Job Description

The Emergency Support Department (ESD) is part of the operations department and plays a key role in responding to humanitarian emergencies. The ESD consists of a headquarter based Emergency Desk (E Desk) of managers, an Operational Support Team (OST) of advisors and officers and an Emergency Team of approximately 24 medical and non-medical profiles deployed in different emergency responses. The ESD conducts exploratory assessments, initiates and manages large scale or complex interventions to support people in precarious situations. The ESD also provides support to existing country programs and the wider organisation to promote and improve emergency preparedness and response capacity.

Currently the ESD is particularly looking for a new member of its Emergency Team:

Member OCA Emergency Team

Human Resources Coordinator / Human Resources Manager

Open to applicants with (extensive) HR manager experience and/or HRCo experience. Candidates of both levels will be considered – and recruited at the level of experience.

Emergency Team members spend about 90% of their workdays (so excluding holidays) in country programme locations, travelling with short notice to any required area and approximately 10% at the headquarters (or working from home) for briefing/debriefing/trainings/working on specific tasks.

Place in the organisation

Overall: reports to the Head of Emergency Support Department in Amsterdam.

During country programme assignments reports to relevant Country Management Team (CMT) member.

Functional line to the HR Advisors in Amsterdam.

Main objective of the position

To oversee Human Resource related issues in emergency responses in the country programme This consists of providing HR support within country programmes/projects, either in key positions/Country Management Team (CMT), or through responding to emergencies within those country programmes. These responses may be under the management of the CMT, or under the direct management of the Emergency Desk, depending on the situation.

of the position

• Function as a Human Resources coordinator or manager in emergency projects/country programmes, new or existing projects managed by the Emergency Desk.

• Define, adapt, plan and supervise the implementation of MSF OCA human resources policies in emergency country programmes, ensuring they are in line with the context, the operational challenges and the strategic HR. This could include opening and closing of projects/country programmes

• Design country specific HR policies, in line with OCA HR framework, in interventionswhere MSF does notalready have a presence

• Define, develop and adapt an HR strategy which accurately reflects the needs in emergency interventions.

• Ensure OCA’s responsible behaviour standards are well communicated and adhered to throughout the country programme, ensure safeguarding measures are implemented and duty of care is at the core of the emergency intervention/programme

• Act as a strategic partner to operations in country programmes

• Oversees the development and implementation of trainings for staff, including welcome to MSF and onboarding particularly for new employees

• Support the country programme with legal and administrative matters, particularly with appropriate contracting methods contextualised for different environments

Candidate profile

Essential:

• At least 18 months country programme experience with one of the MSF sections in at least two different country programmes, of which at least one emergency project and/or high security setting.

• Strong knowledge of HR policies and procedures along with the demonstrable ability to implement such

• Ability to understand and interpret operational needs and objectives, while maintaining HR best practise to achieve them.

• Ability to adjust HR support setup and strategy to changes in context/operations. Ability to critically reflect on existing setups.

• Proven organizational and coordination skills

• Proven negotiation and diplomatic skills

• Proven ability to work under pressure, deal with stress and reducing other people’s stress

• Ability to work as part of a multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary team and foster cross-cultural awareness and understanding

• Strong commitment to MSF principles and experience in safeguarding and abuse-prevention/reporting

• Ability to prioritize among competing needs.

• Demonstrable (people) management and coaching skills.

• Fluent English language skills.

• 'Can do mentality’, creative, and capacity to motivate others and lead a team into action.

• A flexible and solution-oriented mentality, and the ability to be decisive in chaotic circumstances.

• Able to bring about changes and challenge existing preconceptions in the current MSF staffing model, e.g. encouraging detachments, more locally recruited staff in senior leadership roles

• Knowledge of standard software within MSF-OCA (Homere/ Word/Excel/ Outlook).

• Willingness to travel to any required area, frequently at short notice and flexibility to working different roles according to operational needs and skills and competence of the individual (eg, may be asked to perform as HR Coordinator, or HR Admin/Manager or other relevant position).

Desirable:

• Strong knowledge of OCA HR policies and procedures

• Experience in opening and/or closing a project/country programme

• Proficiency in other languages than English (particularly French, Spanish and/or Arabic);

• Experience and skills in finance

We offer

• A full-timeappointmentfor 1 yearwith a potentialtorenew (based on performance);

• Salary is depending on three main factors: domicile, level of responsibility and experience on the job

• Candidate’sdomiciledetermineswhich MSF section will act as employer

• 45 annualleavedays per year

• Completion bonus of 1.5 month of extra salaryaftercompletion of every 12 months commitment

• Prioritization fortrainings in MSF (externaltrainingsadditionallyconsidered)

• A challengingpositionwithin a stimulating, professional working environment in a major internationalorganization – plus greatcolleaguestoworkalongside!

Application

If you recognise yourself in this profile, we welcome you to apply directly via our website and upload a letter of motivation + Curriculum Vitae (in English) as one combined document.  

The application deadline is Monday, March 9th at 23:59h CET.

Information

For any question about the recruitment process please contact Masha Petrovic (Recruitment Specialist) at masa.petrovic@amsterdam.msf.org