Head of Quality Management at Save the Children

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Head of Quality Management will play a key role in the International Programme Operations Continuous Improvement team and the organisation as a whole, as it will be responsible for defining and implementing Save the Children International’s (SCI’s) approach to Quality Management. The purpose of which is to ensure that quality is the key driver for all of SCI’s work at all levels / entities and across all functions / departments – both programming and operations.

They will play both a lead and supporting role in various initiatives that aim to strengthen SCI’s quality management approach and culture. Coordination and collaboration with a range of stakeholders at all levels / entities and across all functions / departments will be key for ensuring SCI’s quality management approach is consistently applied across all areas of the organisation’s work. A key aspect will be to support the continuous improvement and coordination across functions of SCI’s core organisational management processes for strategy and annual planning and reporting. They will also act as a gate-keeper for ensuring that Centre based functions incorporate and align their planning and reporting requirements with these core processes, and only request information from Country and Regional Offices that is deemed mission-critical, minimally burdensome and of value to those involved.

The role will lead the ongoing development of the Quality Framework, to ensure this is effective in supporting staff across SCI to deliver programmes for children with quality and compliance. SCI’s Quality Framework (QF), contains all of SCI’s Policies, Quality Standards, Procedures, Tools and Supporting Guidance. SCI’s senior leadership has agreed to prioritise the Quality Framework over the next few years, to ensure it is fit for purpose and future proofed. Up to 16,000 staff members are required to follow the mandatory documents (SCI’s Policies and Procedures) contained in the QF. It is therefore crucial that these are high quality, comprehensive and easy to access and use documents which support staff to deliver programmes for children with quality and compliance (both SCI’s internal requirements and the Charity Commission requirements for compliance).

The role will be responsible for strengthening the organisation’s approach to quality management primarily within SCI, but also as part of Save the Children Association’s (SCA’s – incorporating all of Save the Children’s Member Offices) wider approach. SCA has committed to developing an overarching accountability framework for the whole organisation, of which the QF will play a key role.

The post holder will manage a team of two people. They will line manage the Quality Framework Senior Manager and the Quality Framework Content Writer.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Essential :

• Significant senior level leadership and management experience in a large and complex international NGO, including experience of working at the field and head office levels.
• Experience of designing and implementing quality management / continuous improvement / learning organisation strategies and approaches in the aid and development sector.
• Experience of designing and implementing change management and organisational development initiatives that aim to strengthen staff behaviours and organisational culture.
• Excellent coordination and relationship building skills using a positive, flexible and collaborative approach; ability to develop and manage productive relationships and work effectively with a broad range and large number of stakeholders and senior staff across different functions with varying priorities, and ensure project outcomes are successfully achieved.
• Substantial project management experience and organisation and time management skills. Ability to plan ahead, anticipate requirements, problems and obstacles, juggle competing priorities successfully, and work effectively and calmly under pressure to tight deadlines.
• Substantial experience in communications management, including developing key messaging and reporting for senior management and communicating complicated concepts simply.
• Strong experience of managing staff, using a supportive and empowering approach for staff to perform their work effectively and reach their potential.
• Strong interpersonal, written and oral communication skills, including the ability to listen well and engage effectively with a broad range of people across different cultures and to act with confidence, credibility, discretion and diplomacy; fluent in English.
• Strong experience in designing and delivering trainings and other capacity building initiatives, both face-to-face and online.
• Sound judgement and an ability to adopt a pro-active approach to problem solving and effectively prioritise multiple tasks in a constantly changing environment.
• Competent in the use of Microsoft Office including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, as well as Teams and SharePoint sites.
• Experience with web-page design a plus.
• Thorough and trustworthy, takes pride in delivering high quality work and gives a high level of attention to detail.
• Commitment to the mission, vision and values of Save the Children.