Programme Manager for Swedish Red Cross in Ukraine (12 months with possibility of extension)

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The Swedish Red Cross is part of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement, the world’s largest humanitarian network. The Red Cross/Red Crescent is working to improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters and emergencies. We support people whoever they are, wherever they are.

This is an internal advertisement. If we do not find the right candidateinternally, we will post the advertisement on our external website, starting 1 August.

Programme Manager for Swedish Red Cross in Ukraine

Background

Following the escalation of the conflict in February 2022, the Swedish Red Cross (SRC) has established a presence in Ukraine and has created partnerships and operations with the Red Cross societies of Romania and Moldova.

SRC’s team in Ukraine facilitates our bilateral partnership with the Ukrainian Red Cross Society (URCS) and works towards a closer collaboration with the ICRC, IFRC, and other Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement partners. The current country portfolio focuses on support to URCS’s national response plan, including the implementation of specific projects with the Sumy regional branch. In addition to emergency response, SRC is working in the thematic areas of Health and Home Based Care, WaSH, MHPSS, Livelihoods, Construction/Reconstruction/Repairs, Branch and Volunteer development, Community Engagement and Accountability (CEA) and Protection, Gender and Inclusion (PGI).

One important goal for SRC and the Programme Manager role in the next year is to identify and secure additional relevant support to URCS operations from private and institutional donors.

Your role in the organisation

As the Programme Manager in Ukraine, you are part of the Europe and Central Asia Unit of the SRC and are line-managed by the Head of Unit. The position is based in Kyiv, Ukraine. Leading the in-country team for SRC is a Country Representative, whose role is to set the strategic direction of the country team, actively participate in Movement Coordination, manage partnerships with URCS and other partners, oversee the country portfolio, and manage the SRC country office.

Project implementation in-country is supported by a Programme Manager (the current position being advertised), a Technical Delegate, and a small team of national staff. Two national program officers report to the Programme Manager on a day-to-day basis, while the rest of the team, including the Programme Manager, reports directly to the Country Representative.

As the Programme Manager, you will oversee the management of SRC-funded programs and projects in Ukraine. You are expected to take the initiative to further strengthen SRC’s footprint in Ukraine, including through increased and strategic funding. The overall ambition is to fully utilize SRC’s potential in supporting URCS to reach vulnerable people in the country.

You will guide and coach two SRC program officers, who will be responsible for coordinating with URCS, developing funding proposals, reporting, and monitoring. You will also guide the two SRC program officers in their role of coaching URCS staff and volunteers to ensure sustainability and ownership of the programming, while conducting monitoring, evaluation, and reporting to ensure compliance with plans and regulations.

You will work closely with technical advisors at SRC headquarters as needed. You are expected to take initiative, be innovative, build relationships, and coordinate, explore, and identify areas of program cooperation.

In addition to the more traditional role of Programme Manager, you are expected to take the initiative to further strengthen partnerships with institutional and corporate partners.

Key duties and responsibilities

• Responsible for overseeing the support to the host National Society in managing and coordinating programme implementation, including design and planning, while ensuring adequate monitoring, reporting and evaluation as well as financial monitoring to ensure that donor requirements are met during program implementation
• With URCS counterparts, jointly conduct regular field visits to operational sites, identifying and helping to solve any critical challenges/issues faced in the programme
• Responsible for overseeing a continuous dialogue with the URCS branch management about opportunities, achievements, and challenges in the cooperation with SRC, including requests for technical support
• Responsible for overseeing and directly contributing to reporting (narratively and financially) on designated programme as required to SRC internally and externally, ensuring compliance, including back donor reporting, and submission of annual audits
• Build and strengthen donor relationships with selected strategic partners through continuous engagement
• Assist in preparing targeted communication materials, pitches and concept notes to showcase the value of URCS and SRC initiatives to potential donors and partners
• Work actively on coaching staff and contribute to an effective, positive, and driven working culture where each staff member has great individual responsibility, takes initiative and dares to make mistakes
• Support in promoting humanitarian diplomacy objectives
• The Programme Manager may be called upon to provide support in, but not limited to, strengthening internal systems and processes in areas such as procurement, fleet management, risk register tracking including fraud and corruption mitigation, Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA), volunteering development and recruitment processes

Your profile

To thrive in this role, we believe you should be:

• Constructive, flexible, and solutions-oriented
• Analytical, with the ability to develop project proposals and reports including budgeting
• Systematic and structured
• Capable of managing high workloads and meeting deadlines
• You are expected to have strong management and coaching skills. You should be a firm believer in transformative leadership
• You should be excellent at building trusting relationships with partners and in the team

Additionally, it is important that you can balance independent tasks with effective teamwork in culturally diverse settings. Experience in working with local partners is essential, along with the ability to empower and motivate them while upholding the SRC’s commitments to donors. Strong interpersonal and communication skills are crucial, as is the ability to interact positively across various societal levels and build trust. You should enjoy taking on a coordinating role, be willing to travel to remote locations and have experience with similar responsibilities as outlined above.

As an SRC employee, you share the Red Cross Red Crescent humanitarian values including diversity and actively work against all forms of discrimination. You understand, respect, and comply with the SRC Code of Conduct and security rules and regulations.

Ukraine is a high-risk environment. At all times, the Programme Manager respects and follows relevant communication and security rules.

Required qualifications and experience

• Relevant academic degree (3-5 years of full-time study) in a relevant field
• Minimum 5 years of relevant working experience from positions in the humanitarian and/or development cooperation sector holding similar responsibilities
• Significant field experience in complex and volatile contexts
• Documented experience of project/programme cycle management (PMER, budget and financial management, proposal and report writing, training and coaching staff and volunteers)
• Proven experience with resource mobilization in the humanitarian or development sector
• Experience working with strengthening partnerships, ideally both institutional and corporate partnerships
• Proficient knowledge of written and spoken English
• Good command of written and spoken Swedish

Desired qualifications

• Experience of working or volunteering within the Red Cross and the Red Crescent Movement
• Experience working with Sida funded projects
• Knowledge of Swedish is a strong asset
• Experience from one or several of the following fields is an asset: protection, gender and inclusion, community engagement and accountability, environmental sustainability/Green Response, organizational development, volunteer management, resource mobilization
• Knowledge of Ukrainian and/or Russian is a strong asset

Other Requirements

• In line with the principle of neutrality, SRC does not assign personnel to a country of which they are nationals
• Completed relevant security training for working in high-risk environments (HEAT or equivalent)
• Candidates must be in good health and are required to pass a medical check-up prior to departure to the duty station
• Candidates must hold a manual driving license and have experience in driving manual transmission vehicles

About the position

• Title: Programme Manager
• Place of assignment: Kyiv, Ukraine (with regular in-country travel)
• Type of posting: International Delegate, non-family posting
• Desired starting date: 1 September 2026
• Contract period: 12 months, with the possibility of extension

The recruitment process

The closing date for this internal advertisement is 31 July 2026. Our recruitment process includes cognitive and administrative tests, interviews, background checks and references. Please note that the recruitment process will only commence once the deadline for application has passed.

Only applications made through our website will be considered.

For more information about the position, please contact Andrei Engstrand Neacsu, Head of Europe and Central Asia, International Department: andrei.engstrand.neacsu@redcross.se

Candidates who are selected for roles with the Swedish Red Cross undergo a background check before an offer of employment is given. As the Swedish Red Cross is part of the Inter-Agency Scheme for the Disclosure of Safeguarding-related Misconduct, one of the three references given must be from the candidate`s current or most recent employer. Final candidates will also be screened against EU and UN sanction lists.