Our searches

Our clients have exclusively retained Mission Talent to undertake these searches on their behalf.
Save the Children

Regional Human Resources Director

About Save the Children

Save the Children is the world’s leading independent organisation for children and works in around 120 countries to save children’s lives; to fight for their rights; and to help them fulfil their potential.

Save the Children works to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives. Across all of their work they pursue several core values: accountability, ambition, collaboration, creativity and integrity.

In 2012 Save the Children touched the lives of over 125 million children worldwide and directly reached 45 million children.

Child Safeguarding:

Level 3:  the role holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work in country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

Purpose of Role

As a key member of the Anchorregional senior management team and the global HR leadership team, you will lead and facilitate the development of a highly effective, strategic HR function in West and Central Africa to ensure the organization has the Anchorright structure, culture and talent needed to deliver on its objectives across the region. You will be the trusted partner of the Regional Director and the Regional Senior Management Team, and, globally, the Chief People Officer on all people related matters. You will support and enable countries in the West and Central Africa Region to manage and develop their people as well as ensuring that quality standards in Human Resources are met across the region. You will be accountable for the implementation strategy of the Global HR People Strategy in West and Central Africa.

Scope of Role

Reports to:

Regional Director, West and Central Africa with a dotted line to the Chief People Officer in London.

Dimensions:

Save the Children in West and Central Africa works in 12 countries with a current WCA portfolio of $170M and a staffing base of around 2400.

Staff directly reporting to this post:

HR Adviser, HR Officer, Learning and Development Manager, Administration Manager.

Key Areas of Accountability

HR leadership and management:

  • As a key member of both the Global HR leadership team and Regional Senior Management Team, be the trusted partner on all people related matters for the West Africa region, provide HR leadership, advice, counsel and solutions in analysing people issues and challenges across the organisation.
  • Responsible for the regional and national HR capacity and capability for efficient and effective HR delivery at multi-levels and implementation and adaptation of HR global initiatives and practices across the region. Build HR knowledge, expertise, and capacity leveraging internal and external resources. Managing and developing the performance of the Regional HR team and supporting the recruitment and capacity building of HR staff across the region.
  • Lead the delivery of the global HR strategic choices (e.g. resourcing, succession planning, talent development, performance management, people management, HR capacity development, etc) in WCA, at both the regional and national levels. Ensure consistency with the global strategy adapting for the region where necessary and drawing and building on developed best practice where this exists such that the organisations can deliver on the full spectrum mandate (development, humanitarian and early recovery programmes), business objectives and Quality standards are met.
  • Identify and facilitate the development of HR policy, procedures, standards, tools, and resources, in line with Global requirements and regional/country specifics. Ensure effective adaptation at all levels and compliance with the local labour regulations and donor requirements.
  • Support creating child safe environment across the region, and ensuring staff, consultants and partners are aware of and adhere to the Child Safeguarding Policies. 
  • As part of the Global HR Leadership team, contribute to the thinking and development of the Global HR People strategy, policies and standards. Lead, as needed, on Global HR projects and innovation, working with stakeholders both within and outside the WCA region.
  • Working closely with the regional leadership to attract, recruit and retain the talented people Save the Children need and to identify and develop high potential staff.

Learning and Development:

  • Embed a culture of performance management across the organisation, where staff are held accountable and rewarded for high performance.
  • Support managers in the development and coaching of staff to optimise their potential in pursuit of Save the Children’s objectives.
  • Analyse on an ongoing basis the organisational staffing profile and, in conjunction with the Regional Senior Management Team, advising on job holder competencies and skills in light of changing contexts and content.
  • Providing guidance on staff capacity building and in formulating the annual Human Resources Development plans.
  • Ensure that staff have access to HR guidance on individual development opportunities arising from performance review feedback and personal career development interests.
  • Creating an environment of continuous learning where staff are encouraged and supported to develop and are held accountable for their commitments.

Humanitarian response:

  • Advice and support country offices on the HR mechanisms and processes around scale up and scale down during humanitarian responses, ensuring they are detailed in Emergency Preparedness Plans.
  • Alongside the Regional HR Team and Country HR staff, support initiating and maintaining processes enabling rapid mobilisation (deployment and recruitment) of people in response to significant emergencies arising within the Region (in line with agreed humanitarian HR policies and procedures) including dramatically change work practices and work with in-coming response teams. 
  • Lead on initiatives to increase Save the Children’s capacity to support humanitarian responses in the region including development of regional rosters, secondments, cross learning initiatives etc.

Other:

  • Role modelling and supporting the development of an organisational culture that reflects Save the Children’s values, promotes accountability and high performance and frees up their people to deliver outstanding results for children and excellent customer service for their members and donors.

Skills and Behaviours (Save the Children’s Values in Practice)

Accountability:

  • Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values.
  • Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities – giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.
  • Creates a managerial environment across the Region to lead, enable and maintain Save the Children’s culture of child safeguarding.

Ambition:

  • Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same.
  • Future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

  • Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to; builds and maintains effective relationships with colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters.
  • Values diversity and different people’s perspectives, able to work cross-culturally.

Creativity:

  • Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions.
  • Cuts away bureaucracy and encourages an entrepreneurial approach.

Integrity:

  • Honest, encourages openness and transparency, builds trust and confidence.
  • Displays consistent excellent judgement.

Qualifications and Experience

Essential:

  • Qualified HR professional and/or substantial HR generalist experience including recruitment and selection, performance management, learning and development, reward and employee relations.
  • HR leadership experience across multiple countries with experience of working within a complex and matrix organisation structure.
  • Demonstrable track record of leading substantial change – maximising benefits and minimising risks.
  • Cultural sensitive, with highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation and coaching. 
  • Experience of building, leading and developing staff with different backgrounds and expertise.
  • Able to create ‘attractive expertise’ which encourages senior managers to seek help and counsel in resolving people matters maturely and with minimal disruption.
  • Proven consulting and process facilitation skills at leadership levels.
  • Strong coaching and conflict resolution skills.
  • Demonstrated strong team work skills in working across organizational units in a supportive and collaborative manner.
  • Excellent and persuasive oral and written communications skills; professionally assertive with ability to influence without formal authority.
  • Experience of building personal networks at senior levels, resulting in securing significant new opportunities for the organisation.
  • Experience of solving complex issues through analysis, defining a clear way forward and ensuring buy in.
  • Ability and willingness to change work practices and hours in the event of major emergencies.
  • Willingness to work and travel in often difficult and insecure environments.
  • Commitment to Save the Children’s Child Safeguarding and other global policies, and to Save the Children values.
  • Fluency in French and English.

Desirable:

  • Knowledge and experience of working in the region.