View Vacancy – OPT – Senior Humanitarian Programme Manager (SEO)

The British Consulate General in Jerusalem (BCGJ) is a sovereign post which leads UK engagement with the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs), in support of His Majesty’s Government (HMG) objectives. BCGJ is a close-knit office with a strong culture of collaborative working and supportive relationships in a politically challenging context. The Consulate General has an opportunity for a Senior Humanitarian Programme Manager, job grade Senior Executive Officer (SEO) to work within its Humanitarian, Emergency and Refugees Team.  

The role will sit within the Humanitarian, Emergency and Refugees Team (HEaRT) in the British Consulate General Jerusalem (BCGJ). The objectives of the team are to provide lifesaving humanitarian support and invest in the human development of Palestinian refugees across the region, through a combination of direct programming and across mission policy engagement. It is the key team in BCGJ working on humanitarian aspects of the Israel/Gaza conflict.  

The role of Senior Humanitarian Programme Manager will focus on delivering the BCGJ’s UK Humanitarian Support in the Occupied Palestinian Territories programme. This programme was designed to improve the resilience of households to mitigate the consequences of the protracted protection crisis in the OPTs; save lives during emergency spikes; and prevent a further deterioration in the humanitarian situation until a more durable political solution was reached. Following the beginning of the current conflict in Gaza, the programme was adapted and rapidly scaled up to respond to the huge spike in humanitarian needs in Gaza and elsewhere across the OPTs. The programme is currently providing around £50m a year and operating through 22 components to provide health, food, protection, cash assistance, WASH, shelter, core relief items, and emergency relief through internal UK government departments, suppliers, and external partners including the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and its country-based pooled fund, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), UK-Med, World Food Programme (WFP), the World Health Organisation (WHO), the British Red Cross (BRC), and the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation (JHCO). 

The post-holder will act as Programme Responsible Owner (PRO) for the Humanitarian Programme to ensure programmes comply with FCDO’s Programme Operating Framework (PrOF) and other BCGJ management requirements to ensure risk is managed effectively.  They will work closely with humanitarian partners to ensure effective implementation of programmes, a strong focus on the most vulnerable and excellent reporting of programme activities. 

The Senior Humanitarian Programme Manager will also support the Head of Team to develop and implement policy on humanitarian issues in the OPTs with close engagement across BCGJ, FCDO OPTs/Gaza Taskforce, UNCD, MOD, and regional partners and with other donors through the Good Humanitarian Donorship Group.

The jobholder will be responsible for managing the existing Humanitarian programme which has been the main programme to respond to the Gaza conflict. This post-holder will also be instrumental in helping design and set up a new business case for the future to ensure BCGJ is well placed to continue as a leading humanitarian donor in the OPTs preparing for and responding to humanitarian needs.

The Senior Humanitarian Programme Manager will report to the Grade 7 Head of Team (who is the Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for the programme), and in future will line manage two programme managers at HEO and EO grades. They will work closely with other team members to help deliver our collective goals. The post holder may be required to flex and support other parts of the team’s work if needed. 

Duties and responsibilities:

Programme Management

• Lead programme management throughout the programme cycle of the current humanitarian business case and future humanitarian funding, including leading the design and implementation of the next humanitarian business case.
• Ensure strong financial performance and escalating areas of risk with proposed mitigations in a timely manner.
• Ensure the programme complies with key FCDO requirements (e.g. transparency, corporate reporting, delivering on audit recommendations etc.), especially related to partner monitoring and risk management.  Ensure regular engagement with delivery partners by the programme team.
• Responsible for programme delivery in line with the SEO role profile in the Programme Delivery Capability Framework (PDCF) and the PRO responsibilities in the PrOF.
• Work with the BCGJ’s results adviser to ensure strong reporting of results and impact from the current programme, and identification of lessons learned and recommendations for the future.
• Reporting on the Humanitarian Programme at FCDO internal meetings (Country Board, Investment Committee, Quarterly humanitarian updates etc).

Policy engagement/ representation

• Act as programme-level focal point for humanitarian programme related issues in BCGJ.
• Lead and support FCDO engagement with partners, including in formal governance structures such as Board and quarterly partner meetings. Ensure information on partners/programming is shared across the team.
• Work with the Humanitarian Adviser and Team Leader on FCDO engagement in donor forums, including the Good Humanitarian Donorship (GHD) group, and the Humanitarian Country Team Plus (HCT+).
• Support development and implementation of UK influencing strategy of humanitarian agencies, the UN architecture, other donors and Governments in line with UK’s national and development interests, and ensure more effective coordination of humanitarian operations in the OPTs
• Support work to develop a more coherent approach across the Mission to the humanitarian-development-peace nexus.

Briefing/ communications related to the humanitarian situation

• Lead from Post on PQs, FOIs, parliamentary correspondence on the humanitarian programme and the UK’s support to the organisation, working with the Head of Team and London-based colleagues to ensure consistency and accuracy of message.
• Maintain analysis of humanitarian and, as appropriate, conflict trends and issues and lead regular internal FCDO humanitarian update meetings.

Line management of two (2) programme managers

• Agree, and review performance against, objectives, provide support, guidance and mentoring, manage performance and disciplinary matters, ensure staff engage policy as prescribed including financial spend, and ensure that Learning and Development opportunities are identified, sought and developed for the team.

Corporate Objective

• Engage in BCGJ corporate committees on a voluntary basis to help achieve corporate objectives and build engagement and networking across post teams.

The above list is not exhaustive, and the jobholder will be required to be flexible and take on other ad hoc tasks as required, including participating in the Consulate’s emergency planning and any other response to a crisis affecting UK Citizens.

Key behaviours required for the job:

• Managing a Quality Service – Deliver service objectives with professional excellence, expertise and efficiency, taking account of diverse customer needs.
• Working Together – Form effective partnerships and relationships with people both internally and externally, from a range of diverse backgrounds, sharing information, resources and support.
• Leadership – Show pride and passion for public service. Create and engage others in delivering a shared vision. Value difference, diversity and inclusion, ensuring fairness and opportunity for all.
• Delivering at Pace – Take responsibility for delivering timely and quality results with focus and drive.

The following technical competencies from the Programme Delivery Capability Framework will be required for the successful jobholder to engage effectively with stakeholders:

• Managing the programme cycle (expert): This competence is about understanding the tasks and obligations at each stage of the DFID programme cycle, and applying them directly, or through others depending on role, to support delivery.
• Managing risk and issues (practitioner): This competence is about identifying when and how risk can be taken; applying risk management best practice; and understanding when risks become issues and taking action to respond to those issues.
• Programme leadership (practitioner): This competence is about how programme teams and leaders create, sustain and promote a culture of empowerment and accountability, supporting and challenging each other to the best that they can in programme delivery.

• Excellent communication skills in English and Arabic both written and spoken. Able to express ideas and messages clearly and concisely.
• Qualification in programme or project management, social studies or relevant discipline.
• At least 3 years of experience in programme management with international organisations, UN agencies or diplomatic missions.
• Experience managing all aspects of the project cycle for large, complex and politically sensitive programmes.
• Risk management for large, high-risk programmes in a way that aligns with the requirements of FCDO’s PrOF rules and relevant UK legislation (e.g. counter-terrorism act, gender equality act).
• Good working proficiency in Microsoft software, including excel.
• Experience in line management.