Humanitarian Programme and Policy Officer

Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Deadline: 19 February 2026

Job Description

Main purpose of job:

The British Embassy in Ethiopia is responsible for the UK government’s efforts to promote international development in Ethiopia and deepen bilateral ties between the UK and Ethiopia. The British Embassy is committed to helping meet critical humanitarian needs, investing in human capital, promoting inclusive economic development, enhancing governance and democracy, and strengthening resilience to global challenges such as climate change.

This role sits within the Resilience and Humanitarian Team (RHT). RHT leads the UK’s efforts to build resilience of the poorest and most vulnerable in Ethiopia through strengthening national systems, promoting climate adaptation, and humanitarian reform. We also lead the UK’s response to humanitarian emergencies in Ethiopia, ensuring humanitarian assistance is effective and reaches those in greatest need.

This is an exciting and challenging time to join our team. You will work at the heart of the UK’s response to one of the most complex humanitarian situations in the world. You will be responsible for maintaining assessments and analysis of humanitarian needs and risks in Ethiopia, supporting the team to monitor our programmes in the field, and taking responsibility for specific implementing partners and humanitarian policy areas (depending on your interests and experience).

You will be managed by the British Embassy’s Senior Humanitarian Advisor, and work closely with humanitarian advisors, programme management staff, and other experts from British Embassy, including human development, conflict and governance specialists. You will be expected to support humanitarian reporting and analysis to the leadership of the British Embassy Addis Ababa, FCDO HQ in the UK, as well as visiting ministers and senior officials. You will need to develop an effective network of contacts internally within FCDO and maintain a strong external network within the humanitarian community in Ethiopia and internally .

Roles and responsibilities:

Provide regular reporting and analysis of humanitarian needs and risks in Ethiopia. This will include producing regular situation reports, thematic and regional briefs (as required), and leading scenario planning exercises for the team
Maintain an effective way of tracking planned and actual results delivered in our humanitarian and resilience programming
Lead on the Embassy’s investments in humanitarian data and evidence, ensuring products meet FCDO’s and the wider humanitarian community’s requirements
Over time, become the first point of contact for colleagues in London for input into parliamentary questions and other parliamentary and ministerial business
Maintain an effective network within the Ethiopian humanitarian community and with relevant colleagues in FCDO. Specific responsibility for relationships with humanitarian information managements specialists, humanitarian security specialists, and Ethiopian NGOs.
Support humanitarian policy development and engagement with the Government of Ethiopia, humanitarian agencies and other partners.
Contribute to the planning and management of field visits to FCDO funded programmes and areas of humanitarian concern in Ethiopia. Participate in some of these field visits (at least 10 days per year) to monitor programmes and inform situation assessments.
Contribute to the design and review of humanitarian and resilience programming.
Depending on the successful candidate’s experience and interests, there will also be an opportunity to lead on specific programme and policy areas within the team.

Essential qualifications, skills and experience

Experience of working on humanitarian issues (e.g. for government, international or national humanitarian organisations, and/or donors).
Excellent analytical and data analysis skills, and good experience presenting information in clear information products using relevant IT packages.
A proven ability to communicate clearly and confidently, verbally and in writing.
Strong understanding of Ethiopian humanitarian policies and architecture.
Excellent inter-personal and team working skills, with an ability to multi-task, work flexibly and adapt to emerging issues.
Strong experience in relationship-building, establishing robust networks and managing partners or stakeholders is desirable.
Familiarity with programme delivery or project management is desirable.

Desirable qualifications, skills and experience

Proficiency in Amharic and/or other Ethiopian languages is an added advantage.

Required behaviours

Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace, Seeing the Big Picture, Working Together.

Application deadline: 19 February 2026

Grade: Senior Executive Officer (SEO)

Type of Position: Fixed term, with possibility of renewal

Working hours per week: 36

Region: Africa

Country/Territory: Ethiopia

Location (City): Addis Ababa

Type of Post: British Embassy

Number of vacancies: 1

Salary Currency: USD

Salary: USD 2,198.28 (Base salary is subject to tax and other statutory deductions)

Type of Salary: monthly

Start Date: 1 July 2026

Other benefits and conditions of employment

Learning and development opportunities:

The British Embassy Ethiopia wants to support all staff in their professional development. We would be happy to support successful applicants in their humanitarian career development, including working towards accreditation as an FCDO humanitarian advisor.

Additional information

Please ensure that your application is authentically written based on your own experiences. If AI tools are used, their usage must only be limited to specific tasks such as ensuring formatting consistency and keyword relevance. The core content, personal narratives, and responses to behaviour and skill-based questions must genuinely reflect your professional journey, experiences, and achievements. We place great importance on originality and individual effort throughout the application process. Any form of plagiarism will result in immediate disqualification.

The British Embassy will never request any payment or fees to apply for a position
The base salary is subject to tax and other statutory deductions
Employees recruited locally by the British Embassy in Addis Ababa are subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local employment law in Ethiopia.
All candidates must be legally able to work and reside in the country of the vacancy with the correct visa/work permit status or demonstrate eligibility to obtain the relevant permit

The responsibility lies on the successful candidate to:

1.Obtain the relevant permit
2.Pay the fees for the permit
3.Make arrangements to relocate
4.Meet the costs to relocation

Employees who are not liable to pay local income tax on their Mission salary may have their salaries reduced by the equivalent local income tax amount.
Information about the Civil Service Success Profiles can be found on this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles
Reference checking and security clearances will be conducted on successful candidates
Please log into your profile on the application system on a regular basis to review the status of your application
Appointable candidates who were unsuccessful may be placed on a ‘reserve list’. If during the reserve period of 6 months the same or a largely similar role becomes available, that role may be offered to the second or subsequent candidate

Please be aware that you will only be able to apply to vacancies for Country Based Staff roles with the British Government through this official tal.net site (operated by Oleeo). Jobs may be advertised on third party websites, however our adverts will always link back to the official tal.net site. If you complete and send an application through any other site, we will not receive it.