Head of Operations, Egypt

Job Title: Head of Operations, Egypt
Reports to: Country Representative

Department: Operations
Salary Grade: ‎11

About CRS:
Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of
the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and
transform lives in need in more than ‎100 countries, without regard to race,
religion or nationality. CRS' relief and development work is accomplished
through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education,
microfinance and peacebuilding.
The CRS Egypt country program began in ‎1956 at the invitation of the Egyptian
president Nasser by providing relief assistance to the victims of the Suez
War. Over the following few decades, CRS Egypt moved from large-scale food
relief to long-term poverty alleviation and development programs. CRS Egypt
works in a wide variety of areas within the development field.
Currently, CRS Egypt has three main programs: education assistance program and
livelihoods program for refugee support, and local partnership. Projects under
these programs range from the provision of technical assistance and capacity
building to partners, promoting peace and tolerance, educational grants for
refugees and assistance to refugee community schools, and technical support
and start-up funds for refugee and vulnerable Egyptian entrepreneurs.
Additional programming includes Emergency Preparedness and Response projects
that arise as needed. The Operations department, supported by a regional
Management Quality unit, ensures the country program develops and maintains
the highest level of operational standards.
CRS Egypt currently holds a main office in Maadi with activities in Greater
Cairo, Upper Egypt, and the North Coast.
Job Summary:
As a member of the Country Program's (CP) Leadership Team, you will provide
leadership and management of the operational functions - Finance, Human
Resources (HR), Supply Chain Management (SCM), Administration, and Field
Offices - in support of the Catholic Relief Services' (CRS) mission to serve
the poor and vulnerable. You will promote stewardship of resources, ensure
principled compliance, proactively manage risk, and lead operational
improvements. As part of the Leadership Team, you will proactively manage
safeguarding and security risks and compliance issues.
Job Responsibilities:
* Contribute to the CP strategic planning and programming by providing input on needed investments in operations capacity - systems, processes, and staffing - that meet CRS' standards, donor requirements, and local regulations and support high-quality programming. Represent CRS, as needed.
* Plan, integrate, coordinate, and monitor day-to-day operations to ensure all support services are delivered with high-quality in an efficient manner. Address issues where operations support needs to be adapted for complex programming. Oversee the piloting of new operations initiatives that require the setting of new standards and systems.
* Collaborate with programming leads to ensure appropriate project expenditures in line with financial plans and proper stewardship of material sources. Anticipate, identify and address challenges that affect the proper stewardship, risk, and optimal utilization of program assets and resources (financial, human, and material).
* Effectively manage talent and supervise. Manage team dynamics and staff well-being. Provide coaching, strategically tailor individual development plans, and complete performance management for direct reports. Monitor and assess performance to ensure adequate capacity for successful support of high-quality programming. Contribute to staffing plans and recruitment process of senior staff.
* With the Country Representative oversee the preparation of annual budget plans and grant/project budgets to ensure they reflect maximum operational efficiency and budgetary compliance and mitigate risks. Set and provide technical oversight of internal processes for approving expenses, monitoring spending, and making budget adjustments in line with operational and programmatic needs and with donor requirements.
* Ensure the program is adequately staffed to meet CP needs and HR systems, policies and practices support a high-performance culture, staff development and retention. Assure quality personnel administration and a work environment that truly reflects the agency's guiding principles.
* Together with the Country Representative and Risk & Compliance Unit, oversee compliance with agency and donor requirements and local laws and regulations through periodic systems checks, review and assessment of CP's operations policies and procedures. As needed, act as the contact and responder to issues that emerge from internal and external audits and provide recommendations and guidance to implement improvements.
* Create and maintain the proper conditions for learning. Establish a safe environment for the sharing of ideas, solutions, and difficulties and the capacity to detect, analyze and respond quickly to small deficiencies. Provide capacity strengthening guidance for project teams and partners, which includes cross-departmental learning.
Required/Desired Foreign Language : Excellent command in English and
Arabic.
Travel Required: Willing to travel inside and outside Egypt.
Key Working Relationships:
Supervisory : Finance Manager, Operations Manager, HR Manager, Safety and
Security Advisor
Internal: Country Representative, Head of Programs, Program and Project
Managers.
External: Donor representatives, Operations staff from peer organizations,
legal counsel representatives, and Government of Egypt representatives.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
* Excellent strategic, analytical, systems thinking, and problem-solving skills, with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment and decisions.
* Strong relations management abilities. Ability to work collaboratively
* Team leadership abilities
* Ethical conduct in accordance with recognized professional and organizational codes of ethics
* Proactive, resourceful, solutions-oriented and results-oriented
Preferred Qualifications:
* Knowledge of multiple public donors' regulations, including USAID, highly preferred.
* Staff management experience and abilities that are conducive to a learning environment.
* Knowledge of procurement and office administration/management issues.
* Ability to represent the agency at high levels
* Proficient in MS Office package (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Visio), Web Conferencing Applications, and information and budget management systems.