The Organization

We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard. 

We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

• No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday 
• All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
• Violence against children is no longer tolerated 

We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children.  We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive workplace where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued. 

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Save the Children International seeks to always be a child safe organization through fulfilling its obligations to the community and through programme implementation carried out by the organization for safeguarding children and to improve the living standards of the child.

• Position: Head of Risk & Compliance 
• Location: Aden
• Grade: 2
• Contract Length: Till December 2025

The Opportunity:

Save the Children is committed to protecting and maximizing all available resources to benefit the children, adult, and community beneficiaries who participate in our programs. We protect those individuals and resources to the maximum possible extent from incidents of fraud, waste, and abuse (e.g. safeguarding, bullying, harassment, etc.) This commitment is implemented through the organisation’s Safeguarding, Accountability, Fraud, Compliance, HR, and Risk Policies and applies equally to all individuals and resources regardless of geographic location or technical programming.

As a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) in the Country Office, the Head of Risk and Compliance shares in the overall responsibility for the direction and coordination of the Country Office. 

The Head of Risk and Compliance in his/her capacity is responsible in providing leadership and coordination of Safeguarding, Risk Management, Compliance, Internal Audit/Internal Control and Fraud Management activities of the Country Office. He/she will champion a culture of compliance throughout the country office and guide appropriate execution of compliance requirements and related internal policies and procedures. The role holder is expected to ensure best practices, raise awareness and play an advisory role in safeguarding, risk and compliance across the CO. He/she is also responsible to continuously assess and review policies and procedures of safeguarding, risk & compliance management.       

He/she promotes accountability and support the Senior Management Team in risk identification, measurement, monitoring, assessment and control as well as maintaining the highest standards of safeguarding. The role holder is expected to lead the development of an organisational culture that reflects our values, promotes accountability and high performance and frees up people to deliver outstanding results for children and excellent customer service for our members and donors.

In the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly

Key Areas of Responsibilities: 

As a member of the Senior Management Team, contribute to:

• Provides overall leadership on the safeguarding, risk and compliance issues and trends of the Yemen Country Office.
• Serve as a Safeguarding, Risk and Compliance focal person in the Leadership Team.
• Ensure Yemen Country Office complies with all Save the Children Policy and Procedures, Operating Standards.
• Ensure all the required Safeguarding, Risk and Compliance support is provided promptly, at scale and working closely with the Global teams. 
• Help design and implement a coherent organizational structure that is consistent with agency practices and appropriate to country office needs, if required.
• Support the development of an organisational culture that reflects the organization values, promotes accountability and high performance, encourages a team culture of learning, creativity and innovation, and supports staff to deliver outstanding results for children.

Risk Identification & Assessment, Prevention/Control & Mitigation: 

• Provide functional expertise to support the organisation’s risk identification and assessment processes.
• Utilize detailed knowledge of board risk appetite to ensure that it is fully embedded and operationalized within the CO.
• He/she should be Country expert in SCI Risk Framework tools and techniques (including PART/SCARF/ Datix).
• Acts as a risk focal point and provide expert insight to support award risk assessments.
• Lead and facilitate risk management processes and co-chair the Country Risk and Control Committee.
• Provide Surge support for risk prevention expertise to major humanitarian incidents.
• Provide compliance checks/ audit reviews to provide assurance on key risk management controls. 
• Prepare annual work plan of compliance/spot checks/audit reviews on key management controls E.g. field office audits, vetting spot checks. 
• Prepare TORs for each audit engagement. perform audit procedures by exercising reasonable judgement in the application of audit principles and techniques.
• Develop comprehensive safeguarding risk assessment tools and plans and ensure risk assessments are conducted and followed up.

Control & Mitigation Testing Compliance:

• Through a comprehensive risk assessment exercise, identify areas of high risk within the Country Office operating environment. This will include both internal compliance and partner compliance.
• Maintain a transparent, honest and supportive communication structure to support effective implementation of different policies and procedures.
• Support donor and other external audits and evaluations, when required.
• Maintain an audit planning and history log, including findings, recommendations and reclaims.
• Prepare comprehensive written audit reports, including recommendations for corrective action or system improvements program planning, budgeting and budgetary control.
• Prepare summary reports for Senior Management Team review with emphasis on major findings.
• Evaluate risks of potential and incurred fraudulent activity and inform Senior Management Team, and the relevant teams of next steps.
• Review/attend key control meetings/ process and ensure that they are working & provide expert input.

Incident Response/Investigation (Fraud/Multifaceted):

• Promote a culture of safeguarding and fraud awareness, prevention and detection in the organisation.
• Be the primary focal point for all inquiries and investigations into suspected fraudulent activities and safeguarding claims.
• Maintain a log of safeguarding, fraud and corruption inquiries, findings, resolutions and lessons learned.
• Provide independent reporting of risk, incidents & investigations.
• Responsible to lead internal Datix reporting system for independent reporting of incidents.
• Lead /coordinator of safeguarding, fraud & multi-faceted investigations in collaboration with different functions.

Action Tracking and Assurance: 

• Track progress of risk actions to provide appropriate annual assurance on risks.
• Track audit/ investigation findings and ensure actions are being taken as per the recommendations.
• Coordinate assurance documentation and risk appetite status to complete RISK/Letter of assurance including exceptions.
• Provide training and expert support to staff/partners on safeguarding controls, fraud prevention, internal control/ mitigation design for new projects or processes.

Local Laws, Regulations and Legal Cases and Disputes:

• Monitor and assess all relevant local laws, regulations, and policies affecting program implementation, ensuring that the organization’s operations comply with national legal requirements.
• Identify potential risks arising from changes in local laws and regulations and develop strategies to mitigate their impact on the organization’s operations. Collaborate with legal teams and external advisors to proactively address compliance challenges.
• Lead the coordination and management of any legal cases or disputes involving the organization, including legal actions. Work closely with the local lawyer to ensure timely resolution and alignment with local laws, while mitigating risks to the organization’s reputation and operations.

Staff Supervision and Management:

• Supervise and effectively coordinate the Safeguarding, Risk and Compliance team.
• Guide and coach staff for top performance and ensure all HR related functions are performed.
• Provide training to managers and staffs regarding old and updated Government and organization proclamation and rules and regulation respectively.

Internal and External Relationships:

• Keep the CO up to date on significant developments within Save the Children IPU, CO, Global and donor communities.
• Participate in organizational activities that promote networking and representation of the unit.

Safeguarding 

• Work with the Safeguarding staff to oversee the implementation of the safeguarding policies in Yemen country office and partners.
• Support the Safeguarding staff in ensuring the appropriate inclusion of Safeguarding in award budgeting and annual budget planning.
• Ensure safeguarding annual plan is created, followed and implemented
• Work closely with the safeguarding staff to ensure effective safeguarding monitoring.
• Maintain green KPI 12 for closing cases on due time.
• Identify and utilise opportunities to integrate safeguarding approaches into all aspects of our work
• Apply critical analysis to ensure that we live up to our commitment to making Save the Children safe for children by ensuring that programmes are designed in a safe manner, child safeguarding concerns are reported effectively in line with the policy.

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition:

• sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same
• widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

• builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters
• values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

• develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

• honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity

Qualifications and Experience:

Qualifications:                         

• Higher education in related field with preferred additional professional certification related to Risk Management, Internal Audit, Compliance or Fraud Management.
• Experience working for an international humanitarian organisation, preferably in Yemen or the Middle East.
• Proven cross-cultural sensitivity and flexibility required. Commitment to the aims and principles of Save the Children. In particular, a good understanding of the Save the Children mandate and child focus and an ability to ensure this continues to underpin our support
• Very Good English language skills.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Essential

• A minimum of 6+ years' Humanitarian work experience out of which 3 years of experience in compliance management or relevant fields such as Auditing and finance.
• High Fluency in writing and presentation skills in English; fluency in Arabic is required. 
• High level analytical and strategic thinking skills with the ability to analyse financial records and relevant documents from various functions. 
• Extensive experience in analysing complex compliance contexts and the ability address compliance issues related to local and global regulations. 
• Significant experience in conducting fraud investigations and multifaceted investigations. 
• Significant skills and experience in developing and implementing long-term risk management and compliance strategies and systems.
• Experience in auditing, financial controls, and financial compliance and monitoring.
• Demonstrable experience leading teams focused on risk management, compliance, or internal audit functions, with strong leadership and interpersonal skills to guide and support internal teams effectively.
• Proven experience providing operational and technical support to various stakeholders, ensuring effective execution of compliance plans, using risk management and compliance software/tools.
• Experience and skills to priorities and create an audit work plan.
• Excellent planning, management and coordination skills, with the ability to organise a substantial workload comprised of complex, diverse tasks and responsibilities.
• Experience in training, coaching, capacity-building and supporting the development of a team, including supporting junior members of staff to deliver high-quality output. 
• Excellent knowledge of computer systems; proficient in MS Excel, Ms Word, Outlook; familiar with accounting software; strong ability to present, analyse and process numerical information and financial and statistical data.
• A strong interest in international development/humanitarian work. 

Desirable

• Experience solving complex issues through analysis.
• Understanding of the issues concerning the INGO sector with an in-depth knowledge of donor requirements and local laws. 
• Demonstrable track record of leading change, resulting in significant results for the organisation and their stakeholders.
• Strong results orientation.

Additional job responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Equal Opportunities 

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.

Child Safeguarding:

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Safeguarding our Staff:

The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI anti-harassment policy

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.