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About the Role

This role provides strategic leadership for World Vision's humanitarian policy, advocacy, and external engagement agenda, ensuring the organization is well-represented and influential in global humanitarian decision-making processes. It serves as a critical bridge between disaster management and advocacy, aligning priorities and translating global efforts with operational realities.

Responsibilities

Provide senior-level representation of World Vision within the United Nations system and broader humanitarian architecture.
Lead humanitarian engagement with UN Headquarters, Permanent Missions, Member States, UN agencies, intergovernmental processes, humanitarian networks, and strategic partners.
Provide strategic leadership in identifying and prioritizing issues, stakeholders, forums, and key moments for World Vision's engagement.
Ensure World Vision's visibility, credibility, and influence in key humanitarian policy, coordination, and decision-making forums.
Identify opportunities to strengthen strategic partnerships, collaboration, and influence.
Lead a globally dispersed team of humanitarian policy and advocacy professionals.
Provide strategic direction, prioritization, and oversight for the humanitarian policy and advocacy agenda.
Ensure coherence across New York, Geneva, Rome, and other global engagement hubs.
Create and sustain strong links between the Humanitarian Policy, Advocacy, and External Engagement Team and the wider Advocacy & External Engagement function.
Foster a high-performing, collaborative, and values-driven culture within the team.
Strengthen capability, talent development, staff well-being, and succession planning.
Oversee and strengthen World Vision’s humanitarian thought leadership, policy influence, and learning agenda.
Ensure policy, advocacy, partnership, and external engagement priorities are grounded in field realities and operational experience.
Support the development of research, publications, policy positions, strategic messaging, and evidence-based insights.
Maintain regular engagement with regional and field leadership to ensure a strong connection between global influencing efforts and humanitarian operations.
Coordinate field advocacy approaches and provide offices with a unified direction.
Strengthen two-way connections across the Partnership, ensuring local-to-global and global-to-local learning inform organizational priorities.
Provide senior leaders with strategic analysis, executive briefings, key messages, talking points, stakeholder profiles, meeting preparation, and policy guidance.
Advise senior leaders on emerging humanitarian trends, risks, opportunities, and their implications for World Vision’s strategic positioning.
Support senior leaders in representing World Vision consistently and credibly across external engagements, high-level events, diplomatic meetings, and humanitarian forums.

Requirements

Minimum 15 years of progressive leadership experience in humanitarian action, policy, advocacy, partnerships, or related fields, including significant experience in senior management roles.
Substantial field-based humanitarian experience, including exposure to large-scale emergencies and humanitarian coordination mechanisms.
In-depth understanding of the global humanitarian system, including humanitarian coordination architecture, reform processes, humanitarian principles, International Humanitarian Law (IHL), and relevant frameworks and standards.
Strong knowledge of humanitarian diplomacy, multilateral processes, and policy influencing, including engagement with the United Nations system, Member States, and intergovernmental bodies.
Demonstrated experience shaping humanitarian policy and advocacy strategies, building strategic partnerships, and representing organizations in high-level external and multilateral forums.
Deep understanding of the global humanitarian system, including United Nations (UN), Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), Member State, and inter-agency coordination mechanisms.
Demonstrated experience influencing humanitarian policy, advocacy, and partnership agendas through engagement with UN agencies, donor governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), humanitarian networks, and other key stakeholders.
Proven ability to analyze complex humanitarian, political, and policy issues and translate evidence into clear, persuasive, and actionable recommendations.
Exceptional communication and representation skills, including experience engaging senior UN officials, Member States, donors, and humanitarian leaders.
Experience leading multicultural and geographically dispersed teams, combined with strong strategic thinking, partnership-building, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills.
Highly organized, resilient, and solutions-oriented, with the ability to manage competing priorities, complex stakeholder relationships, and tight deadlines.
Established networks and significant experience engaging with United Nations agencies, donor governments, non-governmental organizations, faith-based organizations, and other key humanitarian stakeholders.
Strong strategic, analytical, and communication skills.
Experience strengthening organizational influence through external engagement, strategic positioning, partnerships, representation in senior humanitarian forums, and humanitarian thought leadership.
Ability and willingness to travel domestically and internationally, including to humanitarian contexts, donor capitals, and key policy, advocacy, and partnership forums, as required.
Flexibility to work across multiple time zones and accommodate occasional extended working hours.
Availability to deploy, when required, for short-term assignments to humanitarian and fragile contexts.
Ability to operate effectively in dynamic, complex, and high-pressure environments.
Position is required to be based in New York.
Candidates must already possess the legal right to live and work in the United States at the time of application.
Ability to work for extended periods using standard office technology and participate in virtual and in-person meetings.
Ability to operate effectively in diverse environments, including humanitarian and fragile contexts, where working and living conditions may at times be challenging.
Local Applicants Only.

Skills

Humanitarian action
Policy
Advocacy
Partnerships
Senior management
Field-based humanitarian experience
Humanitarian coordination mechanisms
International relations
International development
Humanitarian affairs
Public policy
Law
Political science
Global humanitarian system
Humanitarian coordination architecture
Humanitarian principles
International Humanitarian Law (IHL)
Humanitarian diplomacy
Multilateral processes
Policy influencing
United Nations system engagement
Member States engagement
Intergovernmental bodies engagement
Shaping humanitarian policy
Advocacy strategies
Building strategic partnerships
External representation
Multilateral forums representation
UN system understanding
Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) understanding
Member State coordination mechanisms understanding
Inter-agency coordination mechanisms understanding
Influencing humanitarian policy
Advocacy agendas
Partnership agendas
UN agency engagement
Donor government engagement
Non-governmental organization (NGO) engagement
Humanitarian network engagement
Stakeholder engagement
Analyzing complex humanitarian issues
Analyzing complex political issues
Analyzing complex policy issues
Translating evidence into recommendations
Communication skills
Representation skills
Engaging senior UN officials
Engaging Member States
Engaging donors
Engaging humanitarian leaders
Preparing executive briefings
Preparing policy papers
Preparing speeches
Preparing high-level correspondence
Leading multicultural teams
Leading geographically dispersed teams
Strategic thinking
Partnership-building
Negotiation skills
Stakeholder management skills
Resilience
Solutions-oriented
Managing competing priorities
Managing complex stakeholder relationships
Managing tight deadlines
Fostering a positive working environment
Fostering a collaborative working environment
Fostering an accountable working environment
Developing teams
Inspiring teams
Multidisciplinary teams
Virtual teams
Strategic analysis
Translating complex issues into actionable recommendations
Influencing senior decision-makers
English proficiency
French proficiency (desirable)
Arabic proficiency (desirable)
Spanish proficiency (desirable)
Portuguese proficiency (desirable)
Multiple UN languages knowledge (asset)

Location

New York

Work Type

Full-time
International travel

Experience Level

Minimum 15 years of progressive leadership experience
Significant experience in senior management roles

Education Level

Postgraduate degree in international relations, international development, humanitarian affairs, public policy, law, political science or a related field.

Salary/Compensations

117075 USD to 156100 USD

About the Company

With 75 years of experience, our focus is on helping the most vulnerable children overcome poverty and experience fullness of life.
We help children of all backgrounds, even in the most dangerous places, inspired by our Christian faith.
Come join our 31,000+ staff working in nearly 100 countries and share the joy of transforming vulnerable children’s life stories!
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organisation with a mission centred on following Jesus Christ in service to the world´s most vulnerable children.

Equal Opportunity

In all locations to the fullest extent legally permissible, the successful applicant will affirm our core documents, observe conduct compatible with Christian principles, serve at a high level of professional ethics and strive to act in accordance with cultural sensitivities.
Regular attendance with team and office devotions, chapel and prayer gatherings are expected in line with policies in the World Vision host location and its departments.