Senior Director, People & Culture - Europe
Lead People & Culture initiatives and strengthen collaboration across IRC Europe.
Overview
Lead People & Culture initiatives and strengthen collaboration across IRC Europe.
You have:
- Extensive and progressive professional People & Culture-related experience, preferably within the humanitarian sector.
- A consistent role model for fostering equity, inclusion, and belonging in the workplace.
- Experience supporting groups of 700+ employees at multiple organisational levels.
- Broad knowledge and experience across the spectrum of People & Culture proficiencies, e.g. organisational change, GEDI, SG, talent management, etc.
- Deep understanding of European labour law complexities and experience working with employee representative groups.
- Excellent management and leadership skills including coaching, mentoring, and performance management.
- Superb interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills with the ability to collaborate across countries and departments.
- Fluency in German is advantageous.
- Ability to travel up to 25% of the time, occasionally on short notice.
Job Overview
It is an exciting time to join IRC’s new People & Culture Organization, as we are in the process of integrating the work of our Human Resources, Gender Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (GEDI) and Safeguarding teams under one organisational mandate to collaboratively drive our People & Culture Delivery Strategy and create a positive and inspiring workplace culture.
In addition to the P&C integration, we are also moving forward in identifying how P&C can best strengthen its collective support and ensure a One IRC approach in offering an effective, efficient, and equitable experience for all IRC staff in Europe, regardless of location or team. The Director will lead this effort to create a One Europe way of working as practicable, identifying areas for integration and simplification across the continent.
The Director, People & Culture - Europe will lead and co-lead a team of P&C professionals as part of the effort to strengthen collaboration and service levels across Europe. They will partner with business and P&C leaders to ensure the organisation has the structure, systems, culture, and talent needed to deliver global program goals and effectively serve its clients.
The Director is a core member of the Europe senior leadership team and the extended global P&C leadership team, and serves as strategic partner, advisor, and coach with a particular focus on ensuring a safe and welcoming culture for all people, organisational performance, and efficiency and effectiveness of work processes.
This role will be critical in directly or through matrixed structures for the coordinating, overseeing, harnessing and ensuring IRC’s global People & Culture resources, services and solutions are effectively and successfully delivered across IRC’s European workforce.
Major Responsibilities
• Lead People & Culture for Europe in support of achieving IRC’s ambitions, driving the collaborative development and implementation of strategic plans in the areas of succession and workforce planning, organizational design and development, talent acquisition, learning & development, employee relations, compensation & benefits, employee engagement, people analytics, and efficient delivery of P&C operations in a blend of local, regional and shared solutions models, all fully infused with a deep commitment to employee well-being, safeguarding, and equitable and inclusive practices.
• Ensure that key progress, barriers, and enablers for commitments related to Gender Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (GEDI), Safeguarding (SG) and Duty of Care (DoC) are part of regular regional leadership dialogue and action.
• Evaluate, build, and facilitate People & Culture functional capacity and service for Europe in collaboration with the Europe P&C and leadership teams, global P&C technical experts, and relevant P&C Partners for the global HQ, Resettlement, Asylum & Integration (RAI) and Crisis Response, Recovery and Development (CRRD) teams.
• Lead large, complex change management efforts stemming from structural and organizational changes, internal and/or external events or other operating factors, including the design and updating of IRC’s cross-Europe P&C service models.
• Lead, empower and mentor direct reports, including communicating clear expectations, co-creating performance objectives, providing regular and timely constructive performance feedback, and supporting their overall well-being and professional aspirations.
• Advise, counsel and/or lead, where appropriate, large or complex Employee Relations matters in partnership with IRC’s Global Employee Relations and its Ethics & Compliance Unit.
• Cultivate a culture of continuous improvement and measurement of impact in the region, supported by people analytics and data driven decision making by regional, department, and country leadership.
• Travel as needed to provide in-person leadership, support, technical training and/or management of special projects.
• We are an organisation that is continually growing and changing, and the responsibilities of this role will reflect these shifts over time.
Key Working Relationships
Position Reports to: SVP, Europe and SVP, People & Culture
Direct Reports: 6 P&C professionals; entire P&C team in Europe of about 25+ employees
Key Internal Relationships:
• Deep alignment and support to Europe senior leadership team, country leadership teams, global HQ and program leaders
• Very strong collaborative, aligned partnership with Global P&C functional team; Resettlement, Asylum & Integration (RAI), Crisis Response, Recovery & Development (CRRD) and Global HQ P&C Partners, all of whom have teams located throughout Europe
• Engaged and productive relationships with employee groups including but not limited to unions, works councils, and employee resource groups
Key External Relationships: INGO counterparts; legal counsel; P&C associations and networks
Desired Qualifications
• Extensive and progressive professional P&C-related experience, preferably within the humanitarian sector, including substantial experience at a regional level where extensive demands, complexity, and delivery were core to the role.
• A consistent role model for the IRC culture we seek to provide for all colleagues: respectful, encouraging, empathetic, and inclusive; genuine commitment to fostering equity, inclusion and belonging in the workplace, with experience in establishing a supportive environment for under-represented groups and accelerating their professional development.
• Experience supporting groups of 700+ employees at multiple organisational levels, cultures, and locations within a regional or global environment required.
• Broad knowledge and experience across the spectrum of People & Culture proficiencies e.g. organisational change, GEDI, SG, talent management, employee experience, workforce planning, people analytics, employee relations, etc.
• Deep understanding of European labour law complexities and proven experience working with employee representative groups
• Demonstrated success in supporting key senior management and building strong, trusted relationships.
• Excellent management and leadership skills including coaching, mentoring, and performance management.
• High degree of comfort and successful track record supervising in matrixed environments.
• Ability to work, manage, and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment; exceptional problem solving and decision-making skills needed.
• Superb inter-personal, written, and verbal communication skills with ability to collaborate across countries, cultures, and departments required.
• Must possess a highly collaborative, inclusive, consultative, and resourceful workstyle that balances required compliance/policy enforcement with a steadfast commitment to client service and support.
• Fluency in German is advantageous.
• Ability to travel up to 25% of the time, occasionally on short notice.
Compensation:
Posted pay ranges apply to UK-based candidates. 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.
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Qualifications
Potential interview questions
| Can you describe a time when you had to lead a complex change management initiative? | This question assesses your experience and effectiveness in handling organisational change. | Provide a clear example detailing the steps you took and the impact of your leadership. |
| How do you ensure that diversity, equity, and inclusion are prioritized in your team? | The interviewer is gauging your commitment to fostering an inclusive workplace. | Pro members can see the explanation. |
| What strategies do you employ to mentor and develop your staff? | Pro members can see the explanation. | Pro members can see the explanation. |
| Describe your experience with European labor laws and how you navigate them in your role. | Pro members can see the explanation. | Pro members can see the explanation. |
| Can you provide an example of using data to drive a decision in your previous role? | Pro members can see the explanation. | Pro members can see the explanation. |