Support Services Manager at Danish Refugee Council (DRC)

Danish Refugee Council (DRC) is a Danish international non-governmental organisation, which promotes and supports durable solutions to the problems faced by refugees and internally displaced people all over the world. DRC is present in more than 30 conflict territories around the world assisting displaced people with shelter, food, income-generating activities, and a wide range of other assistance. It is of utmost importance for DRC to work in compliance with the DRC Accountability and Quality Management system and national legislations. Smooth, reliable and effective operational systems are preconditions for DRC to maintain its position as a trustworthy and reliable partner for our donors and an accountable organisation towards our beneficiaries.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Support Services Manager

Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Supervised by: Area Manager - Borno
Reporting to: Area Manager - Borno
Employment Period: 12 Months with possibility of extension
Type of Contract (Expat/National/Trainee): International
Level: M - F2
Start date: 1st January 2024.

Purpose

• Support Services Manager is responsible for providing coordinated and strategic leadership and ensures the smooth running of all support functions to meet the programmatic and operational needs in line with the DRC Operations Handbook.

Duties and Responsibilities
Planning and strategy:

• To ensure that annual planning for support services is completed, that regular targets are met and linked to the program needs and coordination unit for country-wide consistency.
• To ensure that project planning includes relevant support service requirements (such as lead times and appropriate budgets).
• To ensure that resource mobilisation is realistic and meets the needs of support functions, by using the operations budget to input to donor proposals.
• To ensure that support services are fit for purpose to meet programme needs.
• To be the focal point for the compliance self-check, internal audit and results contracts.
• Ensure the capacity building of the support personnel with the area office.

Finance:

• To serve as primary budget holder for all support service lines.
• To be responsible for budget monitoring and forecasting for support service budgets.
• To work with managers and team leaders to conduct budget monitoring of existing grants.
• To support Area Finance staff in area tasks, building their capacity and connecting them with the Country Finance Manager where required.
• To ensure that key finance tasks are completed (such as the monthly, periodic and annual reports).
• To work with finance to ensure programme teams clearly understand compliance requirements.
• To ensure that monthly finance tasks are completed on the area level (payroll, SOS, PIT, cashbooks and cash forecasts) and in line with Operations Handbook procedures.
• To conduct area level BFU meetings on a monthly basis, ensuring expenses and forecasts are reviewed by budget managers and comments are added where needed.

HR Support:

• To ensure that monthly reports and produced and that targets are met by the department, while being a link to the HR coordination unit.
• To ensure that HR tasks are completed on time (such as staff induction, Code of Conduct training and leave planning).
• To ensure that annual HR tasks are completed as per the Operations Handbook (e.g., Performance & Development Reviews).
• To ensure the HR team fulfils daily tasks, such as recruitment, contract renewal/ amendments, timesheet submission and leave tracking.

Administration support:

• To be the focal point for key administrative tasks.
• To oversee the team to ensure follow up on routine tasks are carried out (guesthouse supplies, phone credit purchase, utilities bill payments, rental and lease agreements).

Supply Chain support:

• To ensure procurement procedures are followed while being the focal point for tenders together with the coordination unit (including being a chairman for most major tenders).
• To ensure area procurement plans are finalized, closely monitored, updated as and when required.
• To closely follow department KPIs and ensure that monthly report submissions are timely and of high quality.
• To work with the teams to ensure each of the sub departments (procurement, fleet, assets, warehouse and maintenance) have targets and are meeting them, in line with Operation Handbook procedures.
• To ensure area supply and logistic teams are trained and their technical capacity strengthened.

As Manager the post-holder is responsible for the following:

• Accountable for achieving DRC’s strategic goals and objectives within the area of responsibility.
• Accountable for making significant decisions on what the unit does: its purpose, functions and role, and for making commitments and decisions that require the expenditure of significant unit resources.
• Accountable for people management of direct reports, at least 3 employees including Team Leaders and officers. This includes hiring & firing, objective setting, probation, performance appraisal, development of staff, managing performance, including poor performance, etc.
• Accountable for making sound decisions based on DRC policies, SOPs, standards, and the advice of technical experts in DRC

Other:

• The responsibilities listed in the JD are not exhaustive and may be readjusted according to operational needs but will remain in line with the overall purpose of the role.

Qualifications
Education:

• Master's or Bachelor's Degree in Finance / Accounting, Supply Chain, Human Resources, Business Management, Economics or similar fields.

Experience and technical competencies:
Essential:

• Strong technical background (3+ years) in one of the support functions (Finance, HR or Logistics) with 2 years' experience in similar role an asset
• At least 2 years' experience with people management or demonstrable experience in staff capacity building
• Experience with Microsoft Dynamics in a humanitarian context is required
• Experience with budget cycle, monitoring processes, and project cycle management
• Possessing a strong degree of honesty and integrity, and a solid sense of ethics including the ability to appropriately handle confidential information.
• The position is open to all nationalities
• Master's degree in relevant area, or bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, supply chain management, human resources, business administration, economics will suffice with an additional 2 years of commensurate experience.

Desirable:

• Knowledge of code of conduct principles and the HR systems for performance management
• Knowledge of key donor policy and compliance procedures
• Knowledge of supply chain management and procurement processes
• Past experience with DRC in a similar role
• Previous experience as support services management is an asset.

Required Skills & Qualities:
Core Competencies of DRC:

• Striving for excellence
• Collaboration
• Taking the lead
• Communication
• Demonstrating Integrity
• Ability to work in a multinational and multicultural environment
• Proactivity, with a sound commitment to teamwork and with a spirit of genuine collaboration
• Excellent communication skills, as well as patience and politeness, are required
• Multi-tasking and Organizational skills is a must
• Adaptable and Flexible
• Proven analytical and critical thinking skills
• Exemplary sense of ethics in the workplace
• Team-oriented & good sense of humor.

General Regulations

• The employee shall follow DRC instructions on safety, confidentiality, and ethical guidelines, including the Code of Conduct and the Humanitarian Accountability Framework
• Employee should not engage in any other paid activity during the DRC contract period without prior authorization
• Employee should not engage in any activity that could harm DRC or the implementation of any project during the DRC contract period
• Employee should not give interviews to the media or publish project-related photos or other material without prior authorization
• Employee shall return all borrowed equipment for the project to DRC after the end of the contract period or upon request.

Salary & Benefits
M-F2

Application Closing Date
9th December, 2024 (Midnight; GMT time).

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Application Process

• All applicants must send a cover letter and an updated CV (no longer than four pages). Both must be in English.
• DRC provides equal opportunity in employment and prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of race, sex, color, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability.
• DRC encourages all applicants to apply and does not practice any discrimination in any recruitment process.
• Applications submitted after the closing date will not be considered.
• Due to the urgency of the position, DRC has the right to recruit a candidate who matches the required profile before the above deadline.

Note

• However, all applicants shall take into consideration that DRC cannot offer an international work contract to a citizen of the country of assignment (in this specific case, Nigeria).
• Only short-listed applicants will be invited for written tests and oral interviews.
• For general information about the Danish Refugee Council, please consult: www.drc.dk.