Vice President, Program Delivery

BACKGROUND

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future. Founded in 1933, the IRC is at work today in over 40 countries and 28 U.S. cities. The IRC’s Resettlement, Asylum and Integration (RAI) department creates opportunities for refugees and other vulnerable migrants to survive and thrive in the US and Europe. RAI serves more than 100,000 individuals each year in the US, including thousands of newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers as well as the broader immigrant community, through a diverse portfolio of programs aimed at five core outcomes: Health, Safety, Economic Wellbeing, Education and Power.

SCOPE OF WORK

The VP’s main responsibility is to provide dynamic leadership to the delivery of high-quality programs and support the efforts of the SVP to grow the impact of IRC’s programs in the United States and Europe. The VP is charged with developing a delivery vision for all programs in RAI’s four geographical regions (East, South, West & Europe) to achieve operational excellence. They also oversee programmatic and operational outcomes of the Resettlement Support Center in Asia, Office of State Partnership in New Jersey, Texas and Kansas, as well as set the direction for the delivery of Emergency response activities within RAI. This position ensures that the RAI Strategy is informed by the aspirations of IRC’s clients by providing oversight to the Strategic Action Planning (SAP) and Client Voice & Community Engagement.

The VP, Program Delivery must be able to successfully lead RAI departments to achieve their strategic goals as well as play a leadership role in the organization at large. They will be a key member of the Executive Leadership Group (ELG) and collaborate closely with other members regarding technical excellence, operations, finance, fundraising, awards management, advocacy, communications, legal, compliance and other HQ functions.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES

• Exercise overall responsibility and drive RAI’s efforts to deliver lasting impact for resettled and crisis-affected people through programs which support them to recover, rebuild, and gain control of their future.

• Set goals, monitor work, and evaluate results to ensure that departmental and organizational objectives and operating requirements are met and are in line with employee needs, RAI priorities, and the mission of the IRC.

• Manage key internal and external relationships, develop strategic goals and identify opportunities that will improve performance, drive impact and achieve departmental goals.

• Represent IRC with key donors, policy makers, local government officials, public and private partners, and news media as required.

• Work closely with the VP & Director of Policy and Advocacy and the Director of Communications to strengthen IRC’s advocacy work and public positioning

• Advise Sr. Vice President on IRC program performance, areas for expansion, gaps in services and other program elements that build scale and impact.

• In coordination with SLG, Regional and Program Office Leadership, engage on staff development, retention and succession planning that fosters an engaging, diverse, equitable and inclusive environment.

Regional Programs

• Lead the successful implementation of IRC’s programming across an international portfolio, ensuring resources and priorities are optimally aligned to support effectiveness across the 4 regions.
• Ensure good stewardship of IRC and donor resources. Exercise oversight of operating budgets and cultivate a diligent approach to fiscal management, ensuring that the program offices fully meet their obligations.
• Ensure US programs incorporate best practices and deliver on high quality outcomes in all regions, including under emergency conditions.
• Empower regional management structure to ensure that programs are developed collaboratively with strong programmatic cohesion across sectors, particularly between resettlement and non-resettlement programs. Synergies are explored and cross-functional collaboration is in place to ensure program quality and evidence-based outcomes are achieved.
• Promote innovative programming within the department and work collaboratively with Regional Directors to pilot new ideas. Promote technically sound and evidence-based program design, monitoring and evaluation.
• Ensure that all program office support functions are resourced and managed in accordance with IRC policies and standards, cultivating a safe and protective work environment for all staff and clients as part of larger organizational efforts related to Duty of Care, Safety and Security.
• Develop contacts with academic institutions to create partnerships and research opportunities.
• Lead efforts to explore forced migration issues in Europe & Central America.

Strategy100 & SAPs

• Lead the ongoing development and implementation of the RAI Strategy 100 initiatives across program offices. Drive engagement of RAI leadership at all levels to support the design, implementation, monitoring and governance of strategic goals.
• Spearhead the thought leadership and support the SAP implementation in the program offices.

Office for State Partnership

• Provide vision and oversight in the administration of all OSP programs
• Ensure that all IRC and federal requirements are met and that innovative and sustainable approaches to programming are in place.

Resettlement Support Center (RSC)

• Provide guidance, support and oversight of the Resettlement Support Center in Asia. Lead expansion efforts and manage all other international resettlement and integration services.
• Develop multi-year and annual strategic plans and budget in alignment with donor requirements.
• Ensure effective resettlement program implementation by leading and fostering relationships with key program partners across the region, including PRM, USCIS, UNHCR and IOM.

Client Voice & Community Engagement

• Lead offices in their efforts to strengthen relationships with local communities.
• Develop strategic civil society partners and reinforce the influence clients have in RAI operations and their communities.

KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

Position reports to: Senior Vice President, RAI

Position directly supervises: Regional Director East, Regional Director South, Regional Director West, Regional Director Europe, Emergency Director, Director OSP, Director RSC, Director Client Voice & Community Engagement, Regional Support Officer (9)

JOB REQUIREMENTS

Unique and critical personal characteristics

• The ideal candidate is a strategist and thought partner who can identify organizational issues and challenges, design and deliver solutions and to get results
• This individual is able to operate as an organizational intersection of strategies, priorities and sensitive special projects with a keen eye for political and policy nuance
• As a manager they will engage, rally, and inspire the team to the highest quality of work

Demonstrated Skills and Competencies

• Ability to organize, plan, schedule, determine priorities and meet deadlines
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills are essential
• Ability to anticipate and assess situations accurately and recommend/implement effective courses of action required
• Ability to coordinate multiple meeting tasks and a myriad of complex details on a concurrent basis
• Ability to communicate effectively with internal and external stakeholders with tact and diplomacy, both orally and in writing, including working with all staff levels and diverse personalities
• Ability to exercise discretion in dealing with sensitive material and maintain the confidentiality
• Ability to handle stress, function effectively under pressure and meet time parameters
• Ability to expand on own initiative in performance of duties
• Must have excellent discretion, judgment, tact, initiative, creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, organizational skills, and self-motivation

Education

• Post graduate degree in relevant field

Work Experience

• Minimum of ten years including strong policy, communications and strategy experience

WORKING ENVIRONMENT

This position requires occasional flexibility, afterhours demands and the ability to attend evening and weekend events, when needed

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Accountability and Equality. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity Anti-Retaliation and Combating Trafficking in Persons.

COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement: In accordance with IRC’s duty to provide and maintain a workplace that is free of known hazards and our commitment to safeguard the health of our employees, clients, and communities, IRC requires new hires to furnish proof of vaccination against COVID-19 in order to be considered for any in-office or hybrid positions. All IRC US offices require full vaccination to attend any in-office functions (e.g., meetings, trainings).

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusivity: IRC is committed to building a diverse organization and a climate of inclusivity. We strongly encourage applications from candidates who can demonstrate that they can contribute to this goal.

Equal Opportunity Employer: We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. 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.

US Benefits: We offer a comprehensive and highly competitive set of benefits. In the US, these include: 10 sick days, 10 US holidays, 20-25 paid time off days depending on role and tenure, medical insurance starting at $120 per month, dental starting at $7 per month, and vision starting at $5 per month, FSA for healthcare and commuter costs, a 403b retirement savings plans with immediately vested matching, disability & life insurance, and an Employee Assistance Program which is available to our staff and their families to support counseling and care in times of crisis and mental health struggles.