Director, Human Resources and Administration at Save the Children Nigeria

Save the Children is the leading independent organization creating lasting change in the lives of children in over 120 countries around the world. Recognized for our commitment to accountability, innovation and collaboration, our work takes us into the heart of communities, where we help children and families help themselves. We work with other organizations, governments, non-profits and a variety of local partners while maintaining our own independence without political agenda or religious orientation. Save the Children’s mission is to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives. Save the Children is looking for experienced development professionals to work within the Nigeria Country Programme. These roles will be critical for the delivery of results for children expected by this programme.

We seek suitable candidates for an upcoming USAID-funded health program in Nigeria. The program will focus on reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH) and nutrition and will be implemented at least initially in northern Nigeria.

We are recruiting to fill the position of:

Job Title: Director, Human Resources and Administration

Job ID: #1120891
Location: Abuja

Job Description

• As a member of the Nigeria Senior Management Team (SMT) the Director of HR& Administration shares in the overall responsibility for the direction and coordination of the Country Office (CO).
• He/she is accountable to the Country Director for government relationships and the provision of effective HR and administrative services in both emergencies and development programming contexts.

Key Areas of Accountability
As a member of the Senior Management Team, contribute to:

• Leadership of the Nigeria Country Office
• Support the development of an organizational culture that reflects our values, promotes accountability and high performance, encourages a team culture of learning, creativity and innovation, and frees up our people to deliver outstanding results for children and excellent customer service for our members and donors
• Help design and implement a coherent organizational structure that is consistent with agency practices and appropriate to program needs
• Help establish, maintain, and improve active and regular working relationships with: host government authorities, partner agencies including humanitarian and development donors, and local and international NGOs
• Ensure the Nigeria Country Office complies with all Save the Children strategy, policies and procedures, essential standards, legal context.

Human Resources:

• Develop a best practice HR strategy for the country office: reward, resourcing, employee relations/engagement, talent and performance management, and learning & development, using SCI systems and tools.
• Ensure appropriate recruitment, retention and succession of staff relevant for both development and emergencies, and career development for staff.
• Ensure that the reward policies are cost effective, competitive, equitable and implemented effectively. Conduct regular reward reviews using Birches data, and use the analysis to develop and implement employee benefit schemes and insurance packages, to ensure best practice arrangements are in place.
• Lead long range people forecasting & HR planning for the country office.
• Partner with the program teams to ensure that adequate HR inputs are provided and incorporated during development and implementation of all projects/programs.
• Supervise the HR function to ensure that advice and support is provided to managers and staff on interpretation and application of policies and procedures and on other HR related matters.
• Supervise the development and implementation HR practices and processes to meet the evolving needs of the organization to deliver full spectrum programs
• Ensure appropriate and adequate emergency HR procedures are detailed in the Country Office Emergency Preparedness Plan in order to enable rapid scale up. Facilitate the HR aspects (such as deployment mechanisms) of the Country's Emergency Response Team
• Monitor and advise on disciplinary matters in accordance with established policies and procedures.
• Mediate conflict, grievances and harassment cases.
• Ensure that staff and Save the Children Associates are aware of and adhere to the Code of Conduct and Child Safeguarding Policies, Safety and Security policies and procedures.
• Manage relations with the Staff association and representatives

Administration:

• Supervise administrative function to ensure the smooth running of the CO,
• Ensure that all CO activities and staff comply with the Nigeria legal requirements
• Liaise and maintain documentation on relationships, registration agreements with governments agencies
• Ensure documentation system is monitored in the country office with assorted policies and guidelines
• Ensure adequate insurance cover and keep up to date with suitability and types of cover available.

Facilities Management:

• Oversee the use and the overall maintenance of the residence / office premises, facilities assets and equipment (physical work environment) and ensure that these are secure and efficiently utilized
• Review and annually update all contracts and leases
• Ensure compliance with Health and Safety regulations
• Ensure adequate security for office premises and property
• Oversee the annual preparation of the renewal of licenses and permits.
• Provide logistical support to guests, visitors including partner organizations involved in SC activities.
• Support field office facilities management - ensure there are mechanisms in place to support sub-office issues

Staff Management, Mentoring, and Development:

• Ensure appropriate staffing and organization of workload within Human Resources and Administration
• Performance manage Manage the HR/Administration teams;
• Ensure the recruitment, coaching, training, and promotion of staff as appropriate and ensure availability of appropriate professional development opportunities for staff

Key Competencies
Leading and Inspiring Others:

• Creates and engages others in a shared vision and strategy that will deliver more for children
• Acts with integrity and walks away from major opportunities if these are not aligned to the organization's values
• Inspires people to reach the highest standards of performance and a sense of pride in belonging to the organization

Delivering Results:

• Aligns ideas and solutions to strategic imperatives to support delivery of our long-term strategic objectives
• Helps others to navigate the organization and assists them in developing and delivering on their strategic plans
• Pursues opportunities; managing risks and uncertainty to enable the organization to deliver more for children
• Builds a culture of quality and focuses on on-going performance improvement
• Provides resources and removes obstacles to support cross-organizational and geographically dispersed teams

Developing Self and Others:

• Creates and enables a learning culture with measures and processes that support the development of staff
• Takes personal accountability to build organizational capabilities to meet current and future challenges
• Ensures that developmental opportunities, resources and time are available and provided equitably to all

Problem Solving and Decision Making:

• Identifies and addresses root causes of long-term problems facing the organization
• Brings in external perspective to ensure strategic decision making remains relevant and future focused
• Provides a strategic framework to support decision making across the organization
• Explores and analyses external trends and their potential impact on strategic choices
• Takes calculated risks and has the courage to stand by decisions despite resistance

Innovating and Adapting:

• Promotes a culture and work environment to test new ideas, takes risks and learns from failures
• Sponsors initiatives to ensure that people, processes and technology create an agile organisation, responding quickly to external events

Applying Technical and Professional Expertise:

• Sets and drives standards for the organization to deliver better quality outcomes for children
• Reviews the external environment to lead improvement in standards
• Aligns technical and professional standards to support our strategy

Working Effectively with Others:

• Creates an environment which promotes diversity and does not tolerate discrimination

Networking:

• Role models transparency and openness when engaging with others
• Gathers intelligence from external networks to influence the medium and longer term impact of our work with children.

Qualifications and Experience

• Masters and/or postgraduate specialization in Human Resources or Business Administration (MBA) with specialization in Human Resources
• Recommended a minimum of 10 years of management experience in a corporate or an NGO environment, including experience in the development of strategic and operational support services plans and their implementation in a professional work environment over a sustained period of time
• Ability to plan and organize a substantial workload that includes complex, diverse tasks and responsibilities in both development and emergency contexts
• Resourcefulness and creativity in developing the role of HR within the program and ensuring the most effective support to line management Willingness and ability to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming surge teams, in the event of emergencies
• Experience in capacity building and setting frameworks for staff development;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to demonstrate skills in leading a multi- disciplined team through a period of change
• Analytical, decision making and strategic planning skills and the ability to handle multiple priorities
• Ability to coach, mentor, delegate appropriately and provide developmental guidance to supervised staff
• Competent level skills in HRIS, IT applications, particularly MS Office
• A commitment to the values and principles of Save the Children
• Experience of exposure to developing countries and Nigeria will be an asset

Application Closing Date
25th August, 2015

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their C.V. and qualifying statements to: [email protected] explaining why you are suitable for the position you are applying for, State position clearly in the subject field as applications without appropriate subject will be disqualified. Also, applications received after the closing date above will not be considered.

Note: That applications will be treated as they are received and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.