Education Unit Manager

Background/IRC Summary

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and in 27 US cities, the IRC restores safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

The IRC delivers education programs in over 20 conflict-affected or post-conflict countries around the world. The IRC strives to help children and youth gain valuable skills through formal and non-formal learning activities that lead to tangible improvement in literacy, numeracy, social-emotional learning and marketable skills, and promotes the protection and psychosocial well-being of conflict-affected children and youth.

Job Overview

The Education Unit Manager position will provide core administrative and knowledge management support in the areas of event planning, information and education resource management, communications, travel and procurement.

Specific Responsibilities

Administrative Support

Support to Education Unit leadership

· Manage the Senior Director’s and Deputy Director’s calendars and assist with scheduling and other administrative tasks, including booking conference rooms, setting agendas, preparing print materials and taking notes for meetings.

· Relationship management. Maintain a list of key contacts that includes tracking of engagements/conversations/follow up.

· Team Communication- Serving as focal point for information inquiries both internally and externally. Distributing org and team wide information.

· Travel. Reserve and book flights and accommodation for Senior Director, procure visas; liaise where necessary with IRC Country Program staff to arrange in-country travel logistics.

Support as needed to Education Unit colleagues

· Provide administrative support on purchase requests, Human Resource forms, hiring processes, and on-boarding of new staff (including regular updating of onboarding materials), as well as additional support as needed.

· Serve as liaison for Education Unit staff with HQ support departments such as Finance, IT, HR and Global Supply Chain, as needed.

· Serve as education unit’s focal point for IRC’s Integra system, and regularly strengthen team capacity to use Integra and other administrative systems.

Procurement and consultants

· Serve as the focal point for all procurement requests and payment of consultants.

· Manage the administration of procurements, including tracking and initiating requests and processing and tracking payments.

Supervision

· Oversee hiring (including drafting JDs), onboarding, and management of education paid interns.

Event logistics

· Support logistics for external education events that we convene (1-2 annually) or attend, including:

• Comparing and choosing sites for events; liaising with vendors, obtaining quotes for services, reviewing contracts, finalizing all procurement requirements.

• Coordinating content, drafting communications materials and correspondences, and overseeing development and dissemination of all event print materials.

• Assist with the planning and running of Education’s internal retreats and bi-weekly meetings.

• Plan and schedule Education unit meetings including planning all meetings for each month in advance, sending regular reminders and sending out agendas, managing technological needs, ensuring recording, centralizing materials shared in meetings, and taking and sharing minutes.

Knowledge Management

· Develop/improve and maintain a system for gathering, organizing and tracking relevant information on education research projects, programs and strategic initiatives, including statistics about our reach.

· Maintain a “key facts” document with up-to-date statistics; fact check as needed for external communications.

· Maintain and update an education resource library, including regularly engaging with content leads to ensure that all relevant materials are centralized.

· Respond to internal information requests, providing existing content and supporting the production of new products (e.g., presentations, fact sheets, website content) as needed.

· Serve as the site owner for IRC’s internal education page and make updates as needed; as well as update education fact sheets

· Update departmental data on a quarterly basis, including the Education Unit’s organizational chart, country coverage, country visits, international field staff list, and Quarterly Strategic Review.

· Maintain and distribute a detailed calendar of team member travel and key events.

· Maintain IRC’s knowledge management system of resources, research and tools

· Collect and ensure education updates are included in internal IRC communication channels, such as newsletters

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: Senior Director of Education

Position directly supervises: Paid interns

Other Internal and/or external contacts:

Internal: The position includes close liaison and work with all Education Team Staff

Job Qualifications:

· University Degree in education, communications, international business, international development or relative field required.

· Proven skills in administration and logistics, writing and editing a must.

· Must be extremely detail oriented and organized, with strong communication skills and the ability to juggle multiple tasks.

· Knowledge of key issues in education, particularly in humanitarian and/or development contexts, a plus.

· Fluency in English required; proficiency in French, Spanish and Arabic is desired/an advantage.

· This role may be done remotely with occasional travel.

All IRC staff are required to adhere to THE IRC Way Standards for Professional Conduct and the IRC country employment policies.

Diversity, Inclusion and Gender Equality

IRC acknowledges and honors the fundamental value and dignity of all individuals. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and consider all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other protected characteristic. IRC is also committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including parental leave, gender-sensitive security protocols and other supportive benefits.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.