Head of Operations

The candidate will be joining a small team of researchers based in Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe, which mobilises innovative methods of spatial and visual analysis to investigate practices of border violence, perpetrated by states, police forces, militaries, and corporations, wherever this violence might take place. Working collaboratively with migrant communities and non-governmental groups, Border Forensics aims to promote and defend the dignity and rights of migrants and to foster mobility justice.

The Head of Operations will be responsible for overseeing all operational aspects of Border Forensics (BF), including, but not limited to, the oversight of all financial, human resources (HR), legal, and administrative matters. They will work together with the Research Coordinator and other senior BF team members towards fulfilling all of BF’s aims, obligations, and responsibilities to our partners, funders, collaborators, and team members. The Head of Operations will also lead the fundraising activities of the organisation and ensure the supervision of the funds related to different investigations in collaboration with the Research Coordinator.

Together with the Director of Research and senior staff, the Head of Operations will be expected to establish and oversee the implementation of the short- to long-term strategy of BF. 

They will need to become familiar with BF’s overall organisational, financial, and programming strategies in order to identify opportunities in line with BF’s interests. This will include managing competing priorities and working with a wide range of stakeholders including BF team, research partners, external collaborators, and funders. The Head of Operations is expected to develop a deep understanding of the operational logic of BF in order to identify where the operational and administrative structures may be improved and develop new structures independently.