Overview
The Country Director will lead IRC Thailand’s transformation from camp-based operations to facilitating refugee integration and self-reliance, representing IRC to external stakeholders and providing strategic vision and leadership for the country program.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop and execute strategies for high-quality programs meeting client needs.
- Lead the country program by promoting collaboration and maintaining professional relations.
- Build and sustain strong partnerships with local organizations, donors, and government authorities.
- Ensure IRC is a partner of choice for major donors and represented in humanitarian coordination forums.
- Maintain strong government relations for uninterrupted operations.
- Raise the profile of IRC’s work and amplify client voices.
- Execute IRC’s strategic vision, delivering high-quality programming adapted to Thailand’s context.
- Grow the portfolio to reach increasing numbers of clients at scale with impactful programs.
- Pursue opportunities to expand programming to under-served clients.
- Develop regional programming opportunities with IRC Asia Country Programmes.
- Ensure systems comply with IRC standards and support efficient program delivery.
- Establish effective relationships and communication with regional management, technical leads, HQ colleagues, and stakeholders.
- Drive program innovation and excellence, ensuring interventions are evidence-based, contextually relevant, and client-centred.
- Foster learning, accountability, and adaptive management.
- Stay current on issues impacting the program and develop responsive strategies.
- Ensure timely submission of high-quality proposals and lead donor negotiations.
- Maintain a diversified funding portfolio.
- Develop deep understanding of donor priorities and funding initiatives.
- Maintain and expand participation with key donors, host government, local stakeholders and relevant policy and coordinating bodies.
- Actively contribute to global, regional, and national advocacy for sustainable solutions.
- Identify and pursue advocacy opportunities to protect client rights and promote their needs.
- Ensure IRC has a strong voice in policy efforts to improve lives and livelihoods of clients in Thailand.
- Lead regional collaboration on Myanmar displacement, working with IRC Asia programmes and regional stakeholders.
- Drive operational excellence to achieve optimal efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
- Oversee country programs’ financial and operational processes and functions to ensure compliance.
- Ensure appropriate support to all functions and sub-offices.
- Provide effective oversight of the financial position, implementing changes to match funding levels.
- Monitor and identify sources for match fund requirements and funding gap coverage.
- Maintain effective and coordinated budget monitoring processes.
- Create a positive work environment supported by professional HR management.
- Hold management accountable for staff development and succession planning.
- Implement recruitment and retention strategies.
- Support implementation of IRC’s Global HR Policies and Procedures.
- Identify and develop staff for senior roles through succession planning.
- Promote staff well-being and model work-life balance.
- Model and encourage active practice of the principles of the “IRC Way Global Standards for Professional Conduct”.
- Exercise ethical judgement and decisive leadership in safeguarding situations.
- Supervise direct reports with clear expectations, regular feedback, and documented performance reviews.
- Take primary responsibility for safety and security management, including emergency response.
- Maintain security culture throughout the program.
- Keep security, evacuation, and contingency plans current and accessible.
- Coordinate with Regional Safety and Security Director on evolving security concerns.
- Ensure access to vulnerable clients for timely, quality service delivery.
Required Experience
- Significant international work experience covering emergency, post-conflict, and development programming.
- Extensive program/ business development and fundraising experience with an entrepreneurial ability to spot and seize strategic opportunities.
- Proven experience with, European, UN, US, DFAT, multi-lateral, corporate and other international donors.
- Skilled at building trusting and effective relationships with government officials, donor representatives, staff, NGO partners, community leaders, and clients.
- Proven aptitude to inspire creative growth, innovation, and learning.
- Experience in vigorously advocating to stakeholders for resources, responses and recognition of complex humanitarian and development problems.
- Strong human resource management skills including capacity building and mentoring.
- Experience supervising and managing a multi-disciplinary team in a cross-cultural setting.
- Strong budget, fiscal and operational oversight experience.
- Demonstrated successful leadership and management experience with a multi-disciplinary team in cross-cultural settings, including active mentoring and coaching.
- Demonstrated experience of creating diverse and inclusive team climates.
- Effective in developing high-potential staff to achieve career growth and maximum contribution.
- Proven experience in managing high quality programming that meets the needs of clients.
- Proven experience delivering appropriate levels of oversight of a portfolio consisting of a variety of complex, high-value donor-funded projects.
- Experience building personal networks at a senior level, resulting in securing new opportunities for the organization.
- Opportunity-awareness: A successful innovative approach to unpredictable programming, operational and funding contexts.
- Ability to objectively represent program context, constraints, and successes to media, government, and other senior audiences.
