Field Manager

BACKGROUND:

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.

JOB OVERVIEW:

Under the supervision of the Field Coordinator (FC), the Field Manager (FM) will be responsible for ensuring high quality support for the delivery of programming in the field office. A specific focus of the role is leading effective and efficient program support functions. Additionally, the FM will play a key role in liaising with the Ukrainian governmental authorities, including unblocking any barriers and managing risks to effective implementation.

The FM will directly manage field support teams — Supply Chain (including Fleet and Warehouse), Administration, People and Culture (P&C), and Finance — to ensure strict compliance with IRC, Ukrainian government, and donor policies and procedures. The FM will provide contextually appropriate operational input and advice at all stages of the project cycle, continually assessing the quality and effectiveness of program support and adjusting accordingly. The position will work closely with field-based Program Managers/Officers and their teams to optimize delivery of operational support for program implementation.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Leadership of field office support team

• Analyze Supply Chain, Admin, Finance, and P&C functions at field level to ensure program support services are operating effectively and efficiently. Based on this analysis, implement continuous improvement efforts, and make recommendations to FC and/ or central level support leads when necessary.
• Lead the development and ongoing review of operations plans to support program activities and the scale-up/right-size programming according to approved country SAP.
• Monitor adherence to all IRC and donor policies and procedures for procurement and asset management.
• Participate in procurement committee meetings, providing input where strategic procurement/ large scale procurement is planned.
• In coordination with the supply chain team, ensure that warehouses are well equipped for operations with necessary security measures and equipment in place
• In coordination with the fleet team, oversee vehicle movements to ensure adherence to policies and maximize program security, accountability, and efficient use of fleet resources.
• Support admin officers to ensure that office and facilities are well-maintained and fit-for-purpose to safely accommodate staff. Raise any IT issues to central level operations team and/ or FC for support.
• Support finance officer to deliver financial management responsibilities, including making any payments, producing financial reports, and supporting program support teams in managing their budgets.
• Support P&C officer to ensure adoption of different HR policies and procedures, different HR routines (performance review cycle and goal setting), staff development plans, etc. for all south region team members.

Staff management

• Manage field office program support team in coordination with central level support leads (Supply Chain, Admin, P&C, and Finance); directly supervise and mentor field level support leads.
• Ensure that all performance evaluations for all program support staff are conducted on time. Review all evaluations to ensure quality and consistency.
• In collaboration with operations, P&C, and finance leads, implement personnel policies including coaching, performance evaluation, staff development, and disciplinary measures for program support team.

Budget and grant management

• Manage budget vs actual (BVA) and spending plan process for the program support and operations budget for south region on a monthly basis.
• Identify any significant actual or projected under- or over-spend on program support and operations budgets in a timely manner and share the analysis to FC for mitigation or corrective actions.
• Review all budget codes in procurement requests, purchase orders, vouchers, and other related documents and approve according to FM thresholds.
• Support the FC to organize field level grants opening meetings, to ensure projects are operationalized with the appropriate level of program support for effective implementation.
• Contribute to the operational review and budgeting in project design, operational budgets, and field level master budgets to ensure program support is contextually appropriate and adequately resourced.

Field management

• Together with the FC and the Humanitarian Access and Safety & Security (HASS) Officer, closely monitor events in current and proposed areas of operation (humanitarian situation, politics, security) and support with contextual analysis. Ensure that operations functions are appropriately adapted to the changing context.
• Together with the FC, ensure program support functions are aligned with program implementation needs and appropriately resourced.
• Support the assessment and implementation of operational capacity building efforts with IRC’s partners in the south region.
• Support the Deputy Director of Field Management (DDFM) when needed for field-based FC responsibilities when the FC is out of the office.
• Undertaking other duties that may be assigned by the FC.

Coordination and representation:

• Support the FC in all coordination and representation duties, such as, but not limited to, attending external and internal coordination platforms, and facilitating meetings and representation with local stakeholders e.g., Mayors, Governors, UN Coordination, Ukrainian authorities, Partners and communities.
• As a member of the extended SMT (ESMT), together with the FC, the FM represents the south region context and provides input into the development of the Ukraine Country Program Strategy Action Plan (SAP) and SAP Implementation Plan (SAP-IP) and supports the delivery of strategic goals.

REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS AND COORDINATION:

Reports to: Field Coordinator

Supervises: Supply Chain Manager, Admin Officers, People & Culture (P&C) Officer, Finance Officer

Key Coordination with: HASS Officer, Program Managers, and central-level finance, operations, and P&C teams.

REQUIREMENTS

Education: University degree

Work Experience:

• Minimum 4 years professional experience, preferably with a NGO in Ukraine
• Supervision management experience
• Experience in at least one of the field manager functions: supply chain, logistics, administration, human resources, or finance
• Experience working successfully with local stakeholders such as local and international NGOs, local authorities, community members, etc. with sensitivity and diplomacy

Demonstrated Competencies:

• Excellent relationship-building, interpersonal skills and the ability to effectively coordinate across multiple teams
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Strong attention to detail and timeliness in managing tasks
• Leadership in taking initiative and problem solving

Languages Required:

• Fluency in spoken and written Ukrainian and English

Computer/Other Requirements:

• Full professional competency in Microsoft Office Suite, especially Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PowerBI
• Drivers license

Ability to Travel: up to 25% traveling in Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Odesa regions

This position will be based in locations where IRC have presence. This position is currently based in Mykolaiv but as this is a fluid and rapidly changing context, the location of this assignment may change based on the operational needs.

Professional Standards

The International Rescue Committee is determined to protect the people it serves and staff from all kinds of harm, including sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment. It is committed to take all necessary preventive measures and create an environment where people feel safe. IRC builds diverse and inclusive teams of professionals who promote critical reflection, power sharing, debate, and objectivity to deliver the best possible services to our clients.

IRC workers must adhere to the core values and principles outlined in IRC Way — Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces its safeguarding policies to protect adult and child clients from any form of exploitation and abuse, including sexual exploitation and abuse, and its staff from sexual harassment and violence.

Where misconduct is alleged, IRC follows a Zero tolerance approach and takes all necessary actions and corrective measures. IRC investigation unit comprises of experts and trained investigators that ensures professional survivor-centered investigations are conducted if allegations of safeguarding violations are reported through the safe and accessible reporting channels that IRC makes available to its staff, partners, and clients.

These commitments are set out in IRC’s Safeguarding Policies, accessible in English and in Ukrainian language via this link: https://rescue.box.com/v/irc-safeguarding-policies. ;

IRC is an active member of the Inter-Agency Working Group on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) set-up in Ukraine.