MINIMUM QUALIFICATION & TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

• 7 to 10 years+ of relevant experience in senior HR or organizational design or effectiveness roles, with a strong track record of leading transformation and HR infrastructure initiatives across multiple countries or regions.
• Proven expertise in organizational design methodologies, systems thinking and change management within complex global or muti-country organizations, including demonstrated ability to design legally compliant frameworks and guide restructures, mergers, and transformations at scale.
• Experience in developing scalable and inclusive HR infrastructure - policies, guidance, and tools - adapted to large, diverse, complex, global organizations with strong technical HR policy development experience.
• Proven ability to effectively prioritize, plan and effectively manage diverse stakeholder expectations and competing demands, and deliver results through effective cross-functional collaboration.
• Demonstrated success in building credibility, trust and influence with a diverse range of stakeholders at different levels of the organization.
• Strategic and future-orientation rooted in systems-thinking with the ability to spot patterns, align multiple moving parts, and design scalable solutions across diverse contexts.
• Ability to bring curiosity, learning, and creativity to complex organizational challenges and evolving contexts.
• Highly effective communicator able to engage diverse audiences with clarity, empathy, and strategic insight.
• Inclusive and globally minded, leading with cultural fluency and a deep respect for lived experience and local knowledge.
• Personally accountable, self-aware, and values-driven, embodying and role modeling our core behaviors and powerfully supporting our P2P commitments.
• Experience in the humanitarian sector or in a fast-paced and dynamic international organization is strongly preferred.
• Knowledge and experience of leveraging technology and AI to enhance HR delivery.
• Advanced degree in Organization Development, HR, International Development, or a related field preferred.
• Fluency in English (spoken, written, and reading) is required. Proficiency in an additional language, such as French, Spanish, or Arabic, is desirable.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT (approx. 50%)

Lead the development of strategies and tools that help create fit-for-purpose organizational structures across Mercy Corps’ global footprint, enabling greater alignment, agility, and effectiveness.

• Provide technical input and support for global change processes, including complex reorganizations, and provide technical guidance for teams through major transitions which are rooted in a deep understanding of established and emerging organizational design and development theories and their practical implementation, including McKinsey 7-S Framework, adaptive leadership, and complex systems thinking.
• Develop and roll out a global organizational design framework and toolkit / archetypes for country and regional HR teams which are adapted to Mercy Corps’ operating and business models, program lifecycle (including in emergencies), organizational values and ways of working, and can be readily adapted for varying contexts.
• Build capabilities among HR and operational leaders across regions and country teams to apply effective organization design methods in contextually relevant, respectful and future-focused ways.
• Advise and partner with country and regional leadership as technical support for operational HR teams on organizational (re)design and change management projects that align structure to strategy, improve spans of control, support leadership and team effectiveness, and foster resilience and performance.
• Lead and coordinate cross-functional learning initiatives that generate case studies and practical guidance from past organizational design and change management experiences.
• Partner with Effectiveness and Engagement (E&E) Team and other stakeholders to support managers and teams to navigate change, adapt to new structures, clarify roles, and rebuild alignment and sustain performance following organizational shifts.
• Partner with E&E and other stakeholders to integrate team reflection, manager support, and feedback mechanisms during transitions.
• Build strong working relationships with cross-functional partners, including E&E, P2P working groups and other stakeholders, to ensure change efforts are well-supported.

PEOPLE POLICIES (approx. 40%)

Lead the strategic development and continuous improvement of global HR policies, guidance and tools that enable effective, consistent, and values-aligned people practices across Mercy Corps’ country, regional and HQ operations

• Lead a multi-year strategy to evolve Mercy Corps’ global people infrastructure – policies, systems, tools, workflows, guidance – in ways that are lean, adaptive, fair, and context-relevant.
• Ensure core lifecycle processes (e.g., onboarding, performance management, promotions, exits) are designed to be scalable and are tailored to evolving and diverse country-level needs, especially in fragile and crisis-impacted settings.
• Develop and implement tools and infrastructure to support related organizational HR systems, including workforce planning, employee engagement surveys, and identification of talent and succession planning for key positions.
• Create and manage the governance and feedback loops to ensure Mercy Corps’ People infrastructure remains aligned with ethics and compliance, legal, safeguarding, our P2P commitments, and employee engagement imperatives.
• Collaborate with other stakeholders to ensure digital systems and technology support seamless and efficient execution of the employee lifecycle.
• Collaborate with other stakeholders to proactively address systemic issues and emerging needs that surface through audits, feedback, and HR data analytics, and HR metrics.
• Collaborate with the E&E team and other stakeholders to ensure structural and policy changes are supported by practical implementation tools and engagement strategies.
• Work with the Office of the CPO to ensure that People policies and infrastructure are housed and organized in a user-friendly manner which supports knowledge management.

CHAMPIONING EFFECTIVE PEOPLE PRACTICES ALIGNED WITH OUR CORE COMMITMENTS (approx. 10%)

Ensure our people practices consistently reflect our commitments enshrined in our Pathway to Possibility strategy

• Serve as the People Team’s focal point in cross-functional efforts to advance Mercy Corps’ commitments under the P2P strategy, with a focus on ensuring all team members, in all of their global diversity, feel they belong.
• Support initiatives that build internal capacity, promote accountability, and strengthen alignment with Mercy Corps’ P2P-related commitments, including through policy development, learning resources, and practical tools.
• Ensure that HR policies, tools, and guidance are developed and maintained in ways that support an enabling, respectful, and inclusive organizational culture.
• Collaborate with peers across the People Team and wider organization to embed our values and core behaviors into people practices across the employee lifecycle.

SAFEGUARDING RESPONSIBILITIES

• Actively learns about safeguarding and integrates it into their work, including safeguarding risks and mitigations related to their area of work.
• Practices the values of Mercy Corps including respecting the dignity and well-being of participants and fellow team members.
• Encourages openness and communication in their team; encourages team members to submit reports if they have any concerns using reporting mechanisms e.g., Integrity Hotline and other options.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Reports Directly To: Chief People Officer
Works Directly With: Other COEs, Senior HR Directors, Regional HR Directors and teams, other support functions (e.g., Legal, Finance, Compliance), DRD Operations and other Regional and HQ leaders.

ACCOUNTABILITY TO PARTICIPANTS AND STAKEHOLDERS

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

The Director, People Policy and Organizational Design position plays a pivotal role in enabling Mercy Corps’ future readiness by leading the design and providing technical support for the implementation of three critical pillars of our People Team work:

• Supporting management to create fit-for-purpose organizational structures;
• Development of adaptive, inclusive HR policies / infrastructure in service of a positive employee experience and aligned with evolving organizational needs; and
• Supporting the embedding of our Pathway to Possibility commitments