Director, Humanitarian Sector Division

Organizational Context

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) aims to mobilize and coordinate effective humanitarian action, reducing suffering and supporting rights. The Humanitarian Sector Division (HSD) is central to advancing the Humanitarian Reset, streamlining coordination and policy. This role, reporting to the Assistant Secretary-General/Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, leads the Division to promote a coherent and impactful humanitarian system.

Job Purpose

This Director role leads the Humanitarian Sector Division (HSD) within OCHA, providing strategic leadership for humanitarian sector reform and overseeing the Division's operations. The position involves representing OCHA globally, collaborating with UN entities and international humanitarian actors, and managing a diverse, cross-functional team. Key responsibilities include ensuring effective international humanitarian response systems, contributing to OCHA's overall strategy and policy formulation, leading humanitarian diplomacy efforts, and driving innovative change management initiatives. The Director will manage the Division's work programme, resources, and activities, ensuring high-quality outputs and alignment with OCHA's strategic objectives and the Humanitarian Reset. This includes overseeing reporting to intergovernmental bodies, managing budgets, and fostering a culture of collaboration and accountability.

Responsibilities

Direct and manage the Humanitarian Sector Division, leading a large, dispersed workforce to ensure integrated delivery of coordination, policy, negotiation, and information functions aligned with the Humanitarian Reset. Provide strategic and technical leadership for effective international humanitarian response systems, coordination mechanisms, and crisis readiness. Contribute to OCHA's strategies and policies by offering guidance, preparing policy inputs, and advising senior leadership on operational and diplomatic priorities, including humanitarian diplomacy and access. Lead the development of innovative initiatives to enhance coherence, efficiency, and agility within the humanitarian system. Formulate and implement the Division's work programme, setting priorities and allocating resources to meet strategic objectives. Oversee the management of Division activities, ensuring timely execution and coordination with OCHA, IASC, and external partners. Coordinate and oversee the preparation of reports for intergovernmental bodies, providing analysis on system-wide coordination and policy. Ensure high-quality, objective outputs from the Division, compliant with mandates. Manage programmatic tasks, including budgets, performance monitoring, and staff performance evaluations. Oversee recruitment, promoting geographical and gender balance. Manage, guide, develop, and train staff, fostering teamwork and a culture of collaboration and accountability.

Work Experience

Requires over 15 years of progressive experience in leadership, management, or operations. A minimum of 7 years in senior leadership roles managing large, cross-functional, geographically dispersed teams with significant human and financial resources within a large international organization is essential. Experience in complex inter-agency coordination, system-wide crisis response, public diplomacy, and large-scale international humanitarian programs is also required. Experience engaging with Member States, donors, and senior government officials on humanitarian policy or operations is desirable.

Skills

Professionalism, Accountability, Leadership, Vision, Building Trust, Knowledge of the humanitarian system, Report writing and editing, Application of UN rules and regulations, Strategic planning, Change management, Inter-agency coordination, Humanitarian diplomacy, Budget management, Staff management and development.

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