Head of Support Services (Re-posted)

Overview

The Head of Support Services provides strategic leadership and oversight of all support functions, ensuring efficient, compliant, and accountable operations across the country programme. The role contributes to the development and implementation of country strategies, translating organizational priorities into effective operational plans and systems.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and manage support managers, including people planning, performance, well-being, and development.
• Manage, deliver, and report on current operations programme support.
• Establish high performing support teams ensuring high-quality approaches are maintained.
• Develop and improve operational approaches, compliance, and systems.
• Ensure appropriate technical support is available to programmes.
• Oversee operational support units, providing strategic leadership and technical support.
• Supervise, audit, and control operational standards within the support area.
• Ensure DRC retains and develops operational capacity for rapid emergency response.
• Develop, maintain, and update the country risk register and risk management plan.
• Ensure administrative and legal-related systems are accurate and maintained.
• Build the capacity of operational support staff through training and mentoring.
• Lead treasury, cash, and liquidity management in a multi-currency environment.
• Ensure systematic compliance with regulatory, screening, and due-diligence requirements.
• Maintain DRC’s legal registration and tax, labour, migration, and administrative compliance.
• Lead business continuity and contingency planning for support services.
• Ensure support services can scale up and down rapidly in response to emergencies.
• Lead the support-services set-up and consolidation of newly established field bases.
• Provide effective remote management and technical supervision to support staff in field bases.
• Strengthen and monitor the financial, procurement, and HR compliance of national implementing partners.
• Lead the preparation, facilitation, and follow-up of internal, donor, and statutory audits.
• Lead prevention, early detection, and response to fraud and irregularities.
• Uphold duty of care for staff working under sustained workload.
• Participate in the country crisis management team.
• Ensure ERP functionality is properly used by relevant staff.
• Apply reports and data analytics from DRC Dynamics to improve overall performance.
• Act as heavy user for most of the project and finance functionalities.
• Implement and improve the occupational health and safety management system.
• Comply with legal requirements applicable to occupational health and safety.
• Actively participate in the implementation and improvement of the occupational health and safety management system.
• Comply with and enforce established programs and plans of the occupational health and safety management system.
• Maintain feedback on processes, plans, and programs through corrective, preventive, and improvement actions.
• Suspend any activity when it is determined that it is not complied with current and/or internal legal regulations related to occupational health and safety or endangers the integrity of the same.
• Actively participate in the development of action plans of its competence in Occupational Health and Safety.
• Properly use resources provided by the company in conjunction with the ARL for education and training in occupational safety and health.
• Properly use equipment, tools, and personal protection elements.
• Truthfully report the state of health before, during, and after the execution of tasks.
• Actively participate in the identification of unsafe actions or conditions in workplaces.
• Provide leadership and direction to a team, ensuring clarity of roles, expectations, and performance standards.
• Exercise team budget oversight and decision-making authority where assigned.
• Lead or contribute to recruitment processes for staff within their team and implement termination decisions.
• Conduct and/or sign off on performance appraisals and ensure regular, constructive feedback.
• Support the professional development of team members through coaching, capacity building, and development planning.
• Address poor performance and disciplinary issues, including handling Code of Conduct cases.
• Provide technical direction, guidance, and instructions to ensure compliance with DRC policies, standards, and strategies.
• Support managers and technical staff through regular communication, capacity building, and promotion of best practices.
• Support managers with assessing the technical skills and performance of most senior technical staff.
• Escalate and, where authorized, address issues of non-compliance or poor performance.
• Participate in the recruitment of most senior technical staff.

Required Experience

• At least 7 years’ experience in relevant field
• At least 4 years’ experience with people management.
• Experience in a similar role in an international NGO.
• Equivalent professional experience in support services management in complex operations may be considered.
• Proven leadership skills and competence in people management.
• Proven operational management experience and capability in large and complex operations with demanding financial, logistical and compliance environments, including multi-currency settings.
• Proven significant financial, information and systems management experience.
• Significant experience in procurement and tender processes.
• Understanding and experience of institutional fundraising.
• Experience working in an ERP system, including supply chain, finance and HR systems.
• Demonstrated ability to take sound and timely decisions under pressure, with incomplete information and shifting parameters, and to be accountable for them.
• Proven experience in treasury and cash management in multi-currency environments and in operations with a significant cash component.
• Demonstrated working knowledge of the regulatory, screening and due-diligence requirements applicable to humanitarian organisations and their donors.
• Experience leading donor, internal and statutory audits and managing compliance across a diversified multi-donor portfolio.
• Experience working through, and strengthening the compliance capacity of, national implementing partners.
• Experience in business continuity planning, crisis management and rapid scale-up or scale-down of support functions.
• Demonstrated experience in opening, setting up or rapidly reinforcing field bases and support systems in response to sudden-onset emergencies (earthquakes, floods, mass displacement).
• Proven ability to lead, motivate and hold accountable dispersed teams managed remotely.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in business administration, finance, supply chain management, international development, economics or another relevant field.
• A professional qualification in accounting, audit or supply chain (e.g. ACCA, CIMA, CPA, CIPS) is an asset.

Other Details