Organizational Context
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian network, with 191-member National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. IFRC uses the Triple R – response, resilience and respect – to deliver on Strategy 2030. IFRC responds to disasters and crises, ensuring timely, coordinated and locally led humanitarian action. IFRC supports its members in building community resilience in the areas of climate and environment, health and wellbeing, and migration and displacement. IFRC promotes respect for our fundamental principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality, including in our work on values, power and inclusion. The IFRC focuses throughout on our core mandate – our raison d’être – of strategic and operational coordination, humanitarian diplomacy, National Society development, and accountability.
IFRC is led by its Secretary General and has its Headquarters in Geneva and five regional offices in Africa (Nairobi); the Americas (Panama); Asia Pacific (Kuala Lumpur); Europe (Budapest); and MENA (Beirut) as well as representation offices, service centres and delegations across the globe.
The IFRC has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment and other forms of harassment, abuse of authority, discrimination, and lack of integrity (including but not limited to financial misconduct). IFRC also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles.
The Ethical Practices Department (EPD) acts as a strong, cohesive, effective and visible second-line vector for IFRC at global, regional and national levels. It provides oversight and expertise to IFRC first-line activities and operations and ensures that the organization operates in accordance with highest standards across the five following pillars:
• Ethics and Integrity to promote a culture of transparency, integrity and accountability in line with industry standards and IFRC policies.
• Risk Management to create a culture of positive risk taking within IFRC operations and activities, supported by appropriate tools and capacity.
• Social Safeguards including Prevention against sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (PSEAH) and Protection, Gender and Inclusion (PGI) to ensure safety, dignity, access and inclusion are part of humanitarian programs and operations and that the principle of ‘do not harm’ is mainstreamed in all IFRC activities.
• Environmental Safeguards to ensure that all IFRC operations and activities are environmentally sustainable and accountable.
• Compliance to implement systemic, harmonized and coordinated internal control mechanisms across the organization and align with internal policies and international standards.
The Risk Function provides services that strengthen a Federation-wide risk management culture by developing policies, standardized procedures, training, and guidance that help IFRC staff and National Societies identify, assess, mitigate, monitor and report on strategic and operational risks. It also delivers technical support, peer to peer collaboration, unified risk systems, and structured oversight to ensure risks are integrated into decision-making, Emergency Appeals, management processes and organizational planning across the IFRC Secretariat and National Societies.
Job Purpose
The Strategic Risk Coordinator provides global leadership, coordination, and managerial oversight for the implementation of IFRC’s strategic and operational risk management framework across all regions. The role is responsible for driving consistency, quality, and effectiveness of strategic and operational risk management practices globally, while taking into account regional diversity, differing operating environments, and levels of organizational maturity.
The position combines strategic, technical, and managerial responsibilities, including the line management and professional development of risk staff and global/regional risk focal points. It ensures that strategic and operational risks are systematically identified, assessed, mitigated, monitored, and escalated in line with IFRC policies and global risk appetite. The role supports senior management in making informed and risk‑aware decisions.
Job Duties and Responsibilities
Global Risk Management Leadership
- Lead the implementation and coordination of strategic risk management process at global level in line with IFRC’s Risk Management Policy, strategic risk management standard operating procedures, and recognised international standards (ISO 31000 / COSO ERM).
- Provide line management, supervision, and performance management to globally distributed operational risk managers, including work planning, prioritization, coaching, and appraisal.
- Lead and support a global community of practice for risk management, fostering knowledge sharing, consistency, and peer learning across regions.
- Ensure quality assurance and coherence of risk assessments, risk registers, and reporting produced across regions and operations.
- Promote a collaborative, inclusive, and high performing team culture.
Risk Assessment, Treatment, and Monitoring
- Oversee and guide global strategic risk assessments, ensuring alignment with IFRC’s risk appetite, tolerance levels, and escalation thresholds.
- Support and constructively challenge global and regional risk owners on the design, implementation, and effectiveness of mitigation strategies.
- Identify, monitor, and analyze emerging and crosscutting strategic risks.
- Provide oversight and quality assurance of operational risk monitoring conducted by regional operational risk managers, ensuring consistency and reliability of risk information.
Risk Reporting and Escalation
- Coordinate the timely reporting and escalation of strategic risks that exceed approved risk appetite, in line with IFRC’s escalation and reporting arrangements.
- Contribute to organizational risk reporting, providing clear, evidence-based inputs to the Ethical Practices Department, the Global Management Team, and the Global Leadership Team, as required.
- Ensure that strategic risk information meaningfully informs decision-making, planning cycles, and management oversight forums at global level.
- Facilitate quarterly Global Leadership Team risk review meetings with designated risk coordinators to assess strategic risk exposure, mitigation progress, and emerging issues.
- Prepare and submit a quarterly global risk report on the evolution of top strategic risks and regional operational risks, highlighting trends, material changes, and mitigation status.
Governance reporting
- Support the preparation, consolidation, and quality assurance of global risk reporting to the Audit and Risk Commission (ARC), ensuring clarity, accuracy, and strategic relevance.
- Coordinate inputs from regions, functions, and risk owners to produce coherent and consistent ARC reports on strategic risk exposure, trends, and mitigation status.
- Contribute to the development of ARC papers, dashboards, and briefings on key and emerging strategic and operational risks, including systemic and crosscutting risks.
- Track and monitor ARC recommendations and decisions related to strategic risks, ensuring follow-up actions are clearly assigned, implemented, and reported on.
Job Duties and Responsibilities (continued)
Advisory Support and Capacity Building
- Act as a global advisor on strategic risks to Secretariat leadership, regional directors, and Heads of Delegation.
- Design and oversee global risk capacity building initiatives, including tools, guidance, and training materials.
- Promote shared understanding and consistent application of risk concepts, terminology, and tools across regional and country contexts.
Integration with Planning, Programmes, and Emergency Operations
- Ensure that risk management is embedded into regional planning, programme design, project management, and emergency response processes, including DREF operations and Emergency Appeals.
- Support the alignment between operational risk management and strategic risk insights, contributing to an integrated enterprise risk management approach.
Collaboration and Coordination
- Work in close coordination with the Ethics, Risk and Compliance Department to ensure consistency, quality, and coherence of risk management practices across IFRC.
- Collaborate with functional leads (finance, programmes, HR, logistics, security, PSEAH, compliance) to ensure holistic management of risks.
- Support, upon request, National Societies in strengthening risk management capacities in the context of shared programmes and emergency operations.
Budget management
- Be responsible for the overall annual operational plan and budget of the risk management function and ensure financial targets are met while optimizing resources.
- Ensure that the operational planning and budgeting is carried out and coordinated with the IFRC regional offices and delegations and unified with the IFRC’s Renewal.
Education
Required:
- Advanced university degree (master's level or equivalent) in risk management, business administration, international development, humanitarian affairs, or a related field.; or a first-level university degree combined with extensive relevant experience.
Preferred:
- Formal training or certification in risk management, internal controls, assurance, or enterprise risk management (e.g. ISO 31000, COSO ERM, PRINCE2 Risk, PMI-RMP)
Experience
Required:
- At least 10 years of progressively responsible experience in risk management, internal controls, or assurance functions within complex, decentralized or humanitarian organizations.
- Demonstrated experience in building and applying structured risk management frameworks across programmes, projects, emergency operations, and/or organizational functions
- Proven managerial and leadership experience, including line management and/or matrix management of geographically dispersed staff, coaching, mentoring, performance management, and team capacity development.
- Strong experience working with senior management and governance bodies, including preparing and presenting risk analyses, dashboards, and reports to executive leadership teams and oversight committees
- Demonstrated experience in managing complex multi-stakeholder processes, ideally in a Movement context
- Proven experience in designing, delivering, and facilitating risk management trainings for managers and staff at different levels, including in international or multiregional contexts.
Preferred:
- Proven experience working in humanitarian, development, or mission driven organizations, including exposure to fragile, high-risk, or rapidly changing operating environments.
- Experience working in a RC/RC National Society and/or Federation/ICRC.
Knowledge, Skills and Languages
Required:
- In-depth and up-to-date knowledge of enterprise risk management requirements and best practices
- Strong understanding of risk management concepts, including inherent and residual risk, risk appetite, risk treatment, monitoring, and escalation.
- Proven skills in guiding risk owners on mitigation strategies, monitoring effectiveness, and tracking residual risk over time.
- Demonstrated ability to facilitate risk assessments, maintain risk registers, and assess the effectiveness of mitigation measures.
- Ability to analyze complex, crosscutting, and emerging risks and synthesize them into clear, decision oriented global risk narratives.
- Demonstrated skills in line and matrix management, including supervision of globally distributed staff, performance management, coaching, and team development.
- Ability to embed risk management into organizational planning, programme design, emergency operations, and decision-making processes.
- Strong ability to facilitate senior risk discussions, support and constructively challenge risk owners, and influence in complex environments.
- Demonstrated capacity to build risk awareness and ownership among nonspecialists, fostering a practical and proportionate risk culture.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills to engage leadership, coordinate across functions and regions, and translate technical risk information into clear, actionable insights.
- High degree of discretion, tact and sensitivity in dealing with internal and external clients and stakeholders at all levels.
- In-depth and up-to-date knowledge of enterprise risk management requirements and best practices.
- Fluent spoken and written English
Preferred:
- Solid understanding and knowledge of IFRC and Movement processes, systems, values and culture.
- Demonstrated core proficiency in (a) digital communication & collaboration, (b) basic digital content creation, (c) digital safety & security, (d) data literacy, and (e) problem solving with technology (including responsible use of AI assistants.
- Good command of another IFRC official language (French, Spanish or Arabic).
Competencies, Values and Comments
Values: Respect for diversity; Integrity; Professionalism; Accountability
Core competencies: Communication; Collaboration and teamwork; Judgement and decision making; National society and customer relations; Creativity and innovation; Building trust
Functional competencies: Strategic orientation; Building alliances; Leadership; Empowering others
Managerial competencies: Managing Staff Performance; Managing staff development
Comments: This is a national staff position open to nationals of Hungary and who are legally eligible to work in Hungary.
