Save the Children invests in childhood – every day, in times of crisis and for our future. We respond to natural and complex humanitarian crises throughout the world.
The Senior Specialist, Humanitarian Operations supports the strategic leadership to the SCUS OFDA account through portfolio management responsibilities that help ensure portfolio growth and effective award monitoring and management. The Sr. Specialist works closely with the OFDA Team to pro-actively identify opportunities and challenges related to the OFDA portfolio, and to recommend improved proposal and award monitoring processes as necessary.
The Sr. Specialist manages a caseload of awards within the Department of Humanitarian Response’s (DHR) award portfolio from an opportunity to closeout to ensure that every DHR award is monitored closely through the implementation period, and properly managed and updated on SC’s award and finance systems including data entry and workflow processing. The Sr. Specialist, is responsible for opportunity tracking and leading proposal development activities, supporting project start-up, processing agreements and amendments, reporting, and project closeout. Liaising with relevant stakeholders, particularly technical, finance, and country office award managers, the Sr. Specialist problem-solves to ensure the overall health of the caseload of awards, escalating to the Director, Humanitarian Portfolio and Business Management and Sr. Director of Humanitarian Response as needed. S/he contributes to continuous improvement, recommending process improvements for senior management consideration.
In coordination with the Sr. Director of Humanitarian Response, the Sr. Specialist will lead on internal and external representation for responses within their geographic portfolio. This includes representing SCUS at internal and external meetings, providing strategic and operational inputs and analysis to SC priority responses, including through representation on Emergency Management Group calls and will lead initiatives for internal and external information sharing and discussions around response related initiatives, challenges and support, including convening of the Disaster Coordination Group for priority responses. The Sr. Specialist will make recommendations the DHR Senior Management Team and the Disaster Coordination Group for decision/action.
Management of Geographical OFDA Portfolio: 55%
Strategic Portfolio Management
- Support the development of OFDA portfolio review tools, including portfolio analysis, Level of Effort (LoE) analysis, and recommend improved processes for monitoring the portfolio.
- Work collaboratively with technical staff from other Business Teams to ensure that OFDA awards receive adequate and budgeted technical support, and propose/roll out improved processes for inter-departmental collaboration and information sharing around award monitoring.
- Support activities to develop and roll out up-to-date OFDA training materials to support CO pursuit of OFDA funding, and identify and develop additional proposal development support documents for COs.
- Identify and develop strategies for new business development within the OFDA portfolio
Manage and Monitor Award Portfolio
- Work collaboratively with Country Offices (COs), Regional Offices (ROs), other SC members, and relevant partners and sub-grantees to ensure high quality, timely and compliant program implementation. Serve as the main point of contact on assigned awards for CO and SCUS stakeholders
- Escalate issues or risks as appropriate
- Work with Finance and relevant humanitarian technical staff leads to monitor the rate of spending in COs and SCUS home office and to ensure expense charges are allowable, allocable and reasonable; and follow up to ensure errors are corrected
- Assist with budget planning and monitor monthly budget versus actual expenditures; compile and analyze annual and budget submissions
- Ensure all donor communications, requests, amendments, etc. are communicated effectively and quickly to the relevant country offices
- Support the department/agency to maintain knowledge management systems
- Partnerships: Support the development of and manage sub-award agreements to SC Member countries or partners as needed, including wire transfers and ad hoc support and closeout
- Donor Compliance
- Monitor award implementation, reporting, and procurements to ensure compliance and appropriate completion and provide needed compliance support to country offices
- Support CO capacity building with training on SCUS donor requirements
- Project Start-up
- Ensure startup call/meeting with CO is planned and executed – review project timeline, deliverables and donor requirements in detail
- Ensure CO capacity building support (such as technical advice, award management, donor information/compliance, SCUS structure) needed from SCUS is identified and coordinate with the relevant SCUS departments and staff (IP, Finance, and Account Managers) to meet those needs
- Donor Reporting (Narrative)
- Facilitate communication and ensure timely, accurate, high-quality narrative reporting to donors
- Coordinate response to donor queries as needed
- Donor Reporting (Financial)
- Coordinate with Finance as needed on financial reporting, ensuring a review of all financial reports prior to donor submission
- Coordinate response to donor queries as needed
- Project Close-out
- Ensure completion Closeout Checklists and that awards are closed/deactivated
- Ensure any issues preventing closeout are resolved through coordination with Finance, COs, and relevant technical teams
- In- Country Technical Assistance: Travel to Save the Children country offices to conduct award reviews and provide operations support.
Portfolio Development: 25%
Resource Development
- Manage the process of developing and submitting concept notes and proposals; provide feedback to COs; incorporate reviewer feedback into concept notes, ensure alignment to response strategy and other active awards/ proposals
- Manage the process of developing and submitting cost proposals in collaboration with the country and regional offices and relevant partners
- Support the department to maintain knowledge management systems around resource development (ensuring documents are posted on AMS as applicable, maintaining proposal libraries, documenting lessons learned, etc.)
Award Workflows
- Review draft agreement documents & submit feedback to members
- Create and update Internal Obligated Budgets
- Produce final fund summaries (FS)
- Negotiate donor terms and conditions in coordination with CO and Grants and Contracts staff
- Adapt to new processes and systems as they are developed
Internal and external engagement and representation in priority humanitarian responses: 10%
- In coordination with the Sr. Director of Humanitarian Response, represent SCUS on response-specific calls and meetings for SC priority responses both internally and externally (InterAction, OFDA, etc.) and be able to provide timely updates on SCUS actions and support provided
- Provide strategic and operational analysis and input into SC priority responses
- Represent SCUS at InterAction fora, particularly working groups established for high priority humanitarian responses
- Convene and lead Disaster Coordination Group meetings for SCUS priority responses
Deploy in Humanitarian Responses: 10%
- Serve on SC’s Global Humanitarian Register; deploy on responses as requested - domestic and international.
- Minimum 5-7 years humanitarian grant and program management experience, field-level humanitarian experience strongly preferred
- Experience securing and managing OFDA funding from opportunity to closeout Understanding of other institutional or multilateral donors a plus
- Proven ability to proactively track, manage and represent large and diverse funding portfolios, including the ability to lead portfolio review and analysis processes to ensure oversight and management of risk for awards in portfolio
- Ability to manage by influence internally and to work in a federated structure; experience with Save the Children desirable
- Process-oriented and demonstrates attention to detail; excellent organization
- Capacity building experience, including the ability to develop training materials and lead training exercises
- Demonstrated success in proposal development and strategic engagement in support of new business
- Excellent analytical, management, and communication skills (both verbal and written)
- Ability to travel up to 30% to support award implementation and/or deploy to humanitarian responses (up to six weeks at a time) as needed
Preferred Qualifications
- Ability to speak a second, relevant language (French, Spanish, Arabic) highly desired
- Previous involvement in relevant coordination forums in Washington, DC or internationally; experience engaging beyond a project-specific level to discuss larger issues related to a humanitarian response
- Experience in leading overall business and support functions for a department or office
- Master’s Degree in field related to development, humanitarian work or business administration
- Meaningful work, with a knowledge that you are changing the lives of children all around the world
- A family friendly work environment
- Highly collaborative and innovative teams
- Generous paid vacation days, holidays, family leave days, and sick time
- Healthcare plans including medical, dental, and life insurance
- Retirement savings account with matching company contributions
- Structured and formalized management development and coaching programs for mid and senior level managers
- Extensive e-learning opportunities on a variety of topics offered through our affiliation with several prestigious universities as well as language learning opportunities.