Emergency Medical Team Operations Lead

Save the Children International has an exciting opportunity for an Emergency Medical Team Operations Lead to join our global team.

Team and Job Purpose

Humanitarian Operations Team purpose

The Humanitarian Operations Team own and manage key procedures that support our organizational approach to preparedness and response, ensuring seamless coordination of functional support to humanitarian operations across all contexts in anticipation of and in response to humanitarian needs. To facilitate rapid deployment of high-quality surge capacity and flexible funding tailored to the specific needs and capacities of our responses, thereby maximizing impact. To build the capacity of humanitarian responders, empowering them with the skills and knowledge needed to effectively address humanitarian challenges.

Role purpose

The Emergency Medical Team (EMT) Operations Lead will lead a high performing team focused on delivering high quality primary and secondary healthcare interventions in some of the most challenging environments, where the needs for children are greatest. You will lead the deployments of the WHO EMT Type 1, Reproductive Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Specialised Care Team (RMNCH SCT), mass vaccination, primary health care or outbreak modules to ensure delivery of quality emergency health service provision to communities, families and children.

Your primary focus, in the initial months of your role,  will be to lead the team through the final stages of the WHO EMT accreditation process achieving successful verification in early 2025 and ensure the EMT and activities are successfully integrated into the wider Emergency Health Unit.

You will be responsible for ensuring appropriate and timely deployments to provide quality emergency health interventions and work with colleagues in the EHU and Supply Chain teams to maintain the full EMT capacity to respond as required. You will lead and technically advise the relevant senior management on initial EHU assessments or WHO EMT requests for assistance, on the most appropriate response using the full EHU resources and modalities of deployment. You will build and maintain the capacity of the EHU team to ensure their expertise is aligned to the WHO EMT minimum standards relevant to the EHU’s EMT capacity.

You will lead on any preparedness, activation, deployment and clear exit strategy of the EHU modules to deliver high quality emergency health interventions, that meets the WHO EMT minimum standards and SCI and EHU best practices and policies.

Job Title: Emergency Medical Team Operations Lead

Reports To: EHU Head of Operations

Work Pattern: Hybrid/Remote with flexible working options available 

Contract Length: Fixed Term Contract 1 year

Grade: P5

Location: Any approved Save the Children International office location. For a full list of locations that Save the Children International can hire in, please visit: Hiring Locations

Time Zone (that the role holder must be available to work in): Any

Right to Work: The successful candidate must possess the unrestricted right to work in their current or preferred location for the duration of employment. 

International Travel Requirements: Yes, up to 60% 

Budget Responsibility: Response budget whilst deployed up to $1.5M

People Management Responsibility: 

Number of people managed in total: 4 staff during verification process and up to 6 whilst deployed

Manager of a team: No

Team Manager (manager of multiple teams): No

Principle Accountabilities

• Lead the EMT and wider EHU team to secure accreditation by the World Health Organization, maintain strong working relationship with WHO EMT leadership and respond to EMT calls in consultation with senior EHU and County Office management.

• Work with the EHU and wider technical and operations teams to maintain deployment modalities and adapt or update where necessary to ensure rapid set up and delivery of timely, quality and efficient healthcare responses.

• Ensure effective workforce planning, strengthening existing internal and external rosters with the right cadre and quantity of staff required to work within the deployed EMT modalities.

• Develop and nurture effective partnerships and strategic relationships across Save the Children and with external stakeholders, emphasising collaboration and cultural competency to enhance operational effectiveness and resilience.

• Oversee and direct the day-to-day operational activities of the EMT and be accountable for the adherence to the EHU EMT Manual and both Save the Children SOP’s and international and national healthcare protocols, procedures and standards.

• Input into the decision making of the most appropriate deployment modality of the EHU required, team composition and scope of service provision adapted to context. 

• When deployed oversee the performance monitoring and accountability mechanisms for the Emergency Health Unit, ensuring adherence to child safeguarding protocols and continuous improvement through feedback and after-action reviews.

• Oversee the operational and financial management of EMT deployments, ensuring adherence to Save the Children’s policies and ethical standards while developing the longer term funding strategy for the EHU activities. 

• Represent the EHU to internal and external stakeholders, building strong relationships to support the unit's objectives and enhancing the visibility and credibility of Save the Children’s emergency health interventions.

Experience and Skills

1. WHO Emergency Medical Team: Experience in working within the WHO Emergency Medical Team (EMT) mechanism or possessing a good working knowledge of it, demonstrating the ability to engage with global health standards.

2. Health Facility Management: Considerable experience in managing a field hospital or large-sized health facility in humanitarian response settings, showcasing leadership in complex and challenging environments.

3. Humanitarian Health Programme Design & Implementation: Extensive experience in establishing emergency humanitarian health programmes in both chronic and rapid-onset emergencies. This includes strategic involvement during the initial phase of responses and a strong understanding of health cluster systems and humanitarian architecture.

4. Technical Expertise: Specific experience in relevant areas such as epidemic outbreak management and emergency health interventions, contributing to the enhancement of organisational response strategies.

5. Representation and Communication: Proficient experience in building and maintaining effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders including national ministries, senior government representatives, partners, donors, UN organisations (including WHO), community representatives, media and senior management. 

6. Team management & safety: Proficient experience in managing and maintaining positive team dynamics remotely and during deployments in insecure environments. Experience with the security management and wellbeing of teams in insecure environments.

7. Operational management of humanitarian responses: Substantial Experience in creating, planning, and managing proposals and budgets, with a focus on donor compliance particularly with FCDO, ECHO, BHA, and UN donors, ensuring effective resource management and accountability.

8. Emergency Supply Chain Operations: Proficiency in Emergency Supply Chain Operations, ensuring strong integration and communication between supply chain and programme design and planning before and during a deployment.

9. Strategic Planning: Ability to focus on both short-term and long-term strategic needs, driven by ambition and a visionary approach.

10. Leadership and Interpersonal Skills: Strong leadership, mentoring and collaboration skills, and an ability to foster a thriving and respectful multi-cultural workplace culture. Excellent communication skills, with the ability to engage and motivate a team. 

Education and Qualifications 

Essential

• Relevant technical health qualifications 

Desirable

• Relevant professional certifications are advantageous.

• An advanced university degree in Public Health, Medicine, Nursing, or a related field is preferred

Working at Save the Children International

Save the Children is the world's leading organisation for children, employing ~25,000 staff. We save children's lives. We fight for their rights. We help them fulfil their potential. Through our work in 116 countries, we put the most deprived and marginalised children first.

We know that great people make a great organisation, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive environment where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

The work here is challenging but is also immensely rewarding. At Save the Children, you will be in good company, working with talented, like-minded individuals who are determined to ensure that all children survive, learn, and are protected. Your contribution will help ensure children's voices are heard at the highest levels, and that we achieve our global strategy, Ambition for Children 2030, and reach every last child.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Equal Opportunities

DEI is core to our vision, values and global strategy. Save the Children is committed to creating a truly diverse, equitable and inclusive organisation, and one which will support us in our vision to ensure every child attains the right to survival, protection, development, and participation.

We are committed to equal employment opportunities, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality, disability, marital or civil partnership status, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, caring or parental responsibilities, age, or beliefs and religion. We are committed to diversifying our staff to better represent the communities we serve and actively welcome underrepresented groups to apply.

Reasonable adjustments will be made should any candidate invited to interview require this.

Application Information

Please attach a copy of your CV and cover letter with your application. A full copy of the role profile can be found here via the job listing. It is recommended that you save a copy of the role profile as it will no longer be available after the advert closes.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and the job advert may be closed earlier than advertised subject to the volume of suitable applicants. Please submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.

Our recruitment process:

1. Application review by our recruiting team based on your CV and cover letter
2. Two-stage competency-based interviews with the hiring team
3. Some recruitment may include an additional assessment or case study stage, or a third stage interview
4. If successful, you will receive a conditional offer of employment, followed by your contract subject to passing background checks

We need to keep children and adults safe so our selection process includes rigorous background checks and reflects our commitment to the protection of children and adults from abuse. All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our Code of Conduct and all policies and procedures relating to Anti-harassment, Health and Safety, Safeguarding, and DEI and Equal Opportunities.

Save the Children does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process.