Director, Strategy & Planning in London

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world's largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 40 countries and 29 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. A force for humanity, IRC employees deliver lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions.

BACKGROUND

The IRC is committed to a culture of bold leadership, innovation in all aspects of our work, creative partnerships and, most crucially, accountability to those we serve. The IRC is a tireless advocate for the most vulnerable.

IRC UK is part of the IRC global network, which has its global headquarters in New York. Our team in the UK works to raise profile, deliver policy and practice change, and increase funding to help restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Since 2021, IRC UK has also provided integration services directly to refugees in England. In Europe, the IRC also has offices in Berlin, Bonn, Brussels, Geneva and Stockholm.

The Purpose of the Role

The External Relations (ER) department includes private fundraising, marketing & communications and advocacy. ER’s goal is to mobilize external audiences to raise funding to meet core organization needs, deliver programs that support our clients to recover and gain control of their lives; influence policy changes to improve outcomes for our clients; and build and grow our global brand.

The Strategy & Planning (S&P) team is responsible for supporting ER to advance our ambitious global strategy, driving impact and strategic change. The S&P team works with leadership to (1) define ER’s strategic goals and associated plans, (2) monitor progress towards them, and (3) lead strategic projects that address barriers or pursue opportunities to advance our ER strategy. Examples of strategic projects include facilitating decision making on when to enter new fundraising markets; building an operating model for collaborative fundraising at the local and global level; improving processes to strengthen the donor experience and financial accounting.

The IRC is embarking on an ambitious new strategy which includes doubling its private revenue in the next eight years in order to enable the IRC to reach 40M clients by 2033. This will require multiple teams, including fundraising, communications and marketing, advocacy, technology, and operations working closely together to develop and execute a multi-year strategic plan with clear revenue goals and investment options. The Director of Strategy & Planning will be driver of this strategy. In this role, you will clarify the vision, develop the process and analysis methods, and own the final outputs of the strategy process. You will be a critical thought partner to the IRC COO and leadership across External Relations.

Reporting to the VP of Business Operations and Analytics, the Director will be expected to find solutions. The Director will persuade and influence, build and innovate, and use structured thinking and evidence to solve problems where there is no pre-defined methodology. Focusing on the highest priority initiatives of the External Relations team, you will build relationships across External Relations, and IRC more broadly to deliver high quality results at a pace a leading private sector organization would be proud of. This is a high visibility role. Ultimately the measure of your success will be your impact - the lasting benefit you bring to the IRC through your contributions.

Scope and Authority

• Authority: Has authority to make decisions on the pipeline of projects and direction of projects.

Responsibility For Resources

Is responsible for developing a strategy that aligns to the entire External Relations budget, but manages only the budget of the Strategy & Planning team.

Key Working Relationships

• COO
• VP Philanthropy & Foundation
• VP Mass Markets & Corporates
• Chief Marketing & Mobilization Officer
• VP Policy & Advocacy
• VP Business Operations
• Director, Strategic Finance
• Director, Strategy & Delivery

Key Accountabilities

• Strategic Leadership: Lead the development and implementation of ER multi-year strategy by conceptualizing the approach, managing required consultations and analysis, and building the business cases to underpin the growth of private revenue.
• Provide support and oversight to key strategic initiatives in ER. Examples include facilitating decision making on when to enter new fundraising markets; building an operating model for collaborative fundraising at the local and global level; improving processes to strengthen the donor experience and financial accounting.
• Collaborate closely with and provide advisory support to global senior leaders. Meet regularly with External Relations Vice Presidents to identify strategic challenges and thought partner with leaders to resolve or mitigate.
• Build cross-departmental coordination and collaborate effectively to both ensure representation of External Relations in IRC-wide projects, and to enhance the overall impact and quality of IRC-wide strategic initiatives.
• Lead the annual strategy and financial planning process across ER in close collaboration with the Director of Financial Management and Planning.

Planning And Coordination: Oversee planning, monitoring and delivery of the multi-year ER business transformation and ER Theory of Change, partnering with ER VPs and senior-level staff across the ER department and the IRC to provide problem-solving support, and facilitate decision-making and consensus-building at each stage of the transformation. Develop and manage quarterly strategy and risk reviews, identifying proper metrics to measure organization’s progress towards stated goals, and facilitating leadership discussion on KPI results.

Act as part of COO’s core team, supporting weekly updates and risk tracking, and ensuring engagement from COO in critical strategic ER matters. Develop vision for Strategy & Planning team and manage the pipeline of projects to maximize the impact of strategy resources to grow net revenue and long-term sustainability of the IRC. As part of this, effectively and independently scope, build, and manage complex projects and make progress with pace, surfacing and quickly resolving risks and roadblocks.

People And Culture: Direct line management of 4 strategy professionals, develop team’s capabilities in structured analysis; critical thinking to solve ambiguous problems; facilitation and collaborative problem-solving. Support the team to drive to actionable insights, recommendations, and evidence-based solutions, informed by analysis, best practices, and an understanding of the IRC. Play a leadership role in the Business Operations & Analytics Leadership Team, the External Relations Department leadership team, and the IRC Senior Leaders Group, driving inclusive and collaborative culture across the department and IRC, modeling inclusive leadership and facilitating cross-team and cross-departmental connections.

Promote a positive, collaborative, efficient team working environment where team members enjoy working with each other and feel able to do impactful work and grow professionally over time. Take personal responsibility for the success of the team’s work over time, promoting and standing behind their successes, and transparently acknowledge and act on areas for improvement. Adopt and demonstrate an ownership mentality.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Skills, Knowledge And Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent
• Experience developing multi-year growth strategies, preferably for revenue-generating teams
• Repeated experience in executing strategic change and organizational change management
• Repeated experience in project managing large-scale, cross-functional projects and project portfolios
• Good knowledge of private fundraising in humanitarian or development settings
• Experience in implementing or adapting project methodologies, templates, tools and processes
• Capability to manage multiple demands and to adapt to new challenges and shifting priorities
• Capability to handle and make progress against multiple simultaneous demands in short time frames, and to adapt to new challenges in a dynamic context with shifting priorities
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills as well as, an overall ability to be clear and concise in all communications
• Strong meeting facilitation skills
• Strong organizational and time-management skills; proven ability to prioritize and deliver on time
• Strong analytic problem solving skills
• Ability to work both independently and in a dynamic, cross-functional global team structure
• Highly proficient in Microsoft Office suite
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with stakeholders at all levels
• Ability to manage and work through change in a proactive and positive manner

Experience:

• Considerable relevant work experience, at least three of which in a strategy or business transformation role, with gradually increasing responsibilities and a track record of high performance.

Preferred Experience & Skills:

• Experience in a strategy or business transformation role at either a top tier strategy consulting firm, or in the strategy development function of a global organization
• Strong knowledge of private fundraising, communication and advocacy in humanitarian or development context
• An MBA or a Master’s degree in international development, human rights or another field related to the IRC’s work
• Experience leading teams to success
• Experience in a humanitarian or development organization, or similar
• Knowledge of French or Arabic

Criteria in the Person Specification marked with ** are the minimum criteria in line with our commitments under the Disability Confident Employer Scheme in the UK. UK based candidates who state that they have a disability and meet these criteria, will be invited to interview.

Standard Responsibilities:

• Promote and actively participate in initiatives and efforts to build team engagement, inclusion and cohesion in IRC London Office
• Foster ongoing learning, honest dialogue and reflection to strengthen safeguarding and to promote IRC values and adherence to IRC policies

Standard Job Requirements:

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

Related Standard Content:

IRC strives to build a diverse and inclusive team at all levels who as individuals, and as a group, embody our culture statement creating a working environment characterized by critical reflection, power sharing, debate, and objectivity for us to achieve our aspirations as a team and deliver the best possible services to our clients.

UK Narrowing the Gender Gap: The IRC is committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including flexible hours (when possible), enhanced maternity/adoption leave and pay and gender-sensitive security protocols.

Candidates must have the right to work in the UK. The application deadline is February 27, 2026.

IRC UK strives to be an equal opportunities employer. IRC UK is committed to equality of opportunity and to non-discrimination for all job applicants and employees, and we seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce regardless of gender, race, religious beliefs, nationality, ethnic/national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability. IRC UK welcomes applications from all candidates, including underrepresented groups and refugees who have the right to work in the UK. IRC UK will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided with reasonable adjustments to participate in the job application and/or interview process, and for essential job functions if appointed to a role. Please contact us if you may need such adjustments.

Recruitment Process:

The Process For This Role Will Be As Follows:

• Review will be on a rolling basis and initial interviews start before the deadline
• HR Screening call online
• First round panel interview online – including live assessment/test
• Second round panel interview – might include presentation task

If you have any questions or need assistance with the online recruitment process, please contact the IRC UK HR team at.

Compensation: Pay Range: £75,000 - £80,000. Ranges are based on various factors including the labor market, job type, internal equity, and budget. Exact offers are calibrated by work location, individual candidate experience and skills relative to the defined job requirements.

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS:

All International Rescue Committee workers must adhere to the core values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. Our Standards are Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Safeguarding, Conflicts of Interest, Fiscal Integrity, and Reporting Wrongdoing and Protection from Retaliation. IRC is committed to take all necessary preventive measures and create an environment where people feel safe, and to take all necessary actions and corrective measures when harm occurs. IRC builds teams of professionals who promote critical reflection, power sharing, debate, and objectivity to deliver the best possible services to our clients.