The job of a Save the Children’s UK Head of Regional Centres is strategic and fulfilling.
Are you an experienced senior manager with experience working in the field of learning and development theory and practice in the humanitarian arena?
Do you have experience of leading a coalition or network, leading high-performing teams in multiple locations?
Do you have a strong working knowledge of how the evolution of the humanitarian sector, global contexts and technology is impacting on learning and development at local and global levels?
Are you motivated by our vision of creating a world where every child doesn’t just survive, but thrives, and can go on to change the world?
If the answers to these questions are yes, we would love to hear from you!
About Us
Save the Children UK believes every child deserves a future. In the UK and around the world, we work every day to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. When crisis strikes, and children are most vulnerable, we are always among the first to respond and the last to leave. We ensure children’s unique needs are met and their voices are heard. We deliver lasting results for millions of children, including those hardest to reach.
The number of children requiring humanitarian assistance is rising as the climate crisis, entrenched conflict, and fragility, forced migration and infectious diseases all lead to an increase in the frequency, duration, and severity of catastrophic events. With needs continuing to grow and rapidly outpacing available resources, humanitarians around the world are once more forced to do more with less. Recognising the changing humanitarian risk landscape, the need to stay relevant, and to step up for greater impact, Save the Children has adopted a bold vision for the future of its humanitarian work and as part of this, there is an important role for SCUK to play in identifying and supporting next-generation collaborative initiatives that will ultimately deliver impact for disaster-affected children and their families.
The Humanitarian Leadership Academy (HLA) as part of SCUK’s humanitarian department provides high-quality humanitarian capacity strengthening for the movement, as well as the wider sector, as part of our shifting the power agenda.
The HLA’s mission, as a team within the humanitarian department, is to enable people around the world to prepare for and respond to crises in their own countries, by providing quality learning opportunities. The HLA’s approach spans from focused needs-based learning in countries hit by crises to the huge international reach of our learning platform, Kaya.
They are a global team that has a full suite of in-house skills to provide and develop the offer; technical and learning experts, platform specialists, a digital and design studio, communications support and more. The HLA enables SCUK to offer the most effective and impactful humanitarian capacity strengthening resource for both the Save the Children movement, the wider humanitarian sector and beyond.
Job Purpose
As the HLA’s Head of Regions you will spearhead the development of the strategic vision of the HLA’s hybrid regional capacity strengthening model working in collaboration with key stakeholders.
The role enables the regional entities to become a primary centre of expertise and capacity that supports much stronger local/national ownership through higher levels of engagement at the point of users and is in support of the broader global HLA strategy. Save the Children’s shift and commitment towards establishing the regional hybrid model means we will ensure the regional leads determine their regional-specific needs, set their own regional capacity building agenda and build the relevant capacity across country offices, local partners and networks. This role will be instrumental in shaping the future expansion of our regional model.
Main Accountabilities:
Accountable for the development of a hybrid regional capacity strengthening vision and model that enables the regional entities to become a primary centre of expertise and capacity that support a much stronger bottom-up design with broad local/national ownership and is in support of the broader global HLA strategy
Drive the design of a joint strategic analysis of the preparedness and response eco-system in each region that focuses on areas of greatest strategic relevance, and intentionally pursue synergies and cumulative impact between different interventions, partners and projects
Coordinate our reactive capacity strengthening funded work, including driving the agenda to strengthen existing national/local structures and reinforce their ability to be self-sustaining at the appropriate level of quality.
In conjunction with the regional leads, amplify the identity and development of each of the regional centres and build on the expertise and direction across these regions to effectively manage any anticipated growth or change in the team and enable the centres to meet their strategic goals
In conjunction with the regional leads develop and transform the way we support local leadership capacity and capabilities
Represent the HLA in public forums and contribute through wider thought leadership on strategic areas of this body of work to include but not limited to advocating for localisation
Develop and build strong partnerships with key actors, including but not limited to, the Global Surge Humanitarian Platform, key local partners, organisations and stakeholders to facilitate collaboration on capacity strengthening in preparation or during a response
As a member of the Senior Management Team within the HLA, and alongside the other Heads of Teams, ensure that there is a sense of collective responsibility to draw upon the resources and expertise across all four teams to drive forward sustainable, yet ambitious growth across the unit and that supports the localisation agenda. In addition, support and encourage strong working relationships with other stakeholders and key partners across the sector, ensuring effective collaboration and mutual support to enable effective planning and delivery of the value proposition
Lead and matrix manage a team of people, ensuring the development of an inclusive and supportive environment, strong and effective ways of working which motivates and encourages innovation and creativity across the team. Continue to embed a team culture and develop strong ways of working across the new team and ensure clear and accountable governance mechanisms are in place
Responsible for developing a regional financial model that enables more autonomy for regional leads to have oversight of financial planning within their centres
Matrix-manage and develop staff across the Regions team, ensuring they have relevant, clear and achievable objectives, manageable workloads and appropriate professional development plans
In conjunction with the Director, the Heads of Team roles are accountable for relevant strategic projects that are a priority for the HLA, leveraging resource from across the entire unit to deliver on high impact priorities
Actively identify funding opportunities and contribute to, and support, the development of funding concepts and proposals as needed
Person Profile
Skills and Experience
Significant experience in a senior managerial position, working in the field of learning and development theory and practice in the humanitarian arena.
Demonstrable experience of building, leading, and coaching high performing teams based in multiple locations and delivering effective internal and external engagement.
Experience of leading a coalition or network.
Solid understanding of working in large complex organisation with multiple stakeholders and partners in a global context.
Experience of positive team management enabling all team members to develop and to work within a matrix management approach to ensure maximum success of the whole team.
Experience of financial management of programme and team budgets
Strong evidenced project management experience including cross organisational or multi-stakeholder projects ensuring that targets are met within the timeframe and budget set.
Strong knowledge and experience of working in the humanitarian context and the challenges faced by regional/country staff
Demonstrable success and expertise in building and managing complex relationships, often through others, with a variety of stakeholders.
Strong representational and communication skills, able to articulate a vision, strategy, or ideas clearly and concisely
Highly effective in influencing, negotiating, and lobbying
A proven track record of setting, delivering, and tracking strategic direction that supports financial decision-making at a leadership level.
Abilities
The ability to build effective trust-based relationships and networks with partners and stakeholders at senior levels
Strong working knowledge of how the evolution of the humanitarian sector, global contexts and technology is impacting on learning and development at local and global levels.
An instinctively analytical and strategic thinker.
Ability to travel internationally, occasionally at short notice and to remote and insecure locations
Ability to operate effectively in highly complex situations.
Aptitude
A demonstrable commitment to the principles of diversity and inclusion and their practical application and integration in the work environment
Understanding of the humanitarian sector and its architecture and how its evolving
A commitment to Save the Children UK’s aims and core values of accountability, ambition, collaboration, creativity, and integrity
