Support Services Manager

Danish Refugee Council (DRC) is a leading protection agency with a mandate to protect, advocate and promote durable solutions for displacement affected populations.

DRC has been operating in Ukraine since 2014, currently DRC employs over 800 staff in Ukraine and will continue significant scale-up in 2024 to implement emergency response in the Protection, Livelihoods, Shelter/NFIs and Humanitarian Disarmament and Peacebuilding (humanitarian mine action) sectors, using direct interventions, support to duty bearers and civil society organizations (CSOs), and partnerships with CSOs. DRC will continue and adapt its durable solutions portfolio to the evolving context.

DRC is currently looking for a highly qualified Support Services Manager to join our team in Mykolaiv.

About the job

The Support Services Manager provides coordinated and strategic leadership for all support functions and ensures the smooth running of all support functions in an area to meet the programme needs in line with the DRC Operations Handbook.

This role has an area focus and ensures compliance to DRC procedures and guidelines within the area. The role contributes to the development of area strategies, which are translated into action plans and day-to-day tasks. The role provides support and/or technical guidance to Area and Base operations.

Roles reporting to this position: Support Services Area Teams
Reports to: Direct Line Manager: Area Manager South, Technical Line Manager: Head of Support Services

Your main duties and responsibilities will be:

Planning and strategy

• Ensure that each department from (Supply Chain, HR, Finance and Administration) has an annual action plan, this annual action plan is divided into individual action plan for each team member.
• Ensure that project planning includes relevant support service requirements (such as lead times for the procurement and appropriate budgets)
• Ensure that support services are fit for purpose to meet programme needs
• Be the focal point for the compliance self-check, risk register, internal audit and results contract for North area.

HR support

• Ensure that the recruitment tracker is updated and accurate including on-going recruitment and planned recruitment according to the potential upcoming new funding,
• Ensure the arrival of new staff is anticipated and shared with the concerned DRC employees (an induction is planned, a training on the Code of Conduct and all others HR information is provided, equipment and safety items are available),
• Ensure that annual HR tasks are completed as per the Operations Handbook (end of probation meeting, annual appraisal, etc.),
• Streamline HR responses across departments (e.g., support on organogram development)
• Ensure the HR team fulfills daily tasks, such as recruitment, contract renewal/ amendments, timesheet submission and leave tracking.

Administration support

• Be the focal point for key administrative tasks,
• Oversee the team to ensure follow-up on routine tasks are carried out (guesthouse supplies, visa applications, phone credit purchase, utilities bill payments, rental, and lease agreements),
• Supervise the procurement of office supplies and furniture, consumables, communications, etc.

Supply chain

• Ensure DRC procurement procedures are followed while being the focal point for tenders
• Ensure that the lead time for procurement is reasonable and doesn’t slow down the implementation of DRC activities,
• Closely follow department KPIs and ensure that monthly report submissions are timely and of high quality (procurement tracker, vehicles tracker, fixed assets tracker),
• Be a focal point and decision-maker for fleet movement
• Ensure each of the supply chain sub-departments (procurement, fleet, assets, warehouse, and IT) have targets and are meeting them, in line with Operation Handbook procedures

Finance

• Responsible for budget monitoring and forecasting for support service budgets,
• Provide support to the budget holders to ensure that the Budget Follow Up (BFU) is well understood and DRC requirements are applied, provide induction training and refresher training to ensure that budget holders provide accurate forecast and use properly the financial codes,
• Provide advice on grant budget management in terms of budget flexibility and budget alignment,
• Actively participate to budget proposals development,
• Work with finance to ensure programme teams clearly understand compliance requirements,
• Ensure that monthly finance tasks are completed (payroll, SOS, PIT, cashbooks and cash forecasts) and in line with Operations Handbook procedures.

As Manager the post-holder is responsible for the following:

• Accountable for achieving DRC’s strategic goals and objectives within the area of responsibility.
• Accountable for making significant decisions on what the unit does: its purpose, functions and role, and for making commitments and decisions that require the expenditure of significant unit resources.
• Accountable for people management of direct reports. This includes hiring & firing, objective setting, probation, performance appraisal, development of staff, managing performance, including poor performance, etc.
• Accountable for making sound decisions based on DRC policies, MOPs, standards, and the advice of technical experts in DRC.

About you

To be successful in this role we expect you to have at least 5 years’ experience in similar role and at least 3 years’ experience with people management.

Moreover, we also expect the following:

• Knowledge of project cycle management
• Knowledge of supply chain management and procurement processes
• Knowledge of budget cycle and monitoring processes
• Knowledge of code of conduct principles and the HR systems for performance management
• Knowledge of key donor policy and compliance procedures
• Full professional proficiency in English

In this position, you are expected to demonstrate DRC’ five core competencies:

• Striving for excellence: You focus on reaching results while ensuring an efficient process.
• Collaborating: You involve relevant parties and encourage feedback.
• Taking the lead: You take ownership and initiative while aiming for innovation.
• Communicating: You listen and speak effectively and honestly.
• Demonstrating integrity: You uphold and promote the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct in relation to our values and Code of Conduct, including safeguarding against sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.

We offer:

• Contract length: One year contract
• Band: F2 – management
• Start date: March 2025
• Duty Station: Mykolaiv

Salary and conditions will be in accordance with Danish Refugee Council’s Terms of Employment for national and international employees.