Mercy Corps has been present in Uganda since 2006, focusing its interventions on economic and agricultural development, maternal child health and nutrition, governance, conflict management and humanitarian response. With funding from USAID, DFID, ECHO, Sweden Government, Swiss Development Cooperation and private foundations including MasterCard Mercy Corps has been able to work together with communities in Uganda to respond to the needs of our target population, which is focused on youth and more specifically adolescent girls. In 2017, Mercy Corps had an impact on almost 1 million beneficiaries in Uganda through our work focusing on building resilience and enabling economic growth, improving opportunities to attain better health and nutrition, and improving governance and conflict management. Common themes include community engagement, inclusive development, gender, and working in partnership with local government, the private sector and civil society actors.

General Position Summary

The Director of Operations is a member of the country’s senior management team with supervisory and managerial responsibility. Reporting to the Country Director, the Director of Operations will be primarily responsible for enabling excellence in all operations functions of all offices in Uganda including procurement, logistics, assets, fleet, warehousing, administration, human resources and safety & security. She/he ensures effective systems that support strategy for healthy, robust and integrated functions of national team members.

S/he will be required to strengthen the operational performance and efficiency of the organization. S/he will also ensure that managerial processes, resources and the necessary infrastructure are all in place.
This position is requiring traveling to all field offices.

 Essential Job Responsibilities

Strategy & Vision

• Recognize opportunities for innovative action and create an environment where alternative viewpoints are welcomed.
• Set direction of program support department by prioritizing and organizing actions & resources to achieve objectives and contribute to countrywide strategy development.
• Work with the Country Director and senior management team to support the growth of the program portfolio, formulate strategies and plans.
• Develop and organize activities to secure resources for programs and convince stakeholders to provide support.

Influence & Representation

• Identify, build and manage collaborative partnerships with consortium partners, sub-grantees, donors, local governments and other stakeholders.
• Communicate effectively to ensure overall program targets and donor obligations are met.
• Communicate with our partners to verify their systems and that they understand and follow all appropriate procedures and archiving.
• Establish high level of credibility and manage strong working relationship with external stakeholders.

operational

• Ensure integration of program support systems and processes in all Mercy Corps Uganda offices.
• Ensure all offices have capacity (human and technical) to support smooth program operations.
• Ensure internal and donor procedures, policies and guidelines are followed..
• Establish and maintain pipeline of supplies, overseeing the logistical aspects of the operation; oversee NFI, commodity storage and movements as needed.
• Ensure unified and cost effective fleet management, including tracking of maintenance, fuel usage and vehicle scheduling.
• Oversee set-up and development of Mercy Corps offices including drafting and reviewing contracts for office and housing space, leasehold improvements, IT.
• Develop and periodically review country or field office specific policies and communicate them to teams.
• Oversee database and file management for administration, procurement, logistics resources documents.
• Oversee facility management, including housing and office leases; ensure that security standards are maintained at all premises.
• Ensure that Mercy Corps contracts and business transactions/relationships are transparent and in compliance with Ugandan law and Mercy Corps/donor policies.

Team Management

• Lead and develop program support teams in the main office and field offices.
• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback via regular performance reviews.
• Provide team members with information, tools and other resources to improve performance and reach objectives.
• Contribute to country team-building efforts, help team members identify problem-solving options and ensure the integration of all team members into relevant decision-making processes.
• Take ultimate responsibility of performance of program support functions.

Finance & Compliance Management

• Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations..
• Draft and review scope of work to hire and manage any technical consultants, including review for technical efficacy and contract budget.

Security

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country
• Ensure Safety and Security Systems are implemented as described in the Field Security Manual.
• Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

Organizational Learning 

• As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

Accountability to Beneficiaries

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically
  to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Supervisory Responsibility

Directly: Operations Manager; indirectly: field based operations team members, .

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Country Director

Works Directly With: HQ Regional Finance Officers, HQ Global Supply Team, Internal Risks Mabager, Finance Director and Programs Managers/Directors.

Knowledge and Experience

• BA/BS or MA degree in a relevant field.
• A minimum of 10 years’ experience setting up and managing administration, procurement, logistics, and human resource systems with NGOs or a business with supervisory responsibilities.
• Demonstrated understanding of supporting complex operations in challenging environments.
• Demonstrated attention to detail, following procedures, meeting deadlines and working and problem-solving independently and cooperatively.
• Knowledge of Mercy Corps systems and procedures (esp. procurement systems) desirable; knowledge of USAID and other donor regulations helpful.
• Excellent negotiation and representation skills.
• Effective verbal and written communication, organizational, prioritization and Microsoft Office applications.
• Excellent oral and written English skills required.
• Ability to work effectively with an ethnically diverse team in a sensitive environment.

Success Factors

The successful Operations Director will be good at problem solving and have the ability to work out methods to deliver successful programs while demonstrating excellent stewardship of donor funds and compliance with Mercy Corps and donor regulations. An impeccable professional standard and procurement ethics and the willingness and ability to enforce compliance with Mercy Corps and donor policies and procedures is essential. S/he will maintain strong cooperative relationships with other departments and interact effectively with all personnel both in a managerial as well as training capacity, while demonstrating the ability to multi-task, meet deadlines and process information in support of changing program activities. S/he will be able to live and work closely with a diverse team of individuals in a highly intense and fluid work and security environment and be willing to travel regularly to Mercy Corps field offices and project sites. The most successful Mercy Corps staff members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based in Kampala and it requires up to 60% travel to field locations.  Security in Kampala  is generally good. Housing, health care, water, electricity and consumer goods are all reasonably accessible and there are good international and domestic travel options from Kampala Airport.

Air and road travel is necessary to get to some field locations. Mobile phone services are widely available.  Internet is available in all Mercy Corps offices, although might be inconsistent. Travel to field sites will be required where living conditions are clean and secure, but basic. There’s reasonable access to most consumer goods, although they can be expensive. There is good number of school with different education philosophies and curriculum (British, American and French to name the few)

Kampala is an accompanied location suitable for spouse/partner and/or dependents.

Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC’s policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.