Crisis & Risk Management Professional

Job Description

Unit: Compliance & Risk Support – MA Development & Support (IDS) 

Preferred location:  Dakar (Senegal), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Nairobi (Kenya), Work permits in the preferred work locations would be desirable.  

About us  

SOS Children’s Villages, founded in 1949, is the world’s largest non-governmental organization focused on supporting children and young people without parental care, or at risk of losing it.  

Child neglect, abuse and abandonment is everywhere. Families are at risk of separation. Locally led, we work in more than 130 countries and territories to strengthen families who are under pressure so they can stay together. When this is not in a child or young person’s best interests, we provide quality care according to their unique needs.  

Together with partners, donors, communities, children, young people and families, we enable children to grow up with the bonds they need to develop and become their strongest selves. We speak up for each child’s rights and advocate for change so all children can grow up in a supportive environment. 

Mission 

The Compliance & Risk Support area provides leadership, coordination, and technical support to MAs to strengthen organizational risk awareness, resilience, and compliance. The area supports the identification, assessment, and mitigation of strategic, operational, financial, and safeguarding risks, enabling informed decision-making and sustainable achievement of organizational objectives.   

The Crisis & Risk Mgt Support Professional supports the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of enterprise risk management and crisis preparedness frameworks for MAs. The role provides structured analysis, coordination support, and technical advisory input to strengthen risk-informed decision-making and effective crisis response, in alignment with organizational policies, governance frameworks, and risk appetite. The position contributes to consolidated reporting and supports senior leadership, including EB and IB, with analytical materials and structured decision-support. 

Tasks and Responsibilities 

• Support the design, implementation, and maintenance of enterprise risk management (ERM) principles, frameworks and tools; facilitate structured risk identification and assessment processes; and contribute to the development and monitoring of mitigation measures and internal controls, ensuring alignment with governance structures and organizational policies.

• Prepare risk analyses, dashboards, and consolidated reports for leadership; contribute to risk reviews, audits, and assurance processes; and ensure accurate documentation and structured reporting to support risk-informed decision-making.

• Support the development and regular updating of crisis response protocols, SRAs, contingency plans, and SOPs; contribute to crisis simulations and preparedness exercises; and support integration of crisis preparedness into operational and programmatic planning.

• Provide coordination and analytical support during crisis situations; prepare situation reports, structured briefings including data-driven and executive summaries for leadership; and support after-action reviews and lessons-learned processes to strengthen organizational resilience.

• Coordinate with safeguarding, humanitarian action, compliance, audit, finance, communications, and security colleagues to ensure integrated risk and crisis management approaches; provide technical guidance and tools to Member Associations; facilitate structured information flow across entities; and ensure adherence to risk and crisis management policies and escalation procedures.

• Implement and refine an ERM program based on the COSO 2017 (or most current) framework. Advise leadership on aligning risk appetite with strategy, performance and safeguarding.

• Advice on the design, maintenance, and stress-test Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plans. Ensure that critical business functions have a “Plan B” that is validated through regular tabletop exercises and simulations.
• Provide advisory on Risk Management and Support to develop Risk Mitigation and Preparation

Responsibilities to Uphold Safeguarding (standards) and Promote a Safe Environment 

As someone working for or on behalf of SOS Children’s Villages, you are responsible for helping to create and maintain a safe and protective environment for staff, as well as for the children, young people, and adult programme participants supported and cared for by SOS Children’s Villages. You are expected to: 

• Commit to the Code of Conduct and reflect on the safeguarding implications of your work on an ongoing basis.

• Actively participate in team discussions to identify risks and share and apply preventative and mitigation measures and strategies.

• Integrate safeguarding principles into your daily decisions and tasks.

• Report any safeguarding concerns promptly and in line with procedures.

• Promote values-based culture, accountability and zero tolerance of harm.

 

Requirements 

• ​Requires master’s degree level, preferably in: Crisis Management, Risk Management, Business Administration, Security Studies, International Relations, Emergency Management, Audit, Compliance, Business Continuity or related field.

• Minimum 10 years’ professional experience in crisis management, risk management, internal control, audit, compliance, or related functions, including familiarity with ISO 31000 and ISO 22301 and other related standards.

• Minimum 5 years professional experience in risk reporting to and advising international C- and S-Board levels on risk

• Experience in international NGO or federated system desirable.

• Willingness to travel 30/35%

• English and French proficiency is a must, Spanish is an asset

 

Technical Skills  

• Enterprise risk management frameworks (e.g., ISO 31000)

• Business continuity and crisis management principles (e.g., ISO 22301)

• Risk mapping, assessment, and reporting

• Incident analysis and structured situation reporting

• Development of mitigation and monitoring tools

• Analytical reporting and dashboard preparation

• Strong analytical and structured thinking

• Ability to synthesize complex information

• Clear written and verbal communication

• Diplomacy and discretion

• Ability to influence without direct authority

• Solution-oriented mindset

• Collaborative approach in multicultural environments

Other competencies and soft skills 

• Board level advisory experience

• Persuasiveness

• Ability to explain complex matters in simple language

• Solution-orientation

 

Ways of working:   

• Global collaboration and communication – Working effectively across countries, cultures, and time zones by maintaining clear communication, transparency, and shared understanding within distributed teams.

• Cross-functional collaboration – Working closely with colleagues across different functions and areas of expertise to combine knowledge, solve problems collectively, and deliver meaningful outcomes aligned with the organisation’s mission.

• Effective collaboration within matrix structures – Working constructively within solid and dotted reporting lines by maintaining open communication, aligning priorities with both line and functional managers, and ensuring clarity on roles, responsibilities, and expectations to support coordinated delivery across teams.

• Flexibility and adaptability – Remaining responsive to evolving contexts and adjusting priorities, approaches, and ways of collaboration as projects, services, or organisational demand evolve.

• Ownership and accountability – Taking responsibility for advancing tasks and initiatives, proactively addressing obstacles, and ensuring that commitments, decisions, and actions are carried through to completion, taking initiative within your scope of responsibility rather than waiting for direction.

• Strengthening member associations and their autonomy – Ensuring that knowledge, tools, and lessons from projects and services are shared with member associations so they can learn from the work carried out and progressively strengthen their capacity and independence.

• Continuous feedback and transparency – Contributing to a culture where feedback and data are shared openly and constructively, enabling teams and stakeholders involved to reflect, learn, and continuously improve their work and impact.

 

Please note that applications will be reviewed and suitable candidates will be contacted for interviews on an ongoing basis. The position will remain open until filled. 

What We Stand for  

SOS Children’s Villages is committed to creating and maintaining a caring and protective environment, which promotes its core values, and prevents and addresses child abuse and exploitation. We strongly condemn all forms of child abuse and exploitation, be it within or outside of our organization, and always respond to any case of proven, alleged or attempted abuse within our sphere of influence according to its nature. Efforts ensure that mechanisms are in place to raise awareness, aid prevention, encourage reporting and ease response. They range from human resource development actions such as training and counselling to measures such as suspension, dismissal, and legal action.  

SOS Children’s Villages is committed to creating and maintaining a safe working environment for our staff, the children and young people and the communities that we work for. The organization prohibits harassment, exploitation and abuses by or of any employee, supervisor, manager, child, young people, community, contractor, applicant, or other individual with whom SOS Children’s Villages employees come into contact by virtue of their work. All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our prevention and protection against Sexual Harassment, Exploitation and Abuse policy.  

In addition, SOS Children’s Villages apply a zero-tolerance concerning any fraud situation. The organization does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process.  

Successful candidates will have to submit a criminal record certificate, current within the last three years. In accordance with the organisation’s child protection policy, these positions will be subject to criminal record checks.  

How to Apply

If you are interested in this position, please send your detailed application in English through ICISMs here: >> https://careers-sos-kd.icims.com/ 

Please note that applications will be reviewed and suitable candidates will be contacted for interviews on an ongoing basis. The position will remain open until filled. Due to the high level of applications, SOS Children Villages can only respond to shortlisted candidates.