Head of Middle East and North Africa
Front Line Defenders are recruiting a Head of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to join our team. This is a permanent role based in the region reporting to the Director of Global Protection.
Overview
The Regional Team leads Front Line Defenders’ work in the Region, with responsibility for defining priorities, directing organisational protection responses, and ensuring that resources are deployed where they have the greatest impact for human rights defenders (HRDs). Grounded in sustained engagement with HRDs and regional ecosystems, the team determines where the organisation acts, who and how it supports, and how it responds to evolving risks. The Regional Team plays a central role in shaping organisational direction by ensuring that strategies, approaches and interventions are driven by regional priorities, while contributing directly to global strategy and positioning.
The Head of Region leads the Regional Protection Team and is responsible for setting the strategic direction, priorities, and protection responses of Front Line Defenders within the region. The role ensures that the organisation’s work is grounded in the realities, needs, and priorities of human rights defenders, with resources directed where they can make the greatest impact. They play a crucial role in aligning regional priorities with organisational strategy by translating contextual insights into organisational priorities and actively shaping global strategy and positioning. Working closely with various Heads of Programmes, the Head of Region/Protection ensures that all organisational programmes are aligned with and responsive to regional priorities. The role also assumes overall management and operational responsibility for the regional team, ensuring the coordinated, effective, and secure delivery of work across various contexts. This includes oversight of implementation of workplans, risk management, operations, cross-team coordination, and leadership of a geographically dispersed team.
Background
Front Line Defenders is an international organisation based in Ireland that works exclusively for the protection of human rights defenders at risk. Human rights defenders are people who are persecuted because of their peaceful work for the rights of others. Front Line Defenders provides practical help through protection grants, physical and digital protection training, lobbying, advocacy and campaigning.
Role responsibilities
Key duties include:
- Nurture an inclusive, values-driven, supportive team culture with a focus on delivering impact for human rights defenders in line with the organisation’s vision, values and mission.
- Lead the regional team to develop, monitor, and implement work plans to ensure the delivery of regional strategies. The Head of Region will provide spaces for learning, analysis and strategic planing, as well as convene and chair regular meetings for team coordination and collaboration in the implementation of work plans.
- Work with the regional team across the different areas of response to HRDs, sustaining core workflows while leading initiatives to optimize underperforming processes.
- Support Protection Coordinators’ to spearhead the identification of emerging trends and regional strategic prioritisation, amplifying their voice to inform organisational strategy, and set priorities for coordination with programmes (Resilience and Well being, Protection Grants, Advocacy, Development, Comms&Events, ME).
- In cooperation with the Operations team, contribute to organisational operations systems, procedures and policies to support the efficient functioning of the organisation in their region.
- In close cooperation with respective team members, assess key financial, legal, operational and reputation issues and risks involving the staff and FLD work in the region, and feed into organisation risk management systems.
- Foster healthy behaviour at work, ensuring regular check-ins with staff, spotting early warning signs of stress and burnout, making supportive adjustments at work, and nurturing positive relationships.
- Contributing to active risk management to identify, analyse and mitigate against risks that may impact staff and the delivery of programmes.
- Supporting FLD to be a learning organisation, which continually measures, evaluates, reviews and learns in order to improve and enhance our delivery and responsiveness to HRD’s by anticipating, identifying and solving problems and that we share learning to ensure continuous improvements across teams.
- Plan, manage and monitor the regional annual budget, ensuring strong financial stewardship and effective delivery within agreed parameters.
- Maintain and develop relationships with key partners, supporters, funders, and potential funders.
For further information, please view:
https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/sites/default/files/head_of_mena_jd_fd.pdf
Salary & Benefits
• €73,327 – €91,382 per annum
• 26 annual leave days
• Pension
• Paid Health Insurance
• Income Protection & Life Assurance
• Employee Assistance Scheme (EAP)
• Monthly Well-Being Provisions
Requirements
Interested applicants must have:
- Considerable knowledge and understanding of international human rights work, including the role and holistic protection needs of human rights defenders.
- Strong understanding of the political and human rights contexts across the MENA region.
- Excellent political judgment, including the ability to make strategic choices based on sound analysis of potential costs and benefits.
- Demonstrated strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to identify and resolve potential issues before they arise.
- Sound decision making, particularly in high-pressure and high-risk situations.
- High level of competence in English and Arabic,.
- Excellent written and verbal communication and presentation skills, including the ability to clearly and concisely communicate ideas.
- Strong drafting, editing, and proofreading skills with the ability to produce clear and accurate documents efficiently.
- Excellent interpersonal and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively with colleagues across the organisation, as well as with HRDs, NGOs, and government / institution officials.
- Ability to supervise, mentor, and provide guidance to a diverse team, while contributing effectively within multi-level team environments.
- Lead by example to motivate staff and ensure the values and culture of the organisation are maintained.
- Demonstrates personal leadership, initiative and pro-activity.
- Capacity to plan, prioritise and manage multiple, sometimes competing demands efficiently in a challenging, fast-paced environment.
- Strong organisational skills including an ability to prioritise initiatives across several countries in multiple time zones.
- Basic skills for budgeting management.
- At least 10 years’ experience working at a senior level in a human rights organisation, or equivalent experience in a similar organisation in a leadership role.
- Experience of working in an international context in the protection of human rights and/or human rights defenders, ideally within an international or regional human rights organisation.
- Significant management experience in a relevant field, people management, staff well-being, strategic planning, and evaluation.
- Experience of building and working effectively with teams of people from diverse professional and/or cultural backgrounds, including managing remote staff and working across multiple time zones.
- Experience of managing budgets and delivering organisational objectives, including fundraising experience.
- Experience of driving innovation and developing programming in a relevant field.
- Documented experience working with human rights defenders and/or human rights organisations.
How to apply
Applicants must submit their applications (CV & cover letter) by 5pm (local Irish time) on Monday, 3rd August 2026 via the ‘Apply Now’ button as per FLD vacancies page: https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/recruitment-volunteering .