Country Director – Syria

About Us

GOAL has responded to the world’s major humanitarian crises since its founding in 1977, working with vulnerable communities in 15 countries across the globe with a dedicated team of 3,500 personnel. While GOAL continues to be an agile first-responder to humanitarian crises, it is also committed to working with vulnerable communities to help them survive crises and support them on the road to recovery.

Country Context
GOAL began operations within Northern Syria in 2012 responding to the acute needs of conflict affected communities with a support structure based in Southern Turkey. GOAL’s work in Northwest Syria is primarily in Idleb Governorate, but includes northern Hama, Western and Northern Aleppo, and is implemented in close coordination with local partners. GOAL also expanded operations in Northern Aleppo, primarily working through partners.

The program has a heavy focus on Food Security, WASH, and Emergency response with a shift to cash and voucher modalities as modalities that stimulate the local economies and afford the recipients with a degree of choice. GOAL implements directly, with over 400 staff based in Syria working out of field offices in Idleb and Azaz, as well as implementing in adjacent geographical locations through Syrian NGO partners.

Job Purpose

GOAL is seeking a highly experienced and energetic individual to join our team as Country Director – Syria. This is a critical role and requires an inspiring leader with a proven track record of successfully managing and growing a large country programme. You will provide overall senior leadership and management and assurance of the integrity of the Syria program, as well as strategic direction and high-level representation of the program.

Main Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership and vision: to attain programme goals and objectives through the development, implementation, reviews, presentation and management of all aspects of this large programme.
• Safety and Risk Management: Ensure a conflict sensitive approach across GOALs program design and implementation which considers existing and predicted local level risks and sensitivities.
• Compliance and Accountability: Ensure that programme management and implementation is fully compliant with organizational and donor regulations, including all financial and procurement systems and policies and the overall ethical framework.
• Support Function Management: Coordinate all programme support function needs with the relevant departments within the support structure of the wider GOAL Syria/Turkey systems.
• Implementing Partner Programme Oversight: Provide dynamic leadership to ensure technical and financial integrity of the programs as implemented by partners to achieve project goals, objectives and targets.
• Representation/Visibility: Represent the programme to the wider humanitarian and development community, Donors, local Government ensuring that the Syria Response programme is well understood and well represented in various fora

The Person
Proven experience at Country Director Level in the overseas humanitarian or development environment
Significant overseas management experience in humanitarian assistance and development programmes like the scale and scope of our Syria programme
Previous experience of leading and developing a large in-country team in the Middle East
Comfortable liaising with government officials and a variety of donors

Desirable
Experience working in the Syria Response and/or a strong demonstrated understanding of the country context Leadership experience managing large country programs as Country Director or Programs Director in the relevant humanitarian and development sectors
Experience managing BHA, ECHO, FCDO funded programming specifically emergency or/or resilience focused program in a conflict/post conflict environment.
Proficiency in Arabic and/or Turkish an advantage

Full international deployment package is available for the successful applicant – to include travel, accommodation, health, and insurance benefits

GOAL is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to building an inclusive environment for all employees. We know that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. If you would like more information or have any special requirements or needs that would support you during the recruitment process then please contact the Recruitment team [email protected]

All employees share in the responsibility for fulfilling GOAL’s commitment to equal employment opportunity and equal treatment. GOAL does not discriminate against any employee or volunteer; or any applicant for employment or volunteering based on age, gender identity, ancestry, political opinion, civil status, medical condition, ethnic background, disability, race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws.