Director of Global Supply Chain and Operations

Job Description

Terms of Reference

Position: Director of Global Supply Chain & Operations

Location: London, Lyon, or Washington, DC with regular travel to the field (up to 20%)

Reports to: Chief Financial Officer

Direct Reports: Global Operations Coordinators, Global IT Manager; and indirect management of Regional Operations Managers[1]

About RI

Relief International is a leading nonprofit organization working in 18 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.

Relief International includes the four corporate members of the RI Alliance: RI-US, RI-UK, MRCA/RI-France and RI-Europe. Under our alliance agreement, we operate as a single, shared management structure.

Position in Brief

The Director of Global Supply Chain & Operations is responsible for the high quality, efficient, and compliant execution of Relief International offices and field operations. This encompasses operations at the global, regional and country offices, including supply chain, logistics, travel, insurances, facilities, administration, etc. and incorporates ensuring that the staff at all levels are trained and managed to perform their responsibilities at a high level.

Scope

The Director of Global Supply Chain & Operations is responsible for setting strategy, policy and processes for the efficient, effective and compliant execution of supply chain and operations, especially field operations, including procurement, inventory management, logistics, administrative processes, office premises, travel, insurances, etc. This includes leading regional operations personnel who ensure adequate capacity at the country level, driving compliance at the country level, ensuring adequate support for these functions at the regional level, and managing operations and IT staff for the global support offices.

The scope of Operations is broad. Traced to the country level, it includes supply chain management, logistics, offices and work tools, assets and insurance, staff movement, execution of safety and security preparedness, travel, IT; and administration, as well as the policies, procedures and personnel to execute all of these elements in an efficient, safe and compliant manner for ongoing programming and rapid deployment situations. This mandate does NOT include program planning or management. Rather, Operations works in close coordination with Programs to ensure that program team members have the rights tools and support available at the right time and place to be able to do their jobs and, indeed, that the team members are able to get to the right place at the right time. Therefore, it will require close cooperation throughout the project life cycle, from design to close-out.

The Director of Global Supply Chain & Operations will have direct line management for the Global Operations team who develop and document global policies and standards for processes; support global office initiatives and provide capacity building to regional and country level operations colleagues.

Key Performance Areas

Team Development/Leadership

• Oversee, direct, and organize the work of the supply chain, administration and IT teams both at the global support offices, regional support offices and in the country offices.
• Promote a culture of high performance and continuous improvement that values learning and a commitment to quality.
• Ensure staff members receive timely and appropriate feedback, training and development.
• Build the capacity of Operations Managers and Officers at Global and Regional levels to support country level operations staff and provide back-stopping and gap filling as needed.
• Mentor and develop staff using a supportive and collaborative approach: assign accountabilities, set objectives, establish priorities, and monitor and evaluate results.

Technical Leadership

• Lead the organization to excellence in all aspects of supply chain and operations. With the Global Operations team, the Director will review and improve relevant policies, ensure high quality standards and SOP’s across all operations areas, assess and strengthen staff capacity at all levels, build a strong community of practice in operations across the organization.
• Lead in the implementation of global operational improvements to enhance the organization’s ability to implement programs, strengthen donor relations, improve organization-wide activities and mitigate identified risks.
• Coordinate with Global Assurance (GA) to help define high risk operational environments (risk from a compliance capacity perspective) for GA review, and design support interventions to address weaknesses identified through GA reviews.
• Responsibility areas for global offices include:
  • Office premises, equipment, furnishings, insurance
  • Administrative support organization and supplies
  • Global travel agent
  • Global Support Office and globally sourced field procurements
  • Assets and inventories
  • Global insurance for vehicles, property, liability and Directors & Officers
  • IT, including IT policy, data protection (GDPR), cyber security, hardware and systems
• Responsibility areas for regional offices include:
  • Support on office premises, equipment, furnishings
  • Assets
  • Capacity building for regional staff who support country level staff
  • Alignment on policies and procedures
• Responsibility areas for country offices include:
  • Procurement Management
  • Warehousing and Inventory Management
  • Asset Management
  • Fleet Management (including RI owned and leased vehicles, boats or other motorized equipment)
  • Travel and Administration depending on the Country Office size and context
  • RI premises, leases and administrative support, including implementation of security features
  • Information Technology (IT) depending on the Country Office size and context
  • Implementation of country security protocols for all supply chain and operations responsibilities
  • Rapid deployment team to stand up new offices in emergencies or new program areas and close outs

QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS:

This position demands a dynamic individual with a demonstrated ability to achieve results in a demanding and fast paced environment.

Applicants should possess:

• A bachelor degree in business administration, Supply Chain Management, international development, or a related field
• A minimum of 10 years of experience with INGOs at field as well as HQ levels with a minimum of 3 years of experience specifically in a logistics role at a senior level.
• Experience in Humanitarian operations that specifically includes supply chain and logistics which are compliant with US, UK, EU, and UN donor policies.
• Preferable to have knowledge or expertise in field of IT systems, software and devices.
• Proven track record of success preferably within fragile settings, emergencies and developing countries.
• Strong, positive track-record of collaboration – able to work with diverse teams in diverse locations, engaging their input and commitment to success
• High level of organization and decision-making skills working in a fast-paced work environment
• A systematic approach to work
• History of developing and mentoring teams and communicating vision to directors
• Excellent communication skills, written, oral and listening
• Experience in remotely managing a team of 7 or more members
• Creative with the ability to think outside the box

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

Detail That May Be Shared Later

(NOTE TO INTERNAL REVIEWERS: this is additional information assembled during the Tor development process. Too much detail to put in the TOR, but it may be useful later. So, it’s still in this document so it won’t be lost. But it won’t be shared with the TOR – at least not initially. NW)

Detail on country Level activities that fall in this responsibility area

• Office premises, Guest Houses, Client Engagement facilities, (clinics, distribution points, classrooms, etc.), warehouses, etc.
  • Opening and closing offices
  • Leases
  • Security of premises
  • IT: ensure internet connectivity and access to appropriate hardware (e.g. work stations, printers, scanners) and systems( in the absence of in-Country IT staff structure )
  • Furnishings
  • Equipment
  • Utilities
  • Security upgrades/features
• Procurement and inventory management
  • Procurement compliant with donor agreements and RI standards
  • Appropriate internal controls
  • Identification, vetting, contracting with any preferred providers
  • Prohibited persons/institutions screening
  • Warehouse management
  • Inventory databases
  • Stock management: rotation, replacement, disposal
• Logistics
  • Movement of supplies
  • Movement of people
  • Travel – in country, and for staff arriving/departing
  • Fleet management: driver hiring, training and management; acquisition (buy or rent) and safe maintenance of vehicles, boats, etc.
• Insurance
  • Up to date asset lists for insurance
  • Handle claims, preparing and filing documentation locally or through global office\
• Administrative processes
  • Import/export permissions
  • Waivers/exemptions
  • Office supplies

Global Supply Chain & Operations Team Structure

Position

Key responsibilities

Reporting line

Global Director

· Define strategy, policy, and processes

· Manage for effective execution across the organization

CFO

Global Operations Coordinators

· Support operations at GSO offices

· Ensure adequate capacity at the Regional level

To Director of Global Supply Chain & Operations

GSO IT Manager

· Set standards, policy and processes for global IT

· Manage IT team to provide effective support on systems and software

To Director of Global Supply Chain & Operations

*Regional Operations Managers

· Support operations at the RSO offices

· Ensure adequate capacity at the Country level

Direct to RD

Indirect to Director of Global Supply Chain & Operations

Country Operations

Managers

· Manage operations at the Country level in line with the Operations strategy, policy, and processes established at the global level.

Direct to Country Director

Indirect to Regional Operations

[1] Note: in some cases, the Regional Operations staff may be someone sitting at the Global level with responsibilities for both Global responsibilities and a region or portion of a region. This is currently the case.

About the Organization

About RI

Relief International is a leading nonprofit organization working in 18 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.

Relief International includes the four corporate members of the RI Alliance: RI-US, RI-UK, MRCA/RIFrance and RI-Europe. Under our alliance agreement, we operate as a single, shared management structure.