Career Opportunity: Senior Protection Officer
Location: Yemen, IRG areas
Report to: Project Manager
Deadline: 10/02/2026

Role Overview:

The Senior Protection Officer is responsible for contributing to the development, implementation, and quality assurance of the organization’s protection programming across multiple field locations. Based in Aden with regular field travel, the position provides technical oversight, operational support, and coordination to ensure that protection interventions are implemented in line with organization strategies, donor requirements, and internationally recognized protection standards.
The role plays a critical function in strengthening community-based protection approaches, protection monitoring systems, women's protection and empowerment, and child protection interventions, as well as accountability to affected populations. The Senior Protection Officer serves as a key link between field protection teams, project management, partners, and coordination mechanisms, ensuring that protection principles are integrated throughout program design and implementation. This post will also serve as a pool for the organization to fill other relevant positions when needed. 

Core Expectations:

Program Planning, Management, and Implementation

• Support the Project Manager and Deputy Project Manager in planning, implementing, and monitoring protection activities in accordance with approved proposals, donor agreements, and organization policies and guidelines.
• Ensure that protection interventions are evidence-based, participatory, and aligned with community priorities, with a strong focus on age, gender, and diversity considerations.
• Coordinate standalone protection activities, including protection monitoring, community-based protection mechanisms, individual protection assistance, and specialized services, with particular attention to prevention and response to gender-based violence and child protection concerns.
• Support the design and implementation of protection assessments, including FGDs, KIIs, household assessments, and risk analyses, to identify protection trends, community capacities, and priority needs of persons of concern.
• Ensure that projects effectively target the most vulnerable populations and continuously explore improved and innovative approaches to protection response.
• Monitor implementation progress and budget utilization from a protection and AGD perspective, identifying risks, gaps, and required corrective actions.
• Contribute to the development of protection work plans, weekly and monthly activity plans, and ensure alignment with approved outputs and timelines.

Technical Oversight and Quality Assurance

• Provide technical guidance to protection teams on protection monitoring methodologies, case management principles, referral pathways, and community-based protection standards.
• Ensure compliance of implementing partners and field teams with global protection policies, minimum standards, codes of conduct, and professional integrity requirements.
• Review and validate protection data, ensuring accuracy, confidentiality, and adherence to data protection protocols.
• Analyze protection trends and prepare inputs for SitReps, protection updates, donor reports, and advocacy messages.
• Support the integration and mainstreaming of protection principles across all organizations project sectors in coordination with program, MEAL, and operations teams.

Field Engagement and Community-Based Protection

• Conduct regular field visits to assess the quality and effectiveness of protection activities, collect beneficiary feedback, and support field teams in addressing implementation challenges.
• Support communities in establishing and strengthening representation, coordination, and community-based protection structures.
• Facilitate community-led identification of protection risks and development of mitigation and response actions.
• Ensure community understanding of the organization’s commitments to accountability, quality assurance, and feedback and complaints mechanisms.
• Support initiatives that engage host communities and national civil society actors in protection activities.

Capacity Building and Staff Supervision

• Provide day-to-day technical supervision, mentoring, and coaching to protection officers, assistants, and community volunteers.
• Identify capacity gaps and support the design and delivery of protection-related trainings, awareness sessions, and on-the-job learning activities.
• Support the development and updating of service mapping tools and referral guidance for field teams and partners.
• Promote a collaborative, respectful, and performance-oriented working environment within the protection team.

Coordination, Representation, and Advocacy

• Represent the organization in protection coordination meetings, clusters, working groups, and relevant forums as delegated.
• Maintain effective working relationships with local authorities, UN agencies, INGOs, NGOs, community leaders, and service providers.
• Contribute to joint assessments, coordination initiatives, and advocacy efforts addressing key protection risks and trends affecting displaced and host communities.
• Support the preparation of protection-related inputs for proposals, concept notes, and donor communications.

Reporting and Documentation

• Ensure timely and high-quality preparation of weekly, monthly, and quarterly protection reports in line with organization and donor requirements.
• Maintain organized and up-to-date project documentation and filing systems.
• Provide written analysis on protection incidents, community conflicts, emerging risks, and contextual dynamics to inform programming and advocacy.

Requirements:

• University degree in social sciences, law, or a related field relevant to protection programming.
• Minimum two years of professional experience with national or international NGOs in protection programming within humanitarian, recovery, or complex and volatile contexts, with exposure to project management responsibilities.
• Demonstrated technical experience in the implementation of protection projects, including protection monitoring, assessments, case management, and referral mechanisms for vulnerable and conflict-affected populations.
• Strong understanding of humanitarian principles, international protection standards, protection guidelines, and coordination mechanisms, including the Protection Cluster and roles of key protection actors.
• Proven experience conducting protection assessments and analyses using appropriate qualitative and quantitative tools, and translating findings into programming, advocacy, and reporting.
• Experience in mainstreaming protection and AGD principles across humanitarian operations.
• Demonstrated capacity to supervise, mentor, and build the capacity of field staff in challenging environments, with a supportive and professional management approach.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and strategic thinking skills, with experience producing written protection analyses, reports, and recommendations.
• Ability to coordinate and collaborate effectively with a wide range of stakeholders, including humanitarian partners, local authorities, and community structures.
• Good understanding of local contexts, community dynamics, and customary practices within areas of intervention.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work under pressure, manage multiple priorities, and deliver quality results within deadlines.
• Willingness and flexibility to travel regularly to field locations and undertake overnight stays as required by operational needs.
• Strong computer skills, including Microsoft Office and experience with data collection tools such as KoBo, with strict adherence to data confidentiality and information protection standards.
• Fluency and strong professional proficiency in English (written and spoken).
• Demonstrated commitment to the organization’s values, mission, code of conduct, safeguarding principles, and continuous learning, including participation in training and support to staff development initiatives.

Key Highlights:
Immediate Review: We follow a rolling interview process. Early applications are strongly encouraged as the position may be filled before the closing date.