Senior Programme Officer Middle East – London, Edinburgh, UK, or NL At Mercy Corps

Location: Edinburgh, London, UK, or The Hague, NL Position Status: Full-Time, open terms Salary: Edinburgh: circa 32K – 37.9K; London: circa 37.4K – 44.3K; The Hague: circa 38.3K – 45.4K

**APPLY WITH CV AND COVER LETTER BY JULY 4TH.

CANDIDATES MUST HAVE THE RIGHT TO WORK IN THE UK OR NL AT THE TIME OF APPOINTMENT.**

Reporting to: Director for Support Services & Risk Management, Middle East Travel: Up to 35%

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.

General Position Summary

Mercy Corps implements a variety of programming throughout the Middle East in response to the diverse humanitarian and long-term development challenges of the region. Mercy Corps has ongoing programs in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine.

The Position

The Senior Program Officer (SPO) supports strategic direction, vision and leadership to ensure impactful, high-quality programming in the Middle East. The SPO works closely with Regional Team and is an essential member of the Regional Management Team. The SPO is the headquarters (HQ) focal point for regional and country level strategic plan processes, regional and country structures and transitions updates and progress on programme implementation and impact. The SPO leads, manages and mentors a team of Programme Officers (POs) and Assistant Programme Officer (APO), ensuring quality work, and instilling a cohesive team dynamic. The SPO supports country teams in multiple aspects of their programmes, and plays a key role in connecting the field to HQ resources and represents country/regional interests internally with various HQ teams, as well as with external stakeholders. The SPO has the ultimate responsibility for overall monitoring of grants/programs for compliance with external (donor) requirements, and adherence to Mercy Corps’ internal policies and procedures.

Essential Job Responsibilities

STRATEGY, PLANNING AND LEARNING

• Support regional and country teams with strategy development, planning and progress tracking;
• Travel to support facilitation of the process and work with teams to finalize strategic plans;
• Work with the regional and country teams to ensure active and proposed programmes are aligned with and contribute to strategy.
• Assist regional leadership in identifying and securing support and resources for the region.

COORDINATION AND REPRESENTATION

• Coordinate the flow of information between country programmes, the regional management team, relevant HQ departments and donors;
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with country offices, resolving issues and maintaining regular contact regarding programme implementation, grant regulations, training/ support needs and incident tracking;
• Ensure field teams are aware of relevant Mercy Corps resources/tools/best practices;
• Attend donor meetings on behalf of country programmes and/or the region to represent strategies.
• Actively participate in relevant coordination forums, networks and donor events;
• Provide written or verbal briefings on context, country strategy and programmes as needed.

TEAM MANAGEMENT

• Responsible for managing overall desk support to the region;
• Develop individual and/or team work plans or other internal management tools for the efficient use of desk team resources and time; set standards and priorities for the team;
• Check the quality and timeliness of all work of the regional desk team at HQ;
• Mentor and oversee the onboarding, learning and career progression of POs and APOs;
• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.

PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT AND GRANT ADMINISTRATION

• Supervise ongoing monitoring of programmes, including ensuring regular check-ins with country teams on contractual, legal and financial requirements (such as co-financing/match, BvA, etc);
• Actively provide assessment of risk associated with programme implementation; mitigation measures and problem solving based on patterns of knowledge across portfolios;
• Contribute to complex programme management hand in hand with the Regional Director and Deputy Regional Director;
• Support field teams in adhering to internal and external policies (e.g. PM@MC 2.0 minimum standards, donor compliance regulations, etc.);
• Ensure timely sign off and submission of proposals, as well as both narrative and financial reports, and follow up with donors as necessary;
• Ensure Mercy Corps knowledge management systems (e.g. Grant Award Information Tracker) are up to date and accurate.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

• Identify and highlight promising funding opportunities for country programmes and regional initiatives, in line with country strategies;
• Identify contractual risk and develop mitigation strategies;
• Ensure that proposals are developed in accordance with defined internal processes;
• Ensure that lessons learned are incorporated into new programme design;
• Oversee submission of proposals and concept notes to donors, and serve as the focal point during any negotiations with donor HQ representatives.

OTHER

• Travel to the field to support country programmes as requested;
• Support the recruitment, deployment and onboarding process for any Mercy Corps new hires, as needed;
• Any other duties as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibility: 3 Programme Officers and 1 Assistant Programme Officer

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Director for Support Services & Risk Management, Middle East

Works Directly With: Country programme teams, MCG RPT, Country Directors, Directors of Programmes, MCE Programmes team, Finance, Compliance, Communications, Policy and Advocacy, New Initiatives, Programme Accountability and Quality, Strategic Partnership Team.

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Knowledge and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in relevant field.
• Minimum 5 years experience in international relief or development, particularly in grant administration and compliance.
• Demonstrated experience with proposal development, program management, monitoring and evaluation, and external representation.
• Previous Middle East field experience preferred.
• Arabic proficiency or knowledge is a plus.

Success Factors

The successful candidate is a team player who demonstrates the skill, professional maturity and finesse required to manage the desk team to provide excellent, timely support to the Middle East field teams. The SPO is a problem solver, who is adept in successfully dealing with issues of complexity and demonstrates the ability to serve as a mentor for the Programme Officer and Assistant Programme Officer. The SPO is a skilled communicator, able to develop and utilize strong relationships with staff, partners and donors. The SPO will analyze context and develop high impact strategies, and will be a skilled writer and synthesizer of complex information, helping teams generate new insights into their work, the needs of their countries and the region, and how programme impact can be scaled. A sense of humor is greatly appreciated.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

This role is based in Edinburgh, London or The Hague.

The SPO role involves travel to the field, of up to 35% of the time, sometimes on short notice and to areas with limited access to medical facilities and amenities, to support and fill-in during senior staff gaps.

Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a short term assignment to the field. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC’s policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country locations. An expectation of this role is the ability to travel to the field, sometimes at short notice to support field teams and programmes and to fill-in during field staffing gaps.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis