Technical Lead, DELIVER

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. If you're a solutions-driven, passionate change-maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future.

Background

The IRC has a long track record in delivering sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and gender-based violence (GBV) services in fragile and conflict-affected settings. DELIVER is a three-year global program framework focused on reducing morbidity and mortality among and protecting the dignity and rights of women and adolescent girls living in the world's largest humanitarian emergencies. We expect initial countries to include Syria, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Yemen. The program will increase access to and improve the quality of lifesaving SRH and GBV services in line with global humanitarian standards, and strengthen the knowledge, agency and social support needed for women and adolescent girls to exercise their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

Scope of Work

The IRC seeks a Technical Lead to provide strategic technical direction, oversight and quality assurance across the DELIVER program. Reporting to the Global Practice Lead for SRHR, the Technical Lead will serve as the principal technical authority on SRHR and GBV integration across all country programs, ensuring that services are delivered in line with global humanitarian standards—including the Minimum Initial Services Package (MISP) for SRH in Emergencies and the Interagency Minimum Standards for GBV in Emergencies—and are adapted to acute local needs. The Technical Lead will work closely with IRC country program technical teams, regional health and protection advisors, and external partners—including women-led organizations—to drive continuous quality improvement and generate evidence and learning that advances the field. The recruitment is contingent upon successful award of the program.

Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership and Quality Assurance: Provide overall technical direction for SRHR and GBV programming across all DELIVER country programs, ensuring alignment with global standards, IRC's technical frameworks, and the evidence base for humanitarian SRH and GBV response. Lead the adaptation and contextualisation of IRC's SRHR and GBV integration models across supported service delivery points, working with country teams to select and apply the most appropriate model based on existing health and protection infrastructure, context and client preferences. Oversee the technical quality of clinical capacity strengthening approaches across countries, including SRHR S-CORTs, WHO CMR/IPV training, Low Dose High Frequency (LDHF) methodologies, WHO Bleeding After Birth training, and Values Clarification and Attitudes Transformation (VCAT) for service providers. Provide technical guidance on the implementation of the Minimum Initial Services Package (MISP), including Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (EmONC), family planning, comprehensive abortion care, clinical management of rape (CMR), HIV/STI prevention and treatment, and postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) prevention and treatment. Champion the integration of GBV risk mitigation into SRH service delivery and vice versa, ensuring a survivor-centered, rights-based and adolescent-responsive approach across all delivery modalities. Ensure technically sound, culturally appropriate and gender-sensitive programming that prioritizes hard-to-reach populations including adolescents, people with disabilities, displaced populations and ethnic and religious minorities.
• Capacity Strengthening: Design and deliver technical capacity strengthening support to IRC country program health and protection teams, including remote and in-person technical assistance, training facilitation, mentorship and supportive supervision. Build the capacity of local partner organizations in SRHR and GBV technical standards, integration approaches and quality improvement methodologies, in line with IRC's PEERS partnership principles. Support country teams to establish and strengthen clinical supervision systems, including joint supervision with Ministries of Health, standardised supervision checklists and facility-level quality improvement plans.
• Knowledge Management and Learning: Lead the documentation and dissemination of technical learning, promising practices and case studies from DELIVER country programs to inform adaptive management and contribute to the global evidence base for SRHR and GBV in humanitarian settings. Facilitate peer-to-peer technical learning exchanges between country programs to promote cross-country knowledge sharing and innovation. Represent IRC's technical expertise in relevant global forums, including the SRH Task Team under the Global Health Cluster, the Interagency Working Group on Reproductive Health in Crises (IAWG), and relevant GBV coordination mechanisms. Contribute to the development of technical tools, guidelines and resources to improve SRHR and GBV programming in humanitarian settings.
• Reporting and Coordination: Review country-level technical reports for accuracy, quality and coherence, and contribute technical content to consolidated narrative reports to Global Affairs Canada (GAC). Provide technical input into program monitoring frameworks, indicator tracking and data review processes to ensure that service quality is measured and evidence-based course corrections are made in a timely manner. Collaborate with the Program Lead, MEAL staff and country program teams to ensure that client feedback and service quality data are systematically used to drive program improvement.

Job Requirements

• Work Experience: A minimum of 8 years' experience in SRHR and/or GBV programming, including at least 5 years in humanitarian settings and at least 3 years in a technical advisory or leadership role supporting multi-country programs of similar scale and complexity.
• Demonstrated Skills and Competencies: Deep technical expertise in sexual and reproductive health in humanitarian settings, including the MISP, family planning (including long-acting and permanent methods), maternal and newborn health, comprehensive abortion care, PPH prevention and treatment, and HIV/STI prevention and treatment. Strong expertise in GBV prevention and response programming, including clinical management of rape (CMR), GBV case management, psychosocial support and GBV-SRH integration. Demonstrated experience designing and implementing clinical capacity strengthening approaches in resource-limited or emergency settings, including competency-based training, LDHF methods, mentorship and supportive supervision. Proven ability to apply global humanitarian standards and translate them into context-appropriate, evidence-based field programming. Strong understanding of gender equality, feminist principles and rights-based approaches as applied to SRHR and GBV programming in humanitarian settings. Experience working with and building the capacity of local partner organizations, including women-led organizations. Excellent analytical, writing and communication skills, with the ability to synthesize complex technical information for diverse audiences. Ability to work effectively with remote, multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary teams across multiple time zones. Facilitation skills: ability to design and lead technical workshops, training events and learning exchanges with multiple stakeholders to achieve high-quality outputs.

Requirements

• Willing to travel approximately 30–40% of the time, including to complex and insecure operating environments.
• Education: Master of Public Health, Nursing, Midwifery, Medicine or equivalent. Clinical background (nurse, midwife or physician) preferred.
• Language Skills: Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and proficiency in French and/or Arabic required.

Compensation

UK Pay Range: £56,875- £66,354

Equal Opportunity Employer

IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

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.