The posting
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world's largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 40 countries and 29 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. A force for humanity, IRC employees deliver lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions. If you're a solutions-driven, passionate change-maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future.
BACKGROUND:
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 30 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure.
The IRC’s Global Surge Team (GST) is a Roster of highly qualified humanitarian professionals who deploy on short notice to emergency and non‑emergency contexts to support the IRC’s mission. GST members provide specialized, time‑bound support where capacity gaps exist, typically for deployments of up to three months.
The GST Roster is a flexible, OCCASIONAL employment opportunity. Deployment needs vary based on demand. Staff can take on additional deployments as opportunities arise and if they are interested.
Deployment opportunities depend on organizational and operational requirements and may vary over time; as such, deployments cannot be guaranteed. Staff supporting emergency responses must be prepared to deploy within 72 hours as needs arise.
Members of the GST Roster who specialize in emergencies are deployed to support either existing country programs in their emergency response, or to initiate a new program in the crisis zone. The overall responsibility of the team is to design, develop, and manage the IRC’s on-site humanitarian response, allowing us to meet the immediate needs of the affected population rapidly and effectively.
Job overview:
The Emergency Deputy Director of People and Culture, Global Surge (Emergency DD P&C) leads all People and Culture (P&C) work in the assigned response during an emergency. The Emergency DD P&C is responsible for the overall leadership and supervisory management of the response’s P&C team, systems, and services, including workforce planning, policy compliance, staff care and well-being, safeguarding and GEDI commitments, performance management, and handover to sustainable country P&C operations.
In this role, you will be directly responsible for rapidly establishing and scaling P&C structures and a safe, inclusive workplace culture; serving as strategic advisor to the Emergency Country Director and the Senior Management Team; providing oversight for Country Program’s staff; leading emergency recruitment, onboarding, and employee relations in line with IRC policies and local labor law; ensuring accurate and timely payroll, people data, and reporting; and partnering with the Emergency Unit, regional, and global P&C teams to adapt policies and tools to the emergency context.
The Emergency DD P&C is expected to be deployed in the field, either in an emergency or roving capacity, and must be able to deploy to the site of an emergency within 72 hours of notification, and for up to 12 weeks.
Major responsibilities
Emergency set-up and scale-up
- Rapidly establish P&C structures, processes and tools for the response, including employment registration, labor law compliance, contract templates, national staff terms and payroll set-up.
- Conduct a quick review of the local labor and salary market, and recommend a competitive, compliant compensation approach for the response.
- Lead emergency recruitment and onboarding at volume. Coordinate with the Emergency Unit, regional and global P&C teams to deploy surge and roster staff and fill priority national and international positions quickly.
- Co-lead workforce planning and organizational design with the SMT, including rapid scale-ups and adjustments, in line with legal requirements and IRC policies.
- Set up a simple headcount, vacancy and recruitment tracker, and report to leadership on a regular, short cycle.
Strategic leadership and management
- Serve as strategic advisor to the Emergency Country Director and the SMT on workforce strategy, compliance and organizational culture, aligned with response priorities.
- Lead, supervise and support the P&C team, including deployed and national P&C colleagues. Remain accountable for the quality and timeliness of P&C services.
- Coach managers on supervision, performance expectations and difficult conversations in high-pressure conditions.
- Advise supervisors on disciplinary matters, act as an impartial mediator, and ensure fairness and compliance with labor regulations.
- Escalate code of conduct issues, and lead or co-lead investigations with the Employee Relations unit and, when needed, the Ethics and Compliance unit.
P&C operations
- Ensure context-specific practices in recruitment, compensation and benefits, employee relations, onboarding and offboarding, contract and leave management, and HR information systems.
- Implement IRC People and Culture policies across the response and adapt them to the emergency context, with Regional and Global Surge Team P&C support.
- Ensure accurate and timely payroll and compensation for all staff.
- Contribute expert input on staffing structures and position scoping to proposal design and grant review.
- Where partners are part of the response, provide technical P&C guidance in line with the PEERS framework.
GEDI and safeguarding
- Ensure inclusive, fair recruitment and onboarding, and promote a workplace free of discrimination, harassment, bullying and abuse of power.
- Integrate safeguarding into rapid hiring and onboarding, including delivery of the Safeguarding Minimum Standards.
- Ensure all staff receive orientation on the Safeguarding Policy and the IRC Way, with reporting channels visible in all offices in relevant local languages.
- Partner with global investigations teams and response leadership to implement recommendations from safeguarding investigations, particularly disciplinary actions, within two weeks.
Duty of care and staff well-being
- With the Duty of Care team, provide guidance on staff duty of care.
- Partner with Safety and Security to ensure best-practice aftercare following critical incidents.
- Develop plans to support the physical and psychological well-being of staff in high-stress, high-risk contexts, including R&R and rotation arrangements.
- Set up engagement and communication approaches suited to fast-changing, remote and insecure environments, including listening sessions.
Transition and handover
- Plan and deliver the transition from emergency to sustainable country P&C operations, including a documented handover to incoming long-term P&C staff.
- Coach national P&C colleagues so they can take over core processes.
- Contribute lessons learned to refine IRC emergency P&C policies, SOPs and toolkits.
Other
- Support the Emergency Country Director with ad hoc tasks as needed.
- Stay alert to irregularities in operational and administrative procedures and uphold organizational standards.
Job Requirements:
You should have strong leadership abilities and interpersonal skills, and be able to communicate effectively, both internally and externally. You should enjoy building trusted relationships with leadership teams, colleagues and partners, and adapting P&C practice to fast-moving contexts.
- Graduate degree in HR management or a related field preferred.
- At least 10 years of progressive P&C experience, including leadership of a P&C function supporting small, medium and large scale Country Programs across multiple locations in an emergency Context.
- Experience working in conflict, post-conflict or disaster response settings, including rapid start-up or scale-up of P&C operations.
- Prior experience working within organizational structures in transition.
Demonstrated technical skills:
- Broad knowledge of P&C competencies: recruitment, compensation and benefits, employee relations, contract management, payroll, performance management and HR information systems.
- Working knowledge of international labor law and the ability to establish compliant employment practices quickly in a new country context.
- Experience supporting recruitment, onboarding and deployment of surge and national staff at volume.
- Experience in handling employee relations, safeguarding and code of conduct cases, including coordination with investigations teams.
- Knowledge of duty of care and staff well-being practices in high-risk, high-stress contexts, and the ability to work with security teams on staff safety.
- Ability to use people data and analysis to inform decisions, producing simple, timely reporting.
- Ability to respond to multiple priorities in a timely manner, producing high-quality outcomes.
- Proficiency with the Microsoft Office Suite, especially Excel, Word and Outlook. Working knowledge of Workday or other HR information systems, and of file-sharing platforms such as SharePoint, is an advantage.
Demonstrated managerial and leadership competencies:
- Demonstrated experience advising senior leaders, such as Country Directors and SMTs, and building strong, trusted relationships.
- Demonstrated successful leadership of multi-disciplinary teams in cross-cultural settings, including active mentoring and coaching.
- Ability to build the capacity of national P&C colleagues and hand over systems and responsibilities effectively.
- Ability to supervise in matrixed, remote and fast-changing environments.
- Established capacity to handle stressful situations in a healthy, constructive manner, and to model and promote staff well-being.
- High levels of integrity, empathy and sound judgment on sensitive matters.
- Opportunity-awareness: a successful, innovative approach to unpredictable operational, staffing and funding contexts.
- Ability to represent the P&C context, constraints and successes clearly to senior internal and external audiences, including regulators and government authorities.
Language and travel
- English is required. French, Arabic, Spanish are highly desired.
- Ability to deploy within 72 hours of notification.
Working Environment
IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers 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.
Gender Equality: IRC is committed to narrowing 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 security protocols and other supportive benefits and allowances.
Professional Standards: All International Rescue Committee workers must adhere to the core values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. Our Standards are Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Safeguarding, Conflicts of Interest, Fiscal Integrity, and Reporting Wrongdoing and Protection from Retaliation. IRC is committed to take all necessary preventive measures and create an environment where people feel safe, and to take all necessary actions and corrective measures when harm occurs. IRC builds teams of professionals who promote critical reflection, power sharing, debate, and objectivity to deliver the best possible services to our clients.
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Equal Opportunity Employer: IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers 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.
