Area Manager

Position: Area Manager

Location: Syria – RI Offices

Reports to: Hub Leader

Duration: 12 months

About RI: Relief International is a leading nonprofit organization working in roughly 20 countries to relieve poverty, ensure well-being and advance dignity. We specialize in fragile settings, responding to natural disasters, humanitarian crises and chronic poverty. Relief International combines humanitarian and development approaches to provide immediate services while laying the groundwork for long-term impact. Our signature approach — which we call the RI Way—emphasizes local participation, an integration of services, strategic partnerships and a focus on civic skills. In this way, we empower communities to find, design and implement the solutions that work best for them.

Position Summary: The Area Manager (AM) is responsible for the coordination, management, development and representation of Relief International in North West of Syria, oversee program implementation according to RI strategies and ensure that operations are implemented within procedures, guidelines and strategy; enable a productive and accountable relationship with beneficiaries, communities’ representatives, local councils and health directorate. He/She will represent RI and support a strong coordination profile with all the stakeholders in NWS including but not limited to the local councils, camps managements, taskforces, NGOs coordination forums, and the relevant local authorities, inline with the core humanitarian standards.

This position will directly supervise the operations, finance, HR, and security staff based in NWS in coordination with the functions line managers who are based in Türkiye office.

Position Duties and Responsibilities:

Strategy

• Work directly with NWS SMT, to support NW Syria strategic planning and ensuring alignment with Syria-wide objectives and donors compliance rules and regulations.
• Ensure that RI’s programs plans are in accordance with Türkiye office strategic priorities and being implemented accordingly to programming principles.
• Providing context analysis that can guide RI NWS strategy towards more efficiency and that it addresses the needs of the targeted communities.
• Ensuring that RI NWS strategy objectives are streamlined in operational plans that can lead to achieving those objectives.

Management

• Lead and supervise NW Syria staff (programs, operations, finance, risk management) to deliver high quality programming
• Overseeing the recruitment, selection, orientation and training of the new hired staff, in close coordination with HR and relevant support units.
• Ensure adequate training and staff development and performance plans are in place and provide regular informal on the job mentoring to staff
• Closely coordinate with the senior management in Turkiye office and technical/support department heads ensuring regular information and feedback flows.
• Ensure a safe and secure environment for RI staff and assets by ensuring the local security procedures are up to date and SOPs are being followed in line with the RI policies, promoting regular staff training, providing safety and security analysis, recommendations and follows-ups.
• Provide leadership in overseeing of all logistical/procurement, HR/administration and office services activities and ensure their timely/efficient delivering.
• Comply with internal reporting requirements, contribute to, and provide quality assurance of external reports from area of operation
• Ensure the systems and supervision are in place to create and maintain a healthy working environment that fosters employee engagement and inspired team performance.
• Ensure coherence of program initiatives in the assigned geographical area.
• Follow up of the financial transactions that involves NWS office and ensuring a safe and accountable payment processes with a solid documentation of the payments and the supporting documents.

Due Diligence and Compliance

• Ensure overall provision of and adherence to RI policies, procedures, guidelines, systems and standard practices
• Monitor program compliance in NW Syria by maintaining close oversight of spending, procurement, logistics etc in close coordination with department heads.
• Escalate any instances (alleged or otherwise) of fraud, abuse, diversion of resources, interferences, to the Hub Leader.

Accountability:

• Ensure that RI’s resources are managed with the highest level of quality stewardship by working in close coordination with the stakeholders, including developing and monitoring finance and administration systems and procedures as they apply to the NW Syria office and developing a system of checks and balances to ensure timely, appropriate finance and administration procedures.
• Safeguard RI’s assets in NW Syria office by ensuring finance and administration policies and procedures are fully implemented, documented and filed, propose amendments and changes when necessary, and make sure that the office operates efficiently and effectively.

Security

• Work closely with Risk Manager and Risk officers to support safety and security management and roll out trainings at the request of the Risk Manager
• Ensure security plans are updated and communicate any delays with the CD and Risk manager and provide mitigation plan as needed
• Ensure staff are aware of and are able to follow standard operation procedures.
• Implement RI security rules, regulations and procedures
• Understand and monitor changes in the surroundings and alert security manager to changes.

Qualifications & Requirements:

• Proven 4 to 5 year of experience in managerial level in NWS.
• Proven experience in managing personnel in collaborative team approach.
• Very good experience in managing operations, HR, finance, and security departments.
• Demonstrated knowledge of project life cycle, including results-based management.
• Strong coordination and networking profile in NWS with the stakeholders and local authorities.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate and effectively orally and in writing.
• Strong negotiation skills with strong awareness of the core humanitarian standards, accountability, and compliance principles.
• Ability to work under pressure and with very short deadlines & strong communications skills.
• Ability to move between different districts in Aleppo and Idlib governorates.
• Proven experience in security and risk assessments, mitigation measures, scenario planning, and the efficient implementation of SOPs.
• A demonstrated ability to multi-task and process information into action
• Fluent in oral and written Arabic and English.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Relief International (RI) is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants, or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves professionally, respect local laws and customs, and adhere to RI’s Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

RI Values:

• We uphold the Humanitarian Principles: humanity, neutrality, impartiality and operational independence.
• We affirmatively engage the most vulnerable communities.
• We value
  • Inclusiveness
  • Transparency and accountability
  • Agility and innovation
  • Collaboration
  • Sustainability

Professional Standards

All Relief International members (staff, volunteers and interns) are committed to the RI policies such as, RI Code of Conduct, Child Protection Policy, Reporting Conflict of Interest, Reporting Misconduct, Reporting Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. All new comers are expected to adhere to all these policies.

Disclaimer Clause

This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skills, effort, duties and responsibilities associated with position.