Technical & Logistics Manager for the operational cell located in Dubai : Iraq, Jordan, Syria M/F

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international humanitarian aid organization that provides assistance to populations in distress, to victims of natural or manmade disasters and to victims of armed conflicts, without discrimination and irrespective of race, religion, creed or political affiliation. The French section of MSF implements programs in thirty-three countries.

In the context of a replacement, MSF is currently looking for a Technical & Logistics Manager for the operational cell located in Dubai : Iraq, Jordan, Syria.

The main objective of the Operations department in OCP is to improve the quality of the operational response of MSF by formulating, supervising and insuring the efficient implementation of its medical humanitarian activities. The department is organized in 8 operational cells, transversal units and project units.

General context of the cell:

The Dubai Cell is one of the 4 decentralized cells of OCP Operation department.

Since several years, the Dubai cell oversees most of Middle East portfolio with Iraq, Jordan, Yemen (transit base in Djibouti) missions and recently added, Syria (base in Turkey).

The cell manages a dynamic and diverse medical portfolio that consists of Surgery, Physiotherapy, Pediatrics, Gynecology-Obstetrics, Microbiology, Mental Health, and outbreak responses.

The portfolio includes varied operational contexts ranging from remote-control in active conflict zones, the following of changing frontlines, responding to natural disasters and outbreak including preparedness, preparation and pre-positioning for emergencies in coordination with the Emergency cell in Paris, negotiation with local and regional authorities for access and international patient movement, and stabilizing health systems after conflict. The portfolio includes several insecure contexts.

In addition to this, the cell is monitoring the region for response to emergencies in coordination with the Emergency Cell based in Paris.

The MSF UAE office located in Dubai hosts the Operational cell as well as different regional activities, including Epidemiology, HR, Communication and IT.

The logistics and technical challenges cover different fields of expertise. While in Iraq, the priorities are focused on stock management and post emergency set up, a strong support is needed in Yemen that host a diversity of activities like waste management in hospital settings, fleet management, biomedical equipment maintenance, and extremely difficult international supply. Jordan hospital is a state-of-the-art facility that requires specific coordination between technical families with most of the procurement done locally, and Syria is mostly remotely managed with a difficulty in maintaining significant capacity to mobilize resources. In all contexts, applied security and passive security measures are important aspects of the safety of our staff.

Mission

Under the hierarchical management of the Cell manager and the functional management of the Head of Operational Logistics, the Logistics Manager is responsible of the follow-up and support to all logistics and technical activities and policies of the missions (importation, procurement, assets management, mechanics, electricity, plumbing, water and sanitation, biomedical, information technology, construction, etc).

S/he defines and organizes the implementation of the logistics and technical programs in line with the country operational priorities.

Main activities

As a cell team member:

• To participate in the definition of the objectives of the programs of the portfolio and share technical inputs with the team
• To be involved in the transversal programs (information management, budget planning, …)
• To be in touch with the other MSF sections for local information sharing and good practices

To be responsible for application of technical policies and processes with the fields:

• To distribute the information of the technical policies and processes to all areas of MSF intervention within his/her perimeter of responsibility.
• To inform the cell of the technical and supply challenges and work with the team for possible suggestions and solutions

To be in charge of the technical capacities and supply for the countries followed by the cell:

• To propose and help developing non-medical programs (construction, shelters, food, NFI, Watsan, etc)
• To provide transparency on the technical constraints of the job that could affect the operations
• To motivate the support teams (supply and technical) and to assure that the support is relevant with the countries’ contexts, including for the IT and in collaboration with the IT department
• To assure adequate support as needed, via field visits or with the help of referents

To participate to the security management and the reduction of the risks on the field:

• To participate to the risk analyses and to follow the mission contexts
• To provide the follow-up tools in case of security incidents and to help follow any security incident
• To participate to the analysis of the security incident and to help the capitalization in the countries in his/her perimeter

To be responsible for the follow-up and the synthesis of the activity:

• To follow and evaluate the technical and supply activities and to ensure the link with the operations
• To implement and help animate MEMO asset management software in the different countries
• To provide and analyze technical information and data to steer the activities
• To evaluate and analyze the logistic activities (technical and supply) of the programs and missions
• To communicate this information and analysis to the logistics and supply departments
• To participate to the budget definition and revisions

Functional management of the field teams (log coordinators):

• To supervise, advise and provide support to all the coordinators (log, supply, construction, Watsan…)
• To participate to the orientation and evaluation of their positions and roles in collaboration with the head of mission, the validation committees, and participate in the evolution of their logistics careers
• To ensure of the relevance between the technical programming and the operational objectives
• To provide advice on the team compositions and staffing
• To identify and to follow-up national staff in the key programs of intervention and to work along with the HR to follow their careers (trainings, coaching, detachment, expatriation…)

Management of the regional technical referents (biomed, energy, watsan):

• Participate in their recruitment
• Ensure operational updates are provided to the team of technical referents
• Ensure joint meetings with the other logs cell when needed.
• Plan/Arbitrate field visits of regional technical referents
• Ensure Terms of Reference and visits report are done and shared
• Assure their annual reports: Summary of the year activity showing the level of the field (indicators) and plan the objectives for the next year.

To share the skills and to capitalize on experiences:

• To participate to the knowledge sharing, the distribution of the lessons learned, to write down the relevant technical experiences in his/her perimeter
• To follow and evaluate new tools or good practices among the missions
• To participate to the trainings of the log teams on the field and in international and remote sessions
• To participate in the construction of a career path for the logisticians working in his/her perimeter and the identification of future managers
• To identify and develop future logistic coordinators
• To ensure the logistics and security briefings and debriefings of all relevant staff
• To balance the technical knowledge by providing internal or external trainings

Field visits of 1-4 weeks are required a few times a year, sometimes on short notice. Specific terms of reference will be generated for each visit.

Profile :

Experience:

• Significant experience as a Logistics Coordinator (at least 5 years) in the field in several contexts with MSF or another NGO is required and/or experience as a Cell Logistics Manager.
• Experience in security management required.
• Experience in emergency response is an asset.
• A previous experience with MSF OCP, especially as a logistician, is an asset
• Experience in the four countries of the cell’s portfolio is an asset.
• Experience in an operational role (Project Coordinator or Head of Mission) is an asset

Languages: Fluent (C1) English written and spoken, B1 French and/or Arabic is an asset

Skills:

• Basic and technical knowledge in logistics technical families (electricity, biomedical devices, construction, mechanics, water and hygiene, etc)
• Experience in project management
• International supply and importation experience is an asset
• Familiarity with the supply and logistics technical policies and tools in place in MSF-OCP is an asset
• Skills in IT are necessary (MS Office365), specialized tools (CAD, ArcGIS…) are an asset

Position’s specificities

Status: Permanent contract. Executive level. Full time basis based in Dubai. Frequent trips to the field is expected.

Relocation Details: temporary housing: 1 month hotel accommodation (in hotels with MSF corporate deal): 1 bedroom (alone) ; 2 bedroom accommodation (when accompanied by family).

Travel Expenses: Flight Ticket To and From home.

Lump Sum Relocation Allowance (for non UAE residents): 12000 AED (if single) or 18000 if with a family.

Conditions: monthly salary of AED 27,000.00; annual flight ticket to home country; comprehensive medical insurance; educational Subsidy for recognized dependents (children above 3 years who are resident in the UAE).

Expected starting date: January 2023.