Director, People Development

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:

The Director, People Development is responsible for planning and implementing a variety of people development initiatives for the IRC’s Crisis Response, Recovery and Development (CRRD) department. Partnering closely with the Global Learning & Development Team and P&C Partners across CRRD, the Director, People Development, will plan and facilitate workshops, peer learning groups, facilitate talent review processes, and support other talent management and learning efforts across CRRD. CRRD people development activities must build capability and competency to achieve CRRD's strategic action plans, leadership diversity targets, and the overall development, retention, and improved internal promotion rates of top talent across CRRD.  

This role is open to candidates located and with the right to work in Kenya, Jordan and the UK.

Duties/Responsibilities:

• Serve as a member of CRRD People & Culture leadership team and contribute to its strategy development and establishment of L&D priorities connected to IRCs Strategy 100 and Delivery Letter goals.
• Build and maintain trusted partnerships with senior CRRD leaders, regional directors, and country directors to ensure sustained engagement and measurable adoption of people development programs across CRRD.

• Serve as the primary voice of CRRD within the Global Learning & Development team by participating in strategy and planning sessions to ensure globally implemented programming reflects the needs, contexts, and constraints of field-based staff and leaders.
• Translate CRRD's strategic priorities — including Strategy 100, leadership diversity targets, and retention goals — into scalable learning and talent development plans, providing guidance on how programs should be adapted to varying operational contexts across a complex, globally distributed humanitarian operation.
• Partner with CRRD P&C Partners to design and deliver new leader integration and country director onboarding experiences that accelerate effectiveness and cultural alignment.
• Contextualize, communicate and drive org-wide learning and development initiatives across CRRD.
• Design and implement people development programs — including, but not limited to, talent review, succession planning, manager capability building, and P&C capacity strengthening — that equip, engage, and retain CRRD staff, managers and leaders.
• Build CRRD's talent movement and capability-building infrastructure — including workforce planning and succession readiness pipelines.
• Maintain and deliver a strategic roadmap of people development initiatives in CRRD while also remaining agile and able to deliver against last-minute and unexpected needs that may arise.
• Identify and champion the responsible use of AI tools and technologies to enhance talent development and learning and development work — improving the personalization, efficiency, and scalability of programs across CRRD's globally distributed teams — in alignment with IRC's approved AI tools and governance standards.
• Establish and track key metrics to evaluate program effectiveness and report progress to CRRD and P&C leadership.

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: Dual reporting to Senior Director, CRRD People & Culture and Director, Global Learning and Development
Position directly supervises:  N/A

Key Internal Relationships:

• Collaborate with colleagues across the People & Culture function including all CRRD Regional P&C Directors, Gender Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (GEDI), HR Operations, Compensation & Benefits, Global Learning and Development and others to achieve meaningful impact.
• CRRD Leadership and Country People and Culture teams.

Qualifications:

• Minimum 8–10 years of progressive experience in learning & development, talent management, or organizational development.
• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing people development programs across a complex, matrixed organization.
• Proven ability to design and facilitate leadership and manager development programs, talent reviews, and succession planning processes.
• Experience conducting learning needs assessments and translating findings into targeted, scalable development solutions.
• Proficiency in tracking and reporting on L&D metrics and using data to evaluate and iterate program effectiveness.
• Familiarity with instructional design methodologies and adult learning principles.
• Exceptional relationship-building and influencing skills, with demonstrated ability to partner effectively with senior leaders and stakeholders across functions and geographies.
• Strong in-person and virtual facilitation skills, with experience leading workshops, peer learning groups, and leadership programs across diverse, multicultural audiences.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity and competing priorities, balancing a strategic roadmap with agile responsiveness to emerging needs.
• Deep understanding of the operational realities of field-based and humanitarian contexts, with the ability to design programs that are relevant and accessible across limited resource environments.
• Ability to work across multiple time zones and with globally distributed teams; willingness to travel internationally as needed.
• Some experience applying AI tools and technologies to talent development work — such as learning content design, program personalization, or talent/workforce analytics — preferred.
• English fluency. Proficiency in an additional core IRC language (French, Arabic, Spanish) strongly preferred.

Compensation: (GBP 65,785 - GBP 73,095). Ranges are based on various factors including the labor market, job type, internal equity, and budget.  Exact offers are calibrated by work location, individual candidate experience and skills relative to the defined job requirements

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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