Save the Children UK has an exciting opportunity for a collaborative and influential individual with project management experience to join us as our Head of Humanitarian Response in our Humanitarian team to provide leadership on galvanising corporate support across the whole of SCUK for prioritised humanitarian emergencies, ensuring that SCUK maintains and continues its strong and aligned humanitarian culture.
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.
About the role
As the Head of Humanitarian Response you will provide leadership on galvanising corporate support across the whole of SCUK for prioritised humanitarian emergencies, ensuring that SCUK maintains and continues its strong and aligned humanitarian culture.
You will lead SCUK's Humanitarian response capacity across the breadth of teams and divisions within SCUK to ensure we continue to play a leading role within the movement on resourcing, publicising, fundraising, advocating, and influencing on emerging and prioritised humanitarian responses.
You will also lead and develop SCUK's humanitarian department climate change ambition and strategy across all teams in the department, linking in with SCUK's Head of Climate Change, other SCUK teams, the wider Movement and SCI to ensure that our work supports the increasing number of climate related emergencies around the world.
Drawing on humanitarian experience, you will serve as an ambassador both internally and externally for Save the Children's humanitarian work through profile raising engagements, media, and influencing opportunities with key partners including governments etc.
In this role, you will be accountable for:
Raising the profile of Emergency Responses and Humanitarian Action
- Coordinating across the Humanitarian Department, Global Programmes Division, Fundraising and Marketing and other relevant teams to ensure proactive and cohesive support to raise funds, profile and engagement for priority emergency responses and crises
- Raising the profile of humanitarian emergencies by facilitating information and communication flow and drawing on relevant experience to support raising funding for the different responses.
- Lead on the annual development of the SCUK Response Plan – identifying and providing analysis of priority and emerging responses.
- Lead and develop SCUK's Humanitarian dept climate change portfolio, linking in with wider SCUK teams, the Movement and SCI to ensure that our work supports the increasing number of climate related emergencies around the world.
Championing Humanitarian Issues
- In conjunction with the Head of Humanitarian Transformation and the Head of Studies, play an ambassadorial role to champion humanitarian priorities that sit outside of emergency responses
- Developing networks and connections with teams in SCUK and SCI to facilitate priority humanitarian partnerships, innovation, and critical affairs, as well as within UK platforms and donors
- Maintaining oversight on the developments in specific humanitarian crises as well as wider humanitarian issues through attending or facilitating member calls, roundtable meetings and other relevant huddles/squads (e.g., fundraising or advocacy)
- Raising the profile, awareness, and messaging on humanitarian issues in our UK humanitarian policy and advocacy work
- In collaboration with internal teams and relevant squads as well as partners and peer networks, connecting with the strategic UK partners to persistently advocate humanitarian needs, our priority areas and the case for aid. Particularly targeting the UK government to provide leadership on humanitarian action, and a greater emphasis and investment in the humanitarian system with humanitarian content and examples.
Raising humanitarian funding with key UK government and SCUK home donors
- Collaborate with Programme Partnerships on UN, FCDO, World Bank and other home donor accounts on key humanitarian issues.
- Collaborating with the Programme Management Team on funding opportunities for both new emergencies, chronic / protracted / forgotten emergencies, as well as humanitarian entities and our humanitarian transformation initiatives.
- Leading on strategic donor engagement for specific humanitarian donors and engagement with FCDO on humanitarian specific funding opportunities.
- Providing strategic advice on resource allocation for humanitarian responses: Coordinating both funding, advice, and people offer from SCUK into the SCI Humanitarian space.
Connection point with SCI Humanitarian teams
- Building strong continued links with SCI humanitarian teams (centre, regional and country), aligning on global humanitarian endeavours, as well as access to timely information from responses to support the SCUK response function.
Team management
- Line management of the Response Team
About you
To be successful, it is important that you have:
- Significant knowledge of international disaster response systems, processes, and institutions and up-to-date knowledge on current and emerging humanitarian issues and experience of working in humanitarian contexts
- Experience in award (grant/contract) management and experience of working with major institutional donors such as DFID, ECHO, DEC etc. and or fundraising partners.
- Experience in influencing change at an operational and strategic level including external representation, with a variety of stakeholders, including donors, humanitarian actors, sector networks etc.
- Demonstrable experience of collaboration, including forging and maintaining effective new relationships and partnerships, often across organisational boundaries
- Experience of working in a senior management/leadership roles with the ability to motivate and co-ordinate people to respond quickly both inside and outside the organisation, through effective collaborative working.
- High level of influencing, negotiating, communication skills – confident public speaking skills
- Commitment to Save the Children's vision, mission and values.
To learn more about the position, please review the Job Description in the attached Documents.
What we offer you:
Working for a charity provides one of the best benefits there is – a sense of purpose and reward for helping others. However, we understand the importance of giving back to our employees to ensure a happy and healthy working environment and work/life balance.
- We focus on flexibility, inclusion, collaboration, health and wellbeing both in and outside of work.
- We provide a wide range of benefits which will reward your hard work, motivate you, and inspire you to work to improve the lives of children every day. You can read more about our benefits here.
Closing date: 13/03/2023