Country Director – Syria - Lebanon

Title

Country Director – Syria, Lebanon

Location

Damascus, Syria

Travel

25% of Travel (to Lebanon and within locations across Syria)

Job Family and Level

Program Management & Leadership, M10

Pre hire checks

This role is classified as requiring advanced pre-employment checks and enhanced due diligence

1. Scope

Responsibility

Country

Department

Program Implementation Department (PID)

Reporting to

Desk Director

Direct reports

Syria SMT, Lebanon SMT

Budget responsibility

Approximately $15 million USD + any new projects that come on board (current approximately: Syria country portfolio - $12 million + Lebanon country portfolio - $3 million)

Relationship management

Relief International Support Team, Syria and Lebanon country teams, and all relevant external stakeholders for Syria and Lebanon country office (donors, interagency coordination groups, government authorities, media, etc)

2. Context

Relief International (RI) is an international non-profit organization that partners with communities impacted by conflict, climate change and disaster to save lives, build greater resilience and promote long-term health and wellbeing.

Our team of more than 4,000 staff and local volunteers work in 14 countries across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, providing Health and Nutrition, WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), Education and Livelihoods programming that creates the foundation for community resilience.

We do this by working with local actors to develop safe and inclusive local programming that is evidence based, conflict sensitive, climate smart, and reaches those in need.

Relief International is an alliance of three organizations with one shared mission, comprised of Relief International, Inc., Relief International-France, and Relief International-UK, which operate under a one-team concept under a single senior leadership team.

3. Job Profile

The Country Director – Syria and Lebanon will be responsible for successfully leading and adapting Relief International’s Syria country mission through/into the new reality in Syria while continuing management oversight of Lebanon country mission. The position is based in Damascus and will require travel within Syria, in addition to monthly visits to Lebanon. RI seeks a dynamic leader who is familiar with one or both contexts and has a proven track record of external engagement, representation and fundraising to sustain and grow country offices. Experience in change management and implementation oversight will also be required.

In both countries, the funding outlook is more challenging as a result of the USG funding cuts since January 2025. Focus must be on ensuring relevance with donors and other key external stakeholders to create and respond to new program opportunities to sustain both missions into 2026. Moreover, the post holder must lead Relief International in the process of adapting the Syria country program strategy to the new governance reality of Syria, which includes building management presence in Damascus while moving implementation into newly accessible locations.

A dynamic approach must ensure the ability to lead on both macro/ strategic and micro/ detail-oriented issues simultaneously and have proven strong communication and negotiation skills in order to work effectively with internal actors at all levels of the organization and external actors including but not limited to donors, government institutions, U.N. agencies, partners and other key stakeholders.

4. Key Responsibilities

Strategic visioning and resource mobilization

• The Country Director will build on RI’s activities in both countries and translate it into actionable programs for excellence in Syria and Lebanon. This involves considering the needs and capacities of the communities RI serves, the capabilities RI has and needs to develop, and the resources required for execution.
• Develop alliances with partners, external donors, key stakeholders to mobilize adequate funding and organizational sustainability beyond 2025 for Syria and Lebanon. Contribute and advocate for policy change in line with program goals.

  External Representation

  • Build/ maintain strong relationship with government authorities in Syria and Lebanon, leveraging skills and relationships of existing team members within these efforts.
  • Ensure regular engagement at all relevant Clusters and interagency fora.
  • Effectively liaise with donor governments and other lead agency representatives, as well as counterparts within partner and other key stakeholder organizations.
  • Maintain a suitable image for Relief International in Syria and Lebanon and protect RI's interest and assets.

    Quality Program Operational Delivery

    • Identifies and resolves complex technical, operational and organizational problems
    • Impacts the organization's results by ensuring the funding of projects, quality and on time operational services delivery and developing policies and plans.
    • Develops and leads relevant country specific objectives driven by highly complex local context, and guided by organizational objectives
    • Leadership in ensuring effective and proactive relationships in a large and complex context externally regionally and globally with donors, partners, communities
    • Will be a people leader and manage other leaders, or specialized teams, have oversight and responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of a wider team in multiple highly complex contexts
    • Ensure operationalization of envisioned plans (change management and/or closures) is conducted in alignment with Relief International, policy and procedures, legal frameworks, and mitigating risks to the organization.
    • Ensure continuity of high-quality program implementation while meeting operational objectives.

      Security and Risk Management

      • Oversee project implementation, including allocation of resources and timely spending in accordance with workplans and forecast, ensuring that appropriate controls are maintained at all levels, by working directly with Syria and Lebanon country teams with support from global Support Team.
      • Overall responsibility for safety and security of staff in both Syria and Lebanon country offices, and drive culture of security management linked to duty of care and acceptance approaches.
      • Ensure that both country programs have security staff in place as per risk level and security is budgeted for across all locations.
      • Accountability for ensuring both country programs MOSS compliance is to a high standard and country security packages are in place, reviewed as per risk level and all staff are prepared and trained for their respective duty station.
      • Ensure overall audit compliance, financial transparency through supervision and direction of financial and administrative staff.
      • Drive risk management through all areas of implementation and planning.

        Team Leadership

        • Provide leadership and management of national and expatriate staff. Ensure timely and quality staff performance management of directly managed staff, making sure all country team follows best practices in this regard.
        • In partnership with HR teams, ensure that the recruitment, performance management, benefit entitlements and termination of national staff are accordance with national laws and Relief International policies, building a culture of transparency and equity among the team.
        • Model a culture where all staff across the different layers of the country’s mission are held accountable for their performance.
        • Build a positive work culture that fosters commitment to the mission, drives high performance, and ensures a healthy work environment that prioritizes duty of care to staff including but not limited to security and mitigating risks of excessive stress and burnout in the workplace.

          Behavior and Conduct

          • Ensuring the highest standards of behavior inside and outside of work promotes the values in RI’s code of conduct and safeguarding policies
          • Be a model for ethical conduct standards for other team members
          • Ensure own actions and the actions of the teams members they manage do not impact the safety of the RI team and the vulnerable communities we serve.
          • Ensure external stakeholders are aware of RI conduct and reporting mechanisms
          • Report any concerns and ensure a well-functioning Incident Management Team at country level.

            5. Person Specification

            Skills, knowledge and expertise required for the role.

            Essential criteria
            

            • Knowledge of RI, Syria and/or Lebanon contexts
            • Proven track record of strong representation and fundraising
            • Progressive proven country leadership experience in the implementation of large-scale multi-sector programming in complex settings
            • Previous experience leading substantial change management with country teams
            • Degree in a relevant field or commensurate work experience
            • Persuasive interpersonal, communication, public speaking, writing and strategic planning skills
            • Excellent project management skills to ensure on time delivery of programs and resourcefulness with strong attention to detail
            • A leader who brings coaching and mentoring skills in team management (structure, conflict, performance management and communication)
            • Passion and agility to managing complex and changing environments

              Desirable criteria

              • Sector experience in Health, and any experience in Protection, WASH and/or Livelihoods sectors also a plus
              • Experience implementing/ overseeing program implementation of USG and ECHO grants
              • Experience working in the early recovery and/or development space
              • Advocacy and media engagement experience

                RI Values

                Guided by the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, as well as “Do No Harm,” Relief International Values:

                • Integrity
                • Adaptability
                • Collaboration
                • Inclusivity
                • Sustainability