Regional Director Asia – various possible locations in Asia and UK/NL

Position Description

Location: Bangkok, Thailand; United Kingdom; Netherlands, or other locations with a Mercy Corps presence.

Reporting To: Vice President, Global Program Delivery

Budget Management Responsibility

This role oversees a regional budget of about 250 million USD, along with country programs.

Position Summary

Mercy Corps runs a growing multi-million dollar portfolio across Asia with programs currently serving populations in 10 countries (Afghanistan, Georgia, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Uzbekistan). Though the region is characterized by multiple systemic challenges and dramatic shifts in context, Asia remains one of the world’s strongest and most dynamic regional economies, benefiting from a booming private sector and growing urban centers.

At the heart of Mercy Corps’ leadership team, the Regional Director (RD) is accountable for inspiring and mobilizing teams and partners, translating creative concepts into tangible impacts that resonate not only within Asia but reverberate beyond its borders. With a proven track record, the Regional Director oversees a region that is financially healthy, secure, well-managed, while mentoring and empowering country-based leaders. A strategic architect, the Regional Director oversees the meticulous implementation of Mercy Corps’ ten-year strategy, Pathway to Possibility; this entails identifying and organizing the essential support structures and partnerships vital for achieving enduring impact.

The Regional Director champions Mercy Corps’ overarching vision and programming commitments, positioning the organization as a pioneer of positive change in Asia.

As a key member of the senior leadership team, the Regional Director upholds Mercy Corps’ ethos of impact, innovation, and influence, guiding country and regional leaders beyond day-to-day operations toward sustained positive transformation. In Asia, the Regional Director cultivates a team and program platform synonymous with impact, influence, and innovation, solidifying Mercy Corps role as a leader of change.

The Regional Director is responsible and accountable for the prioritization, operationalization, and advancement of Mercy Corps’ five commitments in their region – climate smart, evidence-driven, innovative & creative, locally led, and safe, diverse, and inclusive. These five commitments underpin the goals and outcomes of P2P across our operations and programs. As Mercy Corps senior leaders, The Regional Director is responsible for embracing our Core Behaviors to continuously learn about, embody, and evolve these five critical commitments. Regional Directors collaborate with global and country stakeholders to advance commitment workstreams and to integrate them into our organizational culture.

Essential Responsibilities

STRATEGY AND VISION

• Lead the Asia Region in the alignment and implementation of the Pathway to Possibility (P2P) by ensuring the development of country strategic plans and regional strategies. Direct regional resources to deliver on articulated priorities.
• Oversee and support the management of country-level strategy, planning, and development processes in line with Mercy Corps’ Pathway to Possibility, ensuring coordination and communication between countries.
• Elevate the region’s profile internally by representing at key internal meetings and liaising with support functions to provide the necessary support to country offices in order to execute their visions.
• Keep abreast of regional trends (social, political, economic, and financial) that impact the region’s strategic goals.
• Provide strategic leadership and oversight to ensure effective, high-quality humanitarian response. This includes responding to new/emerging crises, as well as protracted crises.
• Ensure the region is fulfilling agency standards in terms of emergency preparedness, mitigation and management of emergency/humanitarian response for new/emerging crises.

REGIONAL INITIATIVES

• Supporting the development of a cohesive strategy across the Asia portfolio, building on strong locally-led representation and an emphasis on partnerships with diverse stakeholders within the region.
• Spearhead the development and implementation of innovative programming approaches aimed at addressing emerging challenges and fostering sustainable impact across diverse contexts within the region.
• Maintain proactive awareness and adaptability to evolving socio-political, economic, and environmental contexts, ensuring Mercy Corps’ programs remain responsive and effective amidst dynamic changes.

INFLUENCE AND REPRESENTATION

• Enhance Mercy Corps’ contributions as a leading global and regional partner using data, evidence, and analysis to improve programs, scale what works and influence others to build resilience in the face of conflict and climate change.
• Develop an influence strategy that will expand regional connections and benefit from the region’s expertise and capacity. Engage in advocacy and policy change efforts at the global level to promote effective solutions on behalf of the region.
• Remain engaged with regional civil society leaders, government officials, donors, private sector partners, academics, diplomats, and other stakeholders, that center communities and the people who are impacted by crises and climate change.
• Maintain strong contextual understanding and analysis of regional trends and represent Mercy Corps programs with national and international media as appropriate.
• Proactively engage with donors to shape and influence their strategies and funding priorities for areas that Mercy Corps deems critical for transformational change in the region and partner with donors to explore, evaluate and present innovative funding opportunities that support the objectives for the region as a whole, as well as host governments or regional intergovernmental bodies.

TEAM MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP

• Recruit, onboard, supervise and mentor a safe, diverse, and inclusive regional team, across programmatic and support competencies. Invest in the capacity of the team to meet organizational, regional, and country team objectives. Ensure effective structures in the region and within each country that remain performing with accountability to agency systems, policies, procedures and protocols.
• Ensure effective coordination between regional team members and global functional counterparts.
• Serve as an internal champion for country leaders and regional support teams and advisors, while harnessing and prioritizing organizational resources. Advocate for the team’s needs, and proactively identify and address their concerns.
• Set and communicate clear success metrics for team members to promote accountability for organizational and regional priorities. Provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one-on-ones and annual performance reviews.
• Prioritize hiring diverse talent from the region into leadership positions within country teams and on the regional management team.

PROGRAM DELIVERY MANAGEMENT

• Enable on-time, on-budget, on-scope implementation of complex programs, flagship programs, and regional initiatives, providing troubleshooting and guidance on management issues per Mercy Corps standards.
• Ensure that each country program has a strong representative Senior Management Team in place that is meeting performance expectations and collaborating effectively.
• Collaborate with Global and Regional teams to ensure the highest program quality and technical excellence by supporting countries in their application of Mercy Corps’ policies and frameworks.
• In the event of a major disaster, work and/or liaise with the Vice President of Emergency Response for appropriate deployment or action.
• Ensure that country teams have effective communication mechanisms for program performance, learning and coordination to achieve optimal impact.
• Promote localization efforts by developing meaningful partnerships with a broad range of actors including universities, research institutions, civil society and private sector.

RISK MITIGATION AND MANAGEMENT

• Ensure effective, transparent use of resources in compliance with Mercy Corps and donor policies and host country laws and regulations.
• Oversee and manage regional budgets and other regional initiatives.
• Hold the Country Director (or Representative) accountable as the individual responsible for ensuring global standards in security management are implemented and that adequate goals are set for budgeting, training, and staffing.
• In collaboration with the global security team, be aware of all major incidents and will assist in monitoring adherence to standards and supporting an overall culture of security management.
• Prioritize the focus of the global team and regional security advisors with high risk and high priority areas. Regional leadership will coordinate with Regional Security Advisors to ensure adequate external assistance and reviews are provided to country security operations.
• Oversee the management and resolution of audit findings and operational improvement projects.

PERSONAL LEADERSHIP

• Demonstrate exceptional leadership by consistently delivering expectations and maintaining composure, even in challenging situations.
• Embrace a growth mindset, actively seek diverse perspectives, and welcome feedback to drive continuous improvement.
• Maintain the highest ethical standards, treating all individuals with respect and dignity.
• Demonstrate professionalism in all aspects of life, ensuring that your conduct reflects positively on Mercy Corps and does not compromise its mission or work.

CORE COMMITMENTS

• Mercy Corps’ 10-year strategy – Pathway to Possibility – outlines five commitments that reflect our ambitions tonot only meet the basic needs of communities affected by conflict and climate change, but also to achieve lasting, transformative change at scale.
• The Regional Director is responsible for ensuring that each regional team has defined priorities for each commitment in partnership with relevant global leads and is accountable for operationalizing those priorities.
• The Regional Director is accountable for working with global stakeholders and teams to conceptualize, deliver, and monitor the progress of plans, workstreams, and communication and collaboration modalities required to implement the commitments effectively at the regional level.
• In addition to being responsible and accountable for defining and operationalizing regional priorities for each commitment, the Regional Director is responsible for modeling our Core Behaviors (Cultivate Inclusion; Collaborate; Act with Integrity; Be Curious) and modeling a commitment to advance their learning and leadership of our five commitments.

Supervisory Responsibility

Deputy Regional Director – Programs, Deputy Regional Director – Operations, Country Directors

Accountability

Reporting To: Vice President, Global Program Delivery

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

● Exceptional program and project conceptualization and design skills.

● Successful and proven negotiation, communication, organization, and prioritization skills and experience.

Required Education and Experience

● BA/BS or equivalent in international development, political or social science management or other relevant fields; MA/MS a plus.

● 10 years’ country-based experience in senior management, i.e. Country and/or Regional Director including team management experience, finance and administration; donor relations; and inter/intra-agency communications.

● Significant program operations experience including direct “hands-on” skills in program development, strategic planning, program implementation and evaluation.

● Extensive experience in managing both development and emergency programs. Additional experience working with the private sector is a plus.

● Extensive field experience leading humanitarian protracted and/or post-crisis development programs with demonstrated ability to manage in complex and often insecure working environments.

● Demonstrated understanding of the critical development issues in the assigned region and significant experience with the challenges of operating programs in the region.

● Demonstrated proficiency and experience with United States, European and other public donors, including government grant and financial management requirements.

● Experience managing high-value strategic partnerships with private corporate and foundation donors is essential.

● Strong preference given to candidates from countries in the region.

● Fluency in written and spoken English is required. Fluency in an additional language germane to the portfolio is considered advantageous.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

This position may be based in Bangkok, Thailand; UK; NL; or other regional location based with Mercy Corps presence. This role requires approximately 40% travel to support country programs, which may include travel to insecure locations where freedom of movement is limited and areas where amenities are limited. Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/short term assignment to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC’s policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient, and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. By applying for this role an applicant confirms that they have not previously violated an employer’s sexual misconduct, sexual exploitation and abuse, child safeguarding or trafficking policy. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

As an applicant, if you witness or experience any form of sexual misconduct during the recruitment process, please report this to Mercy Corps Integrity Hotline ([email protected])