The Director of Programmes provides strategic, technical, and managerial leadership for Action for Humanity's entire programme portfolio across Syria. As a member of the Senior Management Team, the postholder is accountable for translating AFH's country strategy into coherent, high-quality, locally responsive programmes spanning humanitarian response, early recovery, resilience, and development. The role oversees programme design, implementation, quality assurance, grants performance, partnerships, Media and programme learning; ensures that the portfolio remains relevant to evolving needs and operating conditions; and works closely with Operations, Finance, Safeguarding, and other support functions to deliver results safely, compliantly, on time, and within budget. The Director leads and develops Area Programme Managers, programme coordinators, technical advisers, Media Coordinator, MEAL Coordinator and other programme personnel, and represents AFH with donors, authorities, UN agencies, coordination bodies, partners, and peer organisations. The position requires mature strategic judgement, strong knowledge of the Syrian context, proven leadership of complex multi-sector portfolios, and the ability to balance programme ambition, quality, compliance, operational feasibility, and financial sustainability.
Main Responsibilities
Country Programme Strategy and Portfolio Leadership
Lead the development, review, and implementation of AFH's Whole of Syria programme strategy, ensuring alignment with organisational strategy, country priorities, humanitarian principles, community needs, and evolving response and recovery frameworks
Maintain a coherent and balanced country portfolio across geographic areas, sectors, and funding modalities, promoting appropriate linkages between emergency response, early recovery, resilience, and longer-term development programming
Analyse humanitarian, political, socioeconomic, access, displacement, return, climate, and donor trends, and translate them into clear programme priorities, positioning decisions, and adaptive management actions
Provide strategic programme advice to the Country Director and Senior Management Team, including evidence-based recommendations on programme expansion, consolidation, redesign, transition, suspension, or closure
Ensure programme strategies and decisions are informed by needs assessments, community priorities, MEAL evidence, protection and conflict analysis, lessons learned, operational capacity, value for money, and organisational risk appetite
Programme Design, Business Development, and Resource Mobilisation
Lead the identification and prioritisation of funding opportunities that fit AFH Syria’s strategic direction, technical capacity, geographic presence, and risk profile
Oversee the full proposal-development process, including go/no-go recommendations, concept development, design workshops, theories of change, results frameworks, implementation approaches, workplans, staffing structures, risk analysis, and budget development
Ensure proposals are technically sound, evidence-based, realistic, cost-effective, conflict-sensitive, protection-mainstreamed, and fully compliant with donor requirements and AFH policies
Work with Finance, Operations, MEAL, Technical Advisers, Area Teams, and the International Office to develop competitive submissions with adequate programme delivery costs, support-cost recovery, and appropriate management arrangements
Build and maintain a diversified and sustainable funding pipeline; track opportunities, submissions, success rates, portfolio gaps, co-financing requirements, and forecasted funding coverage
Develop strategic consortium and partnership approaches where these improve technical quality, geographic reach, local leadership, access, or competitiveness
Programme Implementation, Quality, and Accountability
Provide overall oversight of all Syria projects and ensure delivery against approved scope, outcomes, workplans, budgets, targets, quality standards, contractual commitments, and donor regulations
Establish effective country-level programme management and quality-assurance mechanisms, including portfolio reviews, project start-up and close-out processes, implementation tracking, quality benchmarks, field monitoring, and escalation protocols
Ensure timely identification and resolution of programme delays, underperformance, quality concerns, spending variances, access constraints, partner issues, and material changes to project assumptions
Ensure technical standards, standard operating procedures, sector guidance, and cross-cutting commitments are consistently applied and contextualised across all operational areas
Promote integrated and area-based programming where appropriate, ensuring complementarity across sectors and avoiding duplication or fragmented delivery
Champion Accountability to Affected Populations, meaningful community participation, accessible feedback and complaints mechanisms, inclusion, gender and protection mainstreaming, conflict sensitivity, and do-no-harm approaches throughout the programme cycle
Ensure that programme decisions use monitoring data, evaluations, community feedback, research, and learning, and that corrective actions are documented and followed through
Grants, Financial, Compliance, and Risk Oversight
Maintain senior oversight of the Syria grants portfolio and ensure high-quality, accurate, and timely narrative reporting, donor communication, amendment requests, and contractual deliverables
Review programme and grant performance jointly with Finance and Operations, ensuring expenditure is aligned with implementation progress, forecasts are credible, and corrective action is taken on underspend, overspend, ineligible costs, and cost-recovery gaps
Ensure programme teams understand and comply with donor conditions, AFH policies, delegated authorities, partnership obligations, procurement and financial procedures، safeguarding requirements, and applicable Syrian laws and regulations
Own programme-level risk identification and mitigation, ensuring significant delivery, fiduciary, safeguarding, access, reputational, partnership, and compliance risks are escalated promptly to the Country Director and relevant functions
Support internal and external audits, donor monitoring, due diligence, investigations, and management-response processes, and ensure agreed programme actions are completed on time
Ensure complete, accurate, and auditable programme documentation and effective use of approved grant and programme management systems
MEAL, Evidence, Learning, and Programme Development
Work closely with the MEAL function to ensure robust results frameworks, indicator plans, data-quality controls, evaluations, assessments, learning agendas, and appropriate use of evidence across the portfolio
Promote systematic learning between projects, sectors, and operational areas and ensure lessons are incorporated into programme adaptation, new designs, technical guidance, and organisational decision-making
Strengthen AFH Syria’s ability to demonstrate outcomes, value for money, reach, inclusion, and accountability through credible evidence and clear programme analysis
Encourage responsible innovation and context-appropriate approaches while ensuring that pilots have clear objectives, safeguards, evidence plans, and pathways for adaptation or scale
Partnerships, Localisation, and External Representation
Provide strategic oversight of programme partnerships with Syrian civil-society organisations, international organisations, technical institutions, and consortia, ensuring complementarity, equitable engagement, mutual accountability, and effective risk management
Ensure partner selection, capacity assessment, contracting, support, monitoring, performance management, and close-out are conducted consistently with AFH policies and donor requirements
Advance AFH’s localisation commitments by strengthening partner leadership, institutional capacity, meaningful participation in design and decision-making, and sustainable collaboration
Represent AFH at senior programme meetings with donors, UN agencies, authorities, NGO fora, clusters/sectors, working groups, and strategic partners, as delegated by the Country Director
Maintain credible, transparent, and solutions-focused donor relationships; communicate programme achievements, constraints, risks, and required decisions accurately and promptly
Ensure AFH has purposeful and technically credible representation in national and sub-national coordination structures and that relevant information is communicated back into programme decision-making
Emergency Preparedness, Access, and Adaptive Management
Ensure AFH Syria maintains practical, regularly updated programme preparedness and contingency arrangements for rapid-onset emergencies, displacement, access changes, and other major shocks
Lead programme aspects of emergency assessments, response design, prioritisation, scale-up, and transition, in close coordination with the Country Director, Operations, MEAL, Security, Finance, and field teams
Ensure programme approaches are operationally feasible and adapted to changing access, security, legal, and community conditions without compromising humanitarian principles, staff safety, safeguarding, or programme quality
Support principled programme access and acceptance through strong analysis, community engagement, coordination, and clear separation of humanitarian decisions from inappropriate influence
People Leadership and Departmental Management
Provide clear leadership, direction, and line management to Area Programme Managers, programme coordinators, Technical Advisers, and other direct reports within the agreed Syria structure
Establish clear departmental objectives, workplans, decision rights, performance indicators, communication routines, and accountability lines across Damascus and field offices
Recruit, induct, coach, and develop high-performing programme teams; conduct fair performance management; address underperformance promptly; and support succession and capacity-development planning
Promote collaboration across Programme, MEAL, Finance, Operations, HR, Safeguarding, Security, Communications, and the International Office, resolving bottlenecks and preventing siloed decision-making
Model inclusive, respectful, accountable, and ethical leadership, and foster a culture in which staff can raise concerns, challenge assumptions, learn from mistakes, and focus on results for affected communities
Manage the Programme Department’s operating budget, consultancies, technical support, and other resources responsibly and in accordance with delegated authority
Organisational Responsibilities
Serve as an active member of the Senior Management Team and contribute to country governance, strategic planning, organisational risk management, business continuity, and major management decisions
Champion and ensure compliance with AFH’s Code of Conduct, safeguarding framework, Protection from Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment commitments, anti-fraud and anti-corruption standards, whistleblowing arrangements, and zero-tolerance policies
Promote the Core Humanitarian Standard, humanitarian principles, protection of personal data, environmental responsibility, duty of care, and responsible use of organisational resources
Undertake other duties consistent with the seniority and purpose of the role, as assigned by the Country Director
Essential Experience and Technical Requirements
Minimum 10 years of progressively responsible experience in humanitarian, early recovery, development, or resilience programming, including at least 5 years in a senior programme leadership role with an international NGO or comparable organisation
Demonstrated success leading a large, complex, multi-sector and multi-location country portfolio, preferably in Syria or a similarly fragile, conflict-affected, and highly regulated operating environment
Proven experience developing country programme strategies and translating them into fundable, operationally realistic portfolios and measurable results
Strong record in programme design, proposal leadership, donor engagement, grants management, reporting, budget oversight, risk management, and delivery of complex awards
Demonstrated experience managing institutional funding from major governmental, multilateral, UN, pooled-fund, foundation, or private donors; familiarity with common donor compliance frameworks is required
Strong knowledge of programme cycle management, results-based management, MEAL, accountability to affected populations, safeguarding, protection mainstreaming, conflict sensitivity, partnership management, and humanitarian quality standards
Proven ability to lead and develop geographically dispersed, multidisciplinary teams and to manage performance through clear objectives, coaching, delegation, and accountability
Strong understanding of the humanitarian and recovery context in Syria, including displacement and return dynamics, coordination architecture, access constraints, localisation, regulatory considerations, and the humanitarian-development-peace nexus
Excellent analytical, decision-making, negotiation, facilitation, representation, and written communication skills, including the ability to present complex programme and risk issues clearly to senior leaders and external stakeholders
Professional fluency in English and Arabic, both written and spoken
Desirable Experience
Previous experience as a Director of Programmes, Deputy Country Director - Programmes, Head of Programmes, or an equivalent country-level leadership position
Experience managing programmes delivered through national partners, consortia, remote-management arrangements, and direct implementation
Experience of organisational transition, programme restructuring, portfolio consolidation or growth, and strengthening country-level systems and programme governance
Technical familiarity with one or more AFH Syria programme areas, while retaining the ability to lead a diverse multi-sector portfolio
Core Leadership Competencies
Strategic thinking and sound judgement: connects context, evidence, risk, resources, and organisational priorities to make timely and defensible decisions
Programme leadership and accountability: sets high standards, maintains oversight without micromanagement, and takes responsibility for portfolio performance and corrective action
People leadership: builds trust, develops others, delegates effectively, manages conflict and performance fairly, and creates inclusive and psychologically safe teams
Collaboration and influence: works constructively across functions and organisational levels and builds credible relationships with donors, authorities, partners, and coordination actors
Adaptability and resilience: remains composed and solutions-focused under pressure and can lead through ambiguity, rapid change, competing priorities, and operational constraints
Integrity and humanitarian commitment: demonstrates impartiality, independence, transparency, respect, confidentiality, and an unwavering commitment to safeguarding and affected populations
How to Apply:
If you wish to apply for the advertised vacancy, please send your CV through the following link: click here
Please List three references in the resume, including the reference’s full name, job position, contact
number and email.
Only accepted persons will be contacted by the country office and by e-mail exclusively, and the e-mail must be valid and effective and be followed up periodically, as the process of communication and invitation for an interview will take place via the e-mail registered in this employment application.
Action for Humanity is committed to maintaining all necessary measures to protect and promote the
well-being of all individuals who have a direct and/or indirect relationship with the organization and
expects all staff, volunteers, consultants and suppliers to share this commitment.
Action for humanity doesn’t discriminate in its recruitment process against any race, religion or ethnicity and maintain a transparent recruitment process.
The humanitarian intervention of Action for Humanity has no political, or religious affiliation nor has any monetary purpose.
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