Lead Humanitarian Advocacy

Save the Children International has an exciting opportunity for Lead, Humanitarian Advocacy to join our global team.

Team Purpose

To drive local to global influencing efforts by establishing a cohesive and relevant advocacy, campaign, child rights governance and child participation agenda aligned with our global strategy, thereby driving impact at scale. The Humanitarian Advocacy sub-team strengthens and elevates country-led advocacy to ensure that children's rights and needs are protected in conflict, crises, and fragile settings. We partner with Country Offices facing crises to lead impactful advocacy, ensuring that local and national priorities and evidence inform regional and global humanitarian agendas and influencing opportunities, while also driving the visibility, quality, and thematic coherence of the team's work at the global level.

Role purpose

The Humanitarian Advocacy Lead supports Save the Children's humanitarian advocacy agenda globally, working closely with and under the direction of the Head of Humanitarian Advocacy to develop organisational positioning on major humanitarian crises, contributing to thought leadership on humanitarian advocacy, policy and practice, and helping to advance influence with key external stakeholders, including governments, UN agencies, donors and humanitarian leadership bodies.

Working across humanitarian responses, regions, Country Offices, thematic teams, Members and the CEO's Office, the postholder ensures coherent, evidence-based and impactful advocacy that advances children's rights and humanitarian outcomes. 

The role contributes through strategic influence, external representation, technical expertise and matrix collaboration, supporting cross-organisational alignment, humanitarian impact and organisational influence globally.

• Job Title: Lead, Humanitarian Advocacy
• Reports To: Head, Humanitarian Advocacy
• Work Pattern: Hybrid/Remote with flexible working options available
• Location: Any approved Save the Children International office location. For a full list of locations that Save the Children International can hire in, please visit: SCI Careers
• Required Time Zone: Any
• Contract Length: Permanent
• Right to Work: The successful candidate must have the right to work in the country where the role is based, for the duration of employment. 
• Language Requirements: English
• International Travel: up to 30% 
• Remit: Support across our Global Portfolio

Principal Accountabilities

• Provide strategic humanitarian advocacy support and, during specific responses, leadership in major emergencies (including Category 1 and 2 and cross-regional crises), promoting anticipatory, forward-looking advocacy informed by evidence and country-level priorities.
• Deploy as surge capacity in the early stages of escalating or newly-onset Category 1 and 2 emergencies.
• Support Country Offices, Regional Offices, Members and Global Teams, including through Humanitarian Advocacy Working Groups, to develop and implement advocacy strategies, influencing plans and messaging during emergencies.
• Lead humanitarian horizon scanning and strategic analysis to identify emerging risks, trends and opportunities, and integrate humanitarian evidence and field perspectives into organisational policy and positioning.
• Contribute to organisational positioning on priority issues, including protection, displacement, humanitarian access, conflict and international humanitarian law, adapting global positions into context-specific influencing strategies.
• Represent Save the Children in global humanitarian forums and engage governments, UN agencies and other stakeholders to advance advocacy objectives and elevate the experiences of crisis-affected children, as delegated by the Head of Humanitarian Advocacy.
• Support senior engagement with inter-agency humanitarian leadership and emergency coordination fora, including by preparing timely analysis, briefings, talking points and positioning.
• Act as a spokesperson on specific humanitarian issues and major crises as delegated, contributing to positioning Save the Children as a credible and influential voice on humanitarian advocacy, policy and practice.
• Provide coaching and technical guidance to humanitarian advocacy colleagues across the movement, and engage in global humanitarian advocacy networks, communities of practice and working groups.
• Promote diversity, equity and inclusion across all work, ensuring interventions are accessible and effective for all, regardless of background or identity.

Experience and Skills

Essential

Humanitarian and Advocacy Experience: 

• Extensive experience leading humanitarian advocacy in major and complex emergencies, including cross-regional or system-wide crises. 
• Considerable experience developing and implementing advocacy strategies, positioning and messaging in fast-moving humanitarian contexts. 
• Strong technical knowledge of humanitarian access, protection, displacement, conflict and international humanitarian law. 
• Demonstrated experience representing organisations in senior external forums, high-level consultations and policy dialogues with governments, UN agencies, donors and multilateral institutions. 
• Experience engaging and influencing across a wide network of internal and external stakeholders. 

Institutional and Representational Experience: 

Strategic Analysis and Horizon Scanning: 

• Experience conducting horizon scanning and strategic analysis to identify emerging humanitarian risks, trends and advocacy opportunities. 
• Ability to translate complex evidence and analysis into clear, actionable advocacy positioning. 

Media and Public Advocacy: 

• Experience acting as a spokesperson or public-facing representative on humanitarian issues, including with media. 

Capacity Building and Collaboration: 

• Experience coaching, mentoring or providing technical guidance to advocacy colleagues across a large, matrixed organisation. 
• Experience working collaboratively across teams, regions and organisational levels to align advocacy positioning. 

Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: 

• Demonstrable commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, with experience advocating for marginalised groups. 

Education and Qualifications 

Essential

• Advanced degree (Master's or higher) in International Relations, Human Rights, International Development, Law, Political Science or a related field, or equivalent professional experience. 
•  Demonstrated knowledge of international humanitarian law, human rights or child protection is highly desirable. 

Desirable

• Arabic, French or Spanish as an additional language is desirable. 

Working at Save the Children International

Save the Children is the world's leading organisation for children, employing ~25,000 staff. We save children's lives. We fight for their rights. We help them fulfil their potential. Through our work in 116 countries, we put the most deprived and marginalised children first.

We know that great people make a great organisation, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive environment where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

The work here is challenging but is also immensely rewarding. At Save the Children, you will be in good company, working with talented, like-minded individuals who are determined to ensure that all children survive, learn, and are protected. Your contribution will help ensure children's voices are heard at the highest levels, and that we achieve our global strategy, Ambition for Children 2030, and reach every last child.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Equal Opportunities

DEI is core to our vision, values and global strategy. Save the Children is committed to creating a truly diverse, equitable and inclusive organisation, and one which will support us in our vision to ensure every child attains the right to survival, protection, development, and participation.

We are committed to equal employment opportunities, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality, disability, marital or civil partnership status, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, caring or parental responsibilities, age, or beliefs and religion. We are committed to diversifying our staff to better represent the communities we serve and actively welcome underrepresented groups to apply.

Reasonable adjustments will be made should any candidate invited to interview require this.

Application Information

Please attach a copy of your CV and cover letter with your application. A full copy of the role profile can be found at SCI Careers. It is recommended that you save a copy of the role profile as it will no longer be available after the advert closes.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and the job advert may be closed earlier than advertised subject to the volume of suitable applicants. Please submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.

Due to the high volume of applications we receive, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Candidates who are successfully shortlisted should expect to hear from us within 2 weeks of the advert deadline.

Our Recruitment Process

1. Application review by our recruiting team based on your CV and cover letter
2. Two-stage competency-based interviews with the hiring team
3. Some recruitment may include an additional assessment or case study stage, or a third stage interview
4. If successful, you will receive a conditional offer of employment, followed by your contract subject to passing background checks

We need to keep children and adults safe so our selection process includes rigorous background checks and reflects our commitment to the protection of children and adults from abuse.  All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our Code of Conduct and all policies and procedures relating to Anti-Harassment, Health and Safety, Safeguarding, and DEI and Equal Opportunities.

Save the Children does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process.