Global Operations and Policy Support Lead

Background

Turquoise Mountain is a British charity that was founded in 2006. We believe artisanal heritage matters and has the power to transform lives. We support artisans to thrive and to revitalise traditions in regions of the world where artisanal heritage is endangered, and to connect people through heritage.

Turquoise Mountain is a fast-growing organisation. Turquoise Mountain has grown from its initial office in Afghanistan to offices in Afghanistan, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, and the Levant (Amman and Bethlehem), and has over 400 international and local staff members worldwide. In addition, we work with thousands of artisans and varied beneficiary communities. Each operating environment is unique; our offices operate at different levels of funding, scale, maturity and face their own challenges. During this time of growth and transition, we are seeking to harmonize our operations policies and procedures, and to implement these consistently and effectively in the places we work. This requires an approach that is action-driven, ambitious but realistic, and above all practical and creative. We strive for best practices but recognize that best practices might look different in different settings. Creating more harmony and consistency at policy and operational level across the organisation requires buy-in at each level of country teams and is part of a strategic drive to create efficient and effective global teams.

Job Description

Job Title: Global Operations and Policy Support Lead
Department: TM Global (central) team
Team: Global Operations
Reports to (Line Manager): COO

Job Purpose Summary
The role of the Global Operations and Policy Support Lead is to drive the creation or updating, and implementation of policies across TMs operational centres. This will be achieved by providing support and working in collaboration with in-country teams based in Afghanistan, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia and the Levant, as well as the central, Global team.

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities

1. Ensure countries and corporate functions have governance, operations, and compliance policies in place that reflect best practices in the sector and ensure smooth, fair, compliant, and transparent global operations.
2. Review current governance, operations, and compliance policies in place across the organisation, with attention to global consistency as well as country-specific regulatory and operational frameworks.
3. Manage the updating and dissemination of group policies, and the creation of new policies where gaps are identified.
4. Support the ongoing development and maintenance of a policy library on SharePoint.
5. Assist countries and corporate functions to translate policy into action: Ensuring systems and procedures are identified and operationally viable, to ensure not only policy compliance, but also effective and efficient operational management.
6. Define, implement, measure, and improve policy-related work processes that will drive operational efficiency and impact, analysing and improving current processes.
7. Help develop templates, instructions for policies, processes**,** and standards for operational and departmental leaders.
8. Identify ways to reduce the pressure of policy compliance on teams, identifying duplication and helping to refine day-to-day practices.
9. Lead on policy management and implementation trainings
10. Contribute to the evaluation of overall company performance across operational activities, providing all necessary reports,
11. Develop and maintain positive, strong partnerships with colleagues and stakeholders across all TM areas of operation and management.
12. Identify country training needs for policy and compliance and report to COO.

This list is not exhaustive, and other duties may be required as determined by the needs of the organisation.

Person Profile

Job Title: Global Operations and Policy Support Lead

Professional approach: Constructive and collegiate style that contributes to team harmony and builds community.

Personal attributes:
Must be willing to travel to all areas of operation – Afghanistan, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia and the Levant.Although this is a home-based role, frequent travel will be required to work with in-country teams.
The majority of TM’s central (Global) team work in the UK or Western Europe (GMT/ CET time zones), therefore it would be beneficial for the post-holder to live/ work within or close to these time zones.
Must be willing and able to work from home in a remote role.
Must have the ability, experience**,** and judgement to work autonomously where required.

Specific job skills and experience:

Essential
Experience in developing and implementing policy within a complex multi-national organisation.
Experience of supporting highly diverse teams through change or continuous improvement cycles.
Extensive experience of managing multiple stakeholder groups and managing dispersed project teams.
Proven ability to liaise with, understand, develop, motivate**,** and influence people both internally and externally.
Excellent organisational and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple projects and priorities simultaneously.
Experience of working within operational teams within a similar organisation.
Experience of working in the INGO community.

Desirable
Experience of working in any of our countries/ areas of operation – Afghanistan, Myanmar, Saudia Arabia, the Levant.

Digital skills and experience:
Confident user of MS Office applications including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, Outlook, Teams.
Able to form relationships and connect with stakeholders remotely.

Literacy, Numeracy and Language skills:
Must have exceptional communication skills.
An excellent standard of written English is essential.
The ability to communicate with stakeholders at all levels of the organisation is essential.
Other local languages may be beneficial, though are not essential.

Management Abilities:
Although this role does not require any direct line management, the post-holder will be expected to manage project teams and operate within a matrix management structure when working on specific projects. Therefore, experience of managing dispersed teams is essential.

Contract Terms
The role will be remote, working from home within a reasonable time difference from the UK/ central Europe. Candidates must have the right to work in their country of residence.
The role is offered as a full-time role (37.5 hours per week) for an initial 12-month fixed term.
The salary offered is in the region of $68,000 per annum and will be paid in either local currency (e.g. £STG / €EUR) or USD.