Director, Peacebuilding Advisory Unit

This is an exciting opportunity to lead the Peacebuilding Advisory Unit (PAU) at the heart of International Alert, the peacebuilding organisation working to tackle the root causes of conflict.

Reporting to the Director of Policy, Advocacy and Communications, you will lead the Peacebuilding Advisory Unit’s work to influence policy and practice, deliver global thematic programming, provide strategic technical support and share knowledge. You’ll do this working with a high-performing team of specialists (currently 11) around our key thematic areas: Gender & Peacebuilding; Climate Crisis and Natural Resource Management; Peace Economies; as well as our Conflict Hub’s work on conflict sensitivity.

As well as being responsible for the people, annual budget (currently just under £2m), projects, and planning/reporting of the unit, you will shape and deliver ambitious plans to achieve change in Alert’s global influencing priority areas. You’ll strengthen the support and technical assistance PAU offers to our country teams, positioning PAU across Alert to add strategic value to our in-country work and distil global learning, expertise and advocacy from it. You’ll also secure new funds, maintain donor relationships, and evolve the business model for PAU’s long-term sustainability.

Whether you are representing Alert as an expert spokesperson at a conference or in the media, collaborating with Alert’s country teams to share learning, or coaching and steering the PAU team to successfully complete an innovative new peacebuilding project, you will get to work flexibly across a broad portfolio of issues and geographies. As a member of Alert’s global leadership team and Executive Team, you will play an important role in the overall success of a growing organisation.

We are looking for a candidate with a talent for collaborating and joining up work across organisations and with a strong experience and knowledge of peacebuilding. You will have a proven ability to manage complex teams, projects, and budgets. Our ideal candidate will be a brilliant leader, collaborator and peacebuilder, with great ambition and focus.

Applications on a job-share basis are welcome.

Role duties and responsibilities:

Provide strategic leadership to the PAU team

• · Implement PAU’s existing 2021-2023 strategy and develop future strategy;
• · Develop, implement, monitor, adjust and report on PAU workplans;
• · Lead the team, ensuring coherence across the different aspects of PAU’s work;
• · Guide, motivate and manage the performance of PAU staff, coaching and mentoring them to anticipate and solve problems;
• · Ensure that the PAU team is structured to be effective and efficient, and that it can access the support required from other functions such as finance, HR, and fundraising;
• · Position and represent PAU across the organisation, building a shared understanding among Alert teams of the role of PAU and the support and added value it can offer.

Drive Alert’s global policy advocacy and representation in thematic priority areas

• Design and implement plans to achieve and win change in PAU’s influencing priority areas, including by directly advocating to key decision-makers, and working closely with the Director for Policy, Advocacy and Communications;
• Lead Alert’s engagement on selected policy processes and initiatives, including engagement in major international reviews, conferences;
• Develop and maintain collaborative relationships with other organisations and networks in the peacebuilding sector and beyond;
• Ensure PAU’s research outputs are of high quality and designed to achieve change;
• Represent the organisation and its messages, support other PAU staff to do so, and champion influencing across Alert.

Strengthen PAU’s technical support for country programmes

• Ensure that PAU provides high-quality support to country programmes in the thematic areas of Gender & Peacebuilding; Climate Crisis & Natural Resource Management; Peace Economies; and conflict sensitivity;
• Support the Director of Programmes to establish technical support in areas outside of PAU’s thematic areas, and work closely with the DoP (who leads on peacebuilding approaches, programming framework, impact and learning) as part of an internal ecosystem of peacebuilding expertise and innovation;
• Ensure that PAU’s activities and ways of working contribute to and promote a strong culture of horizontal learning and trust across country teams;
• Promote a culture of learning, strategic thinking and sharp focus on impact within PAU;
• Develop and ensure uptake of research, conflict-sensitivity and gender-sensitivity standards within Alert.
• Act as a “thought leader” and “policy go-to” within Alert on peacebuilding issues, including supporting the Director of Policy, Advocacy and Communications, Director of Programmes, Executive Director and wider Executive Team on issues that arise.

Oversee global thematic programmes, secure new funds, manage donor relationships and ensure PAU’s long-term sustainability

• Lead and play a hands-on role in the development of project proposals, ensuring that PAU staff, programme design and fundraising staff, and regional programme colleagues as appropriate are fully involved; approve proposals being submitted to donors;
• Oversee the delivery by PAU’s thematic leads of thematic programmes which achieve peacebuilding impact and help translate local insights into global expertise and advocacy;
• Support Alert’s provision of technical advisory services, especially through the Conflict Hub, providing conceptual leadership in relation to tools, services and approaches on offer and conceptualising how to expand this work in line with organisational strategy;
• Implement and develop/evolve a business model for PAU that is realistic and achieves financial sustainability for the team;
• Ensure timely and high-quality reports are provided to donors, demonstrating project’s impacts;
• Build strong relationships with key funding partners;
• Work with the finance department and PAU colleagues to develop and manage an annual working budget (currently just under £2m), and to monitor financial performance;
• Ensure that programme funds are spent in compliance with Alert policies, donor budgets and any other stipulations – including funds passed to partners;
• Ensure that resources purchased with donor funds are used appropriately and maintained securely.

Please note that these are just some of the requirements for this role. To view the full job description, please click here.