Head of Mission Guinea

About the Company

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We believe in the power and potential of every child but know this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it is girls who are most affected. Working together with children, young people, supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges girls and vulnerable children face. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood and we enable children to prepare for and respond to crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge. For over 85 years, we have rallied other determined optimists to transform the lives of all children in more than 80 countries. We won’t stop until we are all equal

About the Role

The Head of Mission will:

Responsibilities

• Provide overall leadership to the Country Office, including representation in key coordination bodies and forums to strengthen Plan International Guinea’s profile with national government, international and local donors, and civil society organisations.
• Lead the delivery of the Country Strategy and have direct leadership of country programme resources and operations.
• Facilitate gender transformative programmes and influencing work at the country level, reflecting Plan International’s dual mandate, focusing on the needs of the most vulnerable children, particularly girls.
• Ensure accountability for meeting targets and maintaining alignment with Plan International’s global strategy and management standards.
• Drive efforts to deliver positive change for girls through advocating, campaigning and communicating at the national level.

Qualifications

• Degree in Social Sciences, Public Health, Public Administration or a related field.
• Extensive senior leadership and management experience in the INGO sector

Required Skills

• Managerial ability to delegate duties to subordinates to meet deadlines and coach members of the team.
• Planning and organizing skills on short and long-time frames.
• Able to work under pressure, in a team and independently.
• Decision making and analytical skills.
• Able to remain calm and positive under pressure and in difficult situations.
• Able to keep the big picture in mind as well as being detail oriented.
• Comfortable working with colleagues from different cultures.
• Able to respond to and manage multiple demands from various sites/departments.
• Having a strong degree of personal resilience.
• Excellent listening skills, discreet and tactful.
• Good communication skills, including public speaking and writing.
• Good understanding of operations processes, procedures and best practices.
• Strong computer skills and familiarity with Microsoft packages (Outlook, Excel, Word, etc).

Preferred Skills

• Experience in humanitarian action and gender transformation.
• Ability to engage with local and international authorities, UN agencies, sector coordination bodies, INGOs, national NGOs and local communities.
• Experience in emergency preparedness analysis, risk reduction and resilience building.

Reports to: the Sub Regional Director WACA

Location: Conakry

Effective date: September 2026

Closing date: July 24th, 2026

Candidates who have already submitted an application are not required to apply again

Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the very heart of everything that Plan International stands for.

We want Plan International to reflect the diversity of the communities we work with, offering equal opportunities to everyone regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

Plan International is based on a culture of inclusivity and we strive to create a workplace environment that ensures every team, in every office, in every country, is rich in diverse people, thoughts, and ideas.

We foster an organisational culture that embraces our commitment to racial justice, gender equality, girls’ rights and inclusion.

Plan International believes that in a world where children face so many threats of harm, it is our duty to ensure that we, as an organisation, do everything we can to keep children safe. This means that we have particular responsibilities to children that we come into contact with and we must not contribute in any way to harming or placing children at risk.

A range of pre-employment checks will be undertaken in conformity with Plan International's Safeguarding Children and Young People policy. Plan International also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this scheme we will request information from applicants previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their understanding of these recruitment procedures.

Please note that Plan International will never send unsolicited emails requesting payment from candidates.