Senior Humanitarian Operations Advisor - MENAEE

Save the Children International has an exciting opportunity for a Senior Humanitarian Operations Advisor (MENAEE) to join our global team.

Team Purpose

The Humanitarian Operations team drives SCA's approach to preparedness and emergency response: managing the implementation humanitarian procedures; coordinating support to Implementing Offices as they monitor risk, anticipate and respond; and play a key role in the mobilisation of surge capacity, flexible funding and skilled responders to address emergencies effectively.​

Role purpose

To provide strategic and operational humanitarian leadership across an assigned country portfolio, strengthening Save the Children Implementing Office’s emergency preparedness, anticipatory action, risk management, and response delivery. In addition, the role acts as ‘Humanitarian Business Partner’, coordinating cross-functional support and troubleshooting, driving organisational priorities including localisation, and ensuring timely, effective, and accountable humanitarian responses. It is in this capacity that they act as the primary coordinator and advisor for senior country leaders in the event of a significant humanitarian emergency. The post holder will also provide surge and operational support during emergencies, including deployment to support high-priority humanitarian responses when required.

• Job Title: Senior Humanitarian Operations Advisor (MENAEE)
• Reports To: Lead Advisor, Emergency Response Operations
• Work Pattern: Hybrid/Remote with flexible working options available
• Location: Any existing SCI approved office location in MENAEE. For a full list of locations that Save the Children International can hire in, please visit: SCI Careers
• Required Time Zone: Africa & Middle East time zones
• 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 60%, with the potential to travel to volatile locations.
• Remit: Global

Principal Accountabilities

Humanitarian Leadership and Business Partnering

• Act as the primary humanitarian focal point for an assigned country portfolio, providing strategic advice, coordinating access to global support, facilitating collaboration across functions, and helping country offices address humanitarian operational challenges, risks, and priorities.
• Promote learning, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement across the portfolio.
• Support country teams to ensure that alerts, categorisations, response plans and sit-reps are available, effectively cascaded and are of adequate quality. 

Emergency Preparedness and Response Readiness

• Support country offices to strengthen preparedness and response readiness through emergency preparedness planning, coordinated cross-functional support, identification of critical capability gaps and risks, oversight of preparedness improvement priorities, and monitoring progress against preparedness action plans to support timely implementation and resolution of barriers.
• Ensure that country feedback informs the continuous improvement of humanitarian policies, procedures, systems and guidance. 

Anticipatory Action 

• Working alongside Anticipatory Action colleagues, support country offices to strengthen anticipatory action approaches across assigned country offices by facilitating access to technical expertise, promoting risk-informed and child-centred planning, and encouraging the integration of anticipatory action into preparedness and response strategies.

Humanitarian Response Oversight

• Provide operational oversight and strategic support to humanitarian responses, ensuring the effective application of humanitarian procedures, timely decision-making, coordinated support and backstopping, and organisational oversight of response quality and performance. 

Risk, Quality and Performance Management

• Support effective humanitarian risk management and performance across the assigned portfolio through review of country office risk frameworks, mitigation plans and humanitarian performance, supporting the management and escalation of significant humanitarian and operational risks, monitoring of agreed risk mitigation actions, and analysis of key risks and trends to inform organisational oversight and decision-making.

Coordination and External Engagement

• Build and maintain strategic relationships with country offices, global teams, partners, donors and external stakeholders, representing Save the Children in relevant humanitarian forums and influencing coordinated action on organisational humanitarian priorities. 
• Maintain responsibility for scheduling and chairing effective coordination fora in the event of significant categorised emergencies.

Localisation and Capacity Strengthening

• Support country offices to advance locally led humanitarian action through coordination of technical support, strengthening partnerships, supporting capacity development and learning, sharing of good practice, and the championing of approaches that strengthen the leadership and influence of local actors in emergency preparedness and response.

Emergency Deployment and Surge Support

• Provide surge capacity and operational support during humanitarian emergencies, including deployment, backstopping and temporary gap-filling of critical response functions when required. Be available to work outside core working hours to support major emergencies, response set-up, and critical incident management.

Experience and Skills

Essential

1 - Humanitarian Operations: Significant experience in managing and supporting humanitarian operations across a range of contexts, including emergency response, recovery, and development programmes, both directly and remotely.

2 - Emergency Response Planning & Management: Proficient experience in developing and implementing Emergency Preparedness and Response Readiness (EPRR) plans and supporting countries in developing and delivering Response Plans.

3 - Deployment and Gap Filling: Experience in being deployed to gap fill and/or backstop key operational positions in response teams, including both remote and in-person support.

4 - Documentation and Compliance: Experience in delivering Alerts, Categorisation/Re-categorisation, and Prioritisation documentation according to established procedures and frameworks.

5 - Coordination and Advisory: Experience in providing advisory and coordination support to country offices on the delivery and implementation of humanitarian procedures and frameworks. Strong ability to strategically advise and support country offices on the delivery of relevant response procedures.

6 - Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement: Proven track record of building and maintaining effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including cross-functional

Education and Qualifications 

Desirable

• Bachelor’s Degree: Preferably in International Development, Humanitarian Assistance, Emergency Management, or related risk management or social sciences fields is desired

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.