Chief of Party (COP)

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world’s largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 40 countries and more than 25 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. A force for humanity, IRC employees delivers lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions. If you’re a solutions-driven, passionate change-maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future.

IRC is seeking a Chief of Party (COP) for a USAID-funded 10-year project to integrate existing, relevant cost evidence from high-quality evaluations into USAID activity designs; and integrate high-quality, randomized evaluations into USAID activity designs by providing a platform for academics from the social and behavioral sciences to engage with USAID design teams. The COP will be responsible for ensuring that the proposed project is implemented in accordance with the award, USAID regulations, and internationally recognized quality of assistance standards. The COP will work closely with IRC country programs, regional, and HQ leadership to ensure that the project is implemented in accordance with IRC policies and principles. In addition, the COP will be the primary representational link with USAID staff and will liaise with the Missions to provide project updates, discuss strategies, obstacles, performance plans, and progress against targets. The COP will liaise with USAID agreement officers, technical support staff, partner organizations, outside contractors, and implementers of other USAID-funded initiatives as required. The COP will represent the project to all key stakeholders, government officials, and donors at coordination fora and other related meetings.

This position is contingent on the IRC being awarded funding and is anticipated to begin in September 2024.

Job Responsibilities:

• Provide strategic and technical leadership and direction, define and implement activities to achieve the greatest impact toward project goals and objectives;

• Provide cohesive leadership to ensure all Leader and Associate Award activities effectively contribute to the overall goals to more easily fund impact evaluations, apply evidence to guide program design and inform project management, and present the causal impact per dollar of its programming to stakeholders;

• Manage project team and day-to-day project operations, including communications, administration, logistics, procurement, staffing/recruitment, budgeting, finances, and reporting;

• Ensure activities are implemented in accordance with the approved budgets, USAID rules and regulations;

• Develop, review, and monitor in coordination with key project staff, annual work and performance plans to ensure long-term and short-term priorities are on track;

• Oversee Technical Director and project delivery to ensure activities are in line with the performance framework and meet all standard operational policies and procedures;

• Oversee Finance Director in providing financial and operations support that optimizes resources through sound budgets, consistent financial tracking, and timely submission of reports to the donor;

• Oversee Partnerships Manager in managing partners across the Leader and Associate Awards;

• Report to USAID through both formal and informal debriefings, annual and semi-annual reports;

• Maintain active and cooperative relationships with all key stakeholders, including government officials, project partners, other implementing agencies, and related institutions;

• Represent the project and the organization in public and ensure distribution of information about project achievements and lessons learned;

• Support project staff by creating and maintaining a work environment that promotes teamwork, trust, mutual respect, and empowers staff to take responsibility.

Requirements:

• Advanced degree (MA) from an accredited university in Economics, International Development, Development Economics, Statistics or related field Minimum of 10 years of experience in similar intervention activities, and experience managing complex international donor-funded development activities in challenging environments.

• Significant previous experience working in conflict or crisis situations;

• Previous experience as COP of USAID-funded programs. Experience with LWA mechanisms is strongly preferred;

• At least 10 years’ experience managing technical assistance for cost-effectiveness programming, research, impact evaluation, program adaptation, or use of evidence for program improvement and policy development;

• Significant prior coordination experience managing $10M+ projects across a diverse set of stakeholders including governments, funders, multilateral agencies, academic researchers, and implementing organizations;

• Strong negotiation skills and the ability to develop relations with local counterparts, donors, and other stakeholders;

• Demonstrated innovation and success in staff capacity-building and in participatory, flexible, and gender-sensitive programming and implementation;

• Strong communication skills, both oral and written;

• Fluency in English is required; proficiency in another language (French, Spanish, Arabic, etc) is strongly preferred.

• Ability to travel internationally up to 20% of the time.

Compensation:

Posted pay ranges apply to US based candidates. Ranges are based on various factors including the labor market, job type, internal equity, and budget. Exact offers are calibrated by work location, individual candidate experience and skills relative to the defined job requirements.

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 $145 per month, dental starting at $7 per month, and vision starting at $5 per month, FSA for healthcare, childcare, and commuter costs, a 403b retirement savings plans with up to 4.5% immediately vested matching contribution, plus a 3-7% base IRC contribution (3 year vesting), 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.

Minimum Qualifications: Update

Standard of Professional Conduct: The IRC and the IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way – our Code of Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Accountability, and Equality.

Commitment to Gender, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: The IRC is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, respectful, and safe work environment where all persons are treated fairly, with dignity and respect. The IRC expressly prohibits and will not tolerate discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or bullying of the IRC persons in any work setting. We aim to increase the representation of women, people that are from country and communities we serve, and people who identify as races and ethnicities that are under-represented in global power structures.