical Coordinators. The Emergency Field Coordinator will be based in Caracas, Venezuela.
This position is open only to national candidates or those currently residing in the country.
Fluency in Spanish and professional English skills. Excellent oral and written communication skills.
Main responsibilities
Strategic and Response Leadership
- Provide overall leadership and strategic direction for IRC emergency response and recovery programming in Venezuela, ensuring alignment with national response priorities and the IRC emergency response strategy.
- Lead the implementation of the IRC Earthquake Response Plan in Venezuela and the subsequent recovery plan, and coordinate the implementation, monitoring and reporting of activities funded by the Crisis Response Fund (CRF).
- Serve as the main focal point for the IRC Emergency Unit and Emergency Response Management Team (EMRT), and send updated information to the internal data systems of the emergency units.
Field Management
- Promote strong links and exchanges between operations and program teams. Support the daily operations of the field team.
- Ensure quality coordination and cooperation between and within the various program and field operations departments.
- Closely monitor developments in current and potential operational areas (humanitarian situation, politics, security and humanitarian access, etc.) to provide regular context updates to the Senior Security Coordinator, the Country Manager, program and operations leaders, the Emergency Unit and donors, as needed.
- Advise the program team on operational issues that affect project implementation, or on key local issues that may affect the development of future projects.
- Coordinate/Lead various meetings (project review meetings, weekly coordination meetings, etc.) and serve as the main link between programs and operations to enable responsible, smooth, responsive, and high-quality field operations.
- Other tasks related to field operation and coordination.
Program and Grant Management
- Work closely with the Technical Programme Coordinators (TCs) to develop, monitor and update all programme management planning documents, including detailed implementation plans, monitoring and evaluation plans, indicator tracking tables, mission plans, procurement plans, distribution plans, expenditure plans and salary mapping, in order to ensure efficient and adaptive management of all projects in the emergency portfolio.
- Work closely with technical coordinators to ensure that program teams in the field receive high levels of supervision and technical support. Proactively identify technical capacity gaps and advocate for their resolution.
- Review M&E and accountability data with program staff to identify and address areas for operational improvement. Ensure feedback channels are responsive to customer profiles and that customer feedback is addressed and incorporated into adaptive management processes.
- Working through the IRC’s Partnerships for Equality and Results Excellence System (PEERS), a comprehensive set of compliance tools for establishing, managing and closing partnerships and grants, in order to support and accompany emergency partners.
- Ensure quality grant management for the emergency portfolio, compliance with donor requirements, and quality information management related to programs and grants.
- Oversee all internal and external reporting with the programme and finance teams, ensuring high-quality, well-written and timely reports that meet the requirements of donors, the IRC and partners; conduct thorough reviews and/or corrections of all external reports produced by the technical, grants and business development (BD) teams.
- Ensure that TCs and grant teams conduct routine monitoring visits to implementation sites to ensure donor compliance and the quality of program implementation.
- Ensure that all emergency personnel adhere to the IRC program management cycle, and that program staff are well trained to implement program components.
- Ensure the timely, complete, and compliant closure of all grants.
- Integrate Safeguard risk analysis and relevant risk mitigation measures into the design and implementation of programs.
- Coordinate with programs the multisectoral services map and referral pathway for violence response. (This serves programming purposes, but also underpins the IRC’s standard operating procedures for responding to all Safeguard damages.)
- Ensure that field personnel comply with health, safety and security protocols at all times, and take timely corrective action as needed.
- Ensure the iterative updating of the access strategy for Caracas, La Guaira and Miranda, and guarantee the implementation of participation protocols and visibility policies.
- Support the Venezuela Security Manager in ensuring the office has an up-to-date Security Risk Assessment (SRA), Security Management Plan (SMP), and Contingency Plans (CP). Ensure all field personnel are oriented and aware of the SMPs, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and Contingency Plans (CP).
- Support the field team in managing daily access and security matters.
Compliance and Financial Management
- In close coordination with the TCs, oversee the development and monitoring of project expenditure plans for all earthquake response projects, monitor and review emergency response staffing structures, and ensure that all projects are implemented on time and within budget.
- Lead the review of budget versus actual expenditure reports for all projects in the emergency portfolio and, together with the Technical Coordinators and Operations, ensure accurate forecasting of programmatic and operational expenditures. When problems are identified, ensure that appropriate action is taken in a timely manner.
- Mitigate potential risks by collaborating with finance and operations departments to ensure that program staff fully understand the financial and administrative processes involved in project budget cycles.
- Ensure compliance with the financial and operational policies of the IRC and donors, including all aspects of procurement and asset management, for both the IRC and local partners.
- Coordinate with the programs, grants, and finance teams to ensure the timely and complete submission of financial reports.
Representation and Coordination
- Provide national-level coordination and representation for the earthquake response and future recovery programming on behalf of IRC Venezuela, including active engagement with relevant government ministries, clusters, other national stakeholders, communities, and IRC emergency response partners.
- Ensure that all IRC engagement with government departments and agencies at the field level adheres to best practices, including humanitarian principles and IRC internal guidance and engagement protocols.
- Facilitate regular IRC emergency response meetings, including technical, operations and IRC partners, ensuring clear follow-up on action items and decisions.
- Serve as the main point of contact between the Country Programme, national coordinating bodies and the IRC’s Quality in Emergencies (QiE) function, providing regular updates and participating in scheduled QiE review meetings.
Human Resources and Staff Development
- Promote team spirit, cohesion, respect and the IRC Way: Standards of Professional Conduct among all emergency personnel, in close cooperation with the P&C department.
- Train and guide emergency team members on management issues, in collaboration with technical supervisors (Technical Coordinators, DDO, etc.), including communicating clear expectations, supporting the establishment of annual performance goals, providing regular and timely positive and constructive feedback, and conducting documented semi-annual performance evaluations.
- Provide a measurable capacity-building plan, including on-the-job learning, to strengthen technical skills and facilitate knowledge sharing within the team. Seek opportunities to support staff professional development, where appropriate.
Key Working Relationships:
- Internal:Â Program and Operations Coordinators and Managers
- External:Â Partners, clusters, NGO forums, UN agency focal points and local authorities
Required qualifications and experience:
- Master’s degree or university degree or equivalent in Public Health, Social Work, Administration, Economics or related fields
- Excellent professional track record with 5 years of experience in humanitarian response in complex environments, with leadership responsibilities and coordination of programs on the ground.
- Excellent organizational and management skills, including experience in coaching, capacity building, mentoring and staff management, as well as in developing and implementing work plans and managing budgets.
- Excellent leadership, communication, and facilitation skills.
- Strong intercultural communication skills and comfort working as part of a diverse team. Sensitivity to interpersonal differences and a variety of viewpoints.
- Excellent problem-solving skills, ability to handle stressful situations, flexibility and adaptability, and prioritization of work according to needs.
- Good security management skills, preferably in security level three operations, complex emergency responses and difficult environments.
- Practical experience in humanitarian access negotiations in contexts with non-state and multiple actors
- Solid understanding of humanitarian principles and experience in their implementation in conflict environments.
- Excellent interpersonal, coordination, and networking skills.
- High resilience and comfort for working in unsafe and remote environments with limited facilities.
- Fluency in Spanish and professional English skills. Excellent oral and written communication skills.
Standards of professional conduct
Employees and the organization must adhere to the values ​​and principles outlined in the IRC Way—Standards for Professional Conduct. In accordance with these values, the organization operates and implements policies on beneficiary protection from exploitation and abuse, child protection, workplace harassment, fiscal integrity, and anti-retaliation.
Gender equality: Our organization is committed to reducing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce, including parental leave, gender-sensitive safety protocols, and other supportive benefits and allowances.
Equal Opportunity Employer: We are an equal opportunity employer. We consider all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.