Country Head of Programmes

The Country Head of Programmes provides strategic leadership and overall oversight of JRS Lebanon’s programme portfolio and is a member of the Country Leadership Team. The position leads the Country Programmes Team and ensures programme quality, coherence, performance, and alignment with JRS’s mission, strategic priorities, identified needs, and donor commitments.

The position plays a central role in programme development, performance monitoring, and reporting, ensuring that programme results and learning inform decision-making and continuous improvement. It works closely with Project Managers and with MEAL, Grants, Finance, HR, Operational Support, and Communications to ensure effective programme design, implementation, resourcing, and accountability.

The Country Head of Programmes also represents JRS Lebanon externally, building strategic relationships and coordinating with relevant ministerial bodies, UN agencies, sector coordination structures, potential partners, and other stakeholders to strengthen JRS’s positioning, partnerships, and response to emerging needs and opportunities.

Main Responsibilities of the Position:

1. Strategic Programme Leadership and Quality

• Provide strategic leadership and oversight of JRS Lebanon’s programme portfolio, ensuring alignment with JRS’s mission, Country Strategy, identified needs, technical standards, and donor commitments.
• Ensure coherence and quality across Education, Protection/MHPSS, Livelihoods, and other programme interventions, promoting integrated approaches where relevant.
• Maintain oversight of programme performance across project locations and identify emerging needs, gaps, risks, opportunities, and required adaptations.
• Ensure that programme decisions are informed by evidence, programme data, assessments, evaluations, participant feedback, and learning.
• Contribute actively to organizational planning and decision-making as a member of the Country Leadership Team and advise the Country Director on significant programme issues and opportunities.

2. Leadership of the Country Programmes Team

• Lead and manage the Country Programmes Team, including the Education, Protection/MHPSS, and Livelihoods Specialists, setting clear priorities and ensuring strong coordination between technical areas.
• Ensure that specialists provide consistent technical guidance, quality monitoring, and capacity strengthening to programmes teams across all project locations.
• Provide supervision, coaching, feedback, and performance management to direct reports.
• Promote appropriate standardization of programme approaches, tools, and quality standards across locations while allowing for adaptations based on context and needs.
• Support Project Managers and programme teams in addressing significant programme quality and performance challenges.

3. Programme Development and Resource Mobilization

• Lead the programmatic development of JRS Lebanon’s portfolio, identifying emerging needs, strategic opportunities, partnerships, and potential areas for growth.
• Oversee needs assessments, context analyses, and programme reviews in collaboration with MEAL and programmes specialists.
• Lead the programmatic design of new projects and the development of concept notes and proposals, working closely with the Grants Manager, Project Managers, MEAL, Finance, HR, and Operational Support.
• Ensure that new programmes are evidence-based, technically sound, measurable, operationally feasible, appropriately staffed, and adequately resourced.
• Contribute to donor engagement, partnership development, and the identification of funding and consortium opportunities that support JRS Lebanon’s strategic priorities.

4. Programme Performance, Reporting and Learning

• Maintain oversight of programme performance against objectives, indicators, targets, work plans, and donor commitments, ensuring that challenges and underperformance are identified and addressed.
• Provide overall leadership and oversight of programme reporting, ensuring timely, accurate, analytical, and high-quality narrative and donor reports.
• Work closely with MEAL to ensure reliable programme data, strong monitoring systems, and effective use of assessments, evaluations, feedback, and learning for programme improvement.
• Work closely with the Grants Manager, MEAL, Finance, Project Managers, and technical specialists to ensure consistency between programme results, narrative reporting, donor commitments, and financial performance.
• Lead regular programme performance reviews and ensure that findings, lessons learned, and agreed corrective actions are used to adapt and strengthen programmes.

5. Internal Coordination and Organizational Leadership

• Maintain strong coordination with Finance, MEAL, HR, Grants, Operational Support, and Communications to ensure integrated programme planning, implementation, monitoring, reporting, and support.
• Work with Finance to ensure alignment between programme implementation, budgets, expenditure, forecasts, and required budget revisions.
• Coordinate with HR on programme staffing, recruitment priorities, performance and capacity-development needs, and with Operational Support on the operational requirements of programmes.
• Work with Communications to ensure that programme results, evidence, learning, and stories are communicated accurately and appropriately.
• Represent programme priorities, performance, risks, and resource needs within the Country Leadership Team and contribute to shared organizational decisions.

6. External Coordination, Representation and Field Engagement

• Represent JRS Lebanon in relevant sector working groups, coordination mechanisms, technical forums, and other external platforms.
• Develop and maintain strategic relationships with government institutions, UN agencies, humanitarian and development actors, NGOs, sector coordinators, potential partners, and other relevant stakeholders.
• Monitor sector priorities, policy developments, humanitarian trends, and funding opportunities and ensure that relevant developments inform JRS programme strategy and planning.
• Identify opportunities for partnerships and collaboration that can strengthen programme quality, reach, sustainability, and impact.
• Conduct regular visits to project locations to maintain direct understanding of programme implementation, support project teams, identify challenges and emerging needs, and strengthen programme quality.

Availability

• Undertake any other duties assigned by the Country Director that are consistent with the seniority, purpose, and responsibilities of the position.

Qualifications, Skills, and Attributes:

• Advanced university degree in International Development, Social Sciences, Education, Humanitarian Studies, Public Policy, or another relevant discipline.
• At least 7 years of progressively responsible experience in humanitarian, development, or displacement-related programming, preferably with an international NGO, including experience in a senior programme leadership or management role.
• Demonstrated experience managing multidisciplinary programme or technical teams and providing strategic and technical oversight.
• Strong experience in programme strategy and design, project cycle management, proposal development, donor reporting, and management of complex donor-funded programmes.
• Strong understanding of results-based management, MEAL systems, programme quality, and the use of data and evidence for strategic and operational decision-making.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively across Finance, MEAL, Grants, HR, Operations, Communications, and programme functions.
• Strong experience in external representation and building relationships with UN agencies, NGOs, sector coordination structures, and other stakeholders.
• Experience working in complex humanitarian or displacement contexts and with forcibly displaced and marginalized communities.
• Experience in Education, Protection/MHPSS, Livelihoods, or integrated programming is a strong asset; previous experience with faith-based organizations is an asset.

Core Values and Ethics:

• Commitment to JRS’s mission, vision, and values.
• Ability to communicate and promote JRS’s commitment to accompanying and serving vulnerable communities and advocating for their right to protection and a life in dignity.
• Demonstrates integrity, honesty, and professionalism in all aspects of work.
• Handles sensitive information with discretion and maintains confidentiality at all times.
• Treats others with respect, values diversity and inclusion, and works effectively with people from different background.

 

Applications are to be sent by email to lb.hr.recruitment@jrs.net, marked "Country Head of Programmes" in the subject line. The CV should be in English and  to be sent as word or pdf attachment. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Thank you for your interest in joining JRS.

Recruitment shall be subject to open competition without regard to race, colour, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion, and beliefs, and to political affiliation, social status, mother tongue and ethnic. Talents acquisition shall be made taking into account the importance of recruiting and maintaining a geographically diverse and gender-balanced workforce.

At the heart of our efforts is our engagement with marginalised and displaced communities, especially with vulnerable adults and children. These groups are particularly at risk of sexual exploitation and abuse, and other forms of gender-based violence. JRS is committed to the Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and Sexual Harassment (PSEAH) of all JRS beneficiaries by JRS personnel. JRS has zero tolerance towards all forms of sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment and takes seriously all concerns and complaints about SEAH by JRS personnel.