Senior Manager, Strategy

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world's largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 40 countries and 29 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. A force for humanity, IRC employees deliver lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions. If you're a solutions-driven, passionate change-maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future.

Job Overview: 

The Strategy & Delivery Unit is a high-profile team that partners with the IRC’s Executive Board and senior leaders to translate IRC’s mission into actionable priorities. We lead strategic planning, advise on organizational transformation, and ensure effective delivery of critical initiatives. Our work spans global operations and influences decisions at the highest levels of the organization.

As Senior Strategy Manager, you will play an important role in delivering IRC’s most critical strategic priorities. You will lead complex, cross-functional projects, support senior leaders in decision-making, and manage others in the SDU as needed to deliver high-quality, evidence-based solutions that drive organizational performance and impact. This position requires strong problem-solving skills, excellent interpersonal skills, a high level of personal initiative, and the ability to work well in a highly multicultural, dynamic environment.

The role sits within the Strategy & Delivery Unit. The formal reporting line is to the Head of Strategy & Delivery, but day-to-day reporting will depend on the assigned project.

Key Responsibilities:

Project Delivery & Problem-Solving

• Manage and oversee large, complex projects, taking ownership for timely, high-quality delivery; scope the work, drive to solutions, and surface and quickly resolve roadblocks as they arise
• Generate actionable insights and evidence-based user-centric solutions, informed by best practices, analysis and extensive consultation with IRC staff
• Apply structure to ambiguous, complex problems and facilitate structured problem-solving sessions with Strategy Unit members and IRC stakeholders
• Validate findings and recommendations with senior stakeholders, facilitating decision making and consensus building meetings on challenging topics

Stakeholder Engagement & Team Leadership

• Collaborate closely with stakeholders across the organization and advise senior decision-makers as needed
• Lead project teams, comprised of Strategy Unit members and often IRC subject matter experts; assign responsibilities, review work for quality, and sharpen the thinking 
• Promote a positive, collaborative, efficient team working environment where team members enjoy working with each other, feel able to do impactful work and grow professionally over time, including through regular developmental feedback

Job Requirements:

Work / Educational Experience:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent
• Approximately 5–7 years of relevant experience, including at least 2 years in a strategy, consulting, or project management role, with a track record of high performance and increasing responsibility

Demonstrated Skills and Competencies:

• Experience in executing strategic change and organizational change management
• Experience in managing large-scale, cross-functional projects in a fast-paced environment
• Strong organizational and time-management skills; proven ability to deliver on time and make progress against multiple simultaneous demands
• Strong analytical skills and natural ability to structure and creatively solve complex problems
• Experience working effectively with stakeholders at all levels, including senior leadership
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills as well as an overall ability to be clear and concise in all communications
• Strong ability to influence and build credibility with senior stakeholders; confident communicating findings and recommendations to executive audiences
• Strong meeting facilitation and presentation skills
• Highly collaborative and able to work independently, in a dynamic, cross-functional global team structure
• Experience managing project teams and coaching more junior team members
• Ability to respond enthusiastically and positively to ambiguity, be resilient to shifting priorities and s