Country Manager (Applications will only be accepted if submitted through the URL link provided below)

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse, and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long-term impact.

Program / Department Summary

Working in Lebanon since 1993, Mercy Corps is committed to generating positive opportunities for women, men, boys and girls from Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian communities, with a strong focus on engaging youth. Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping build secure, productive and just communities. Our programs focus on four outcome areas across the humanitarian-development nexus: economic opportunities, access to food, water security and peace and good governance. The Mercy Corps Lebanon team consists of over 50 staff working throughout Mount Lebanon, South Lebanon, North Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.

General Position Summary

The Lebanon Country Manager combines high-level program management, business development leadership and official representation responsibilities. Given the smaller scale of the country mission, the Country Manager will directly oversee program strategy, implementation, and quality, while also acting as the primary representative of Mercy Corps in Lebanon. The role requires a dynamic leader who can provide strategic vision, manage complex multi-sector programs, ensure compliance with donor regulations, and maintain strong relationships with external stakeholders, including donors, local authorities, and national and international partners. The Country Manager will actively participate in portfolio management and portfolio growth with the support of, and under the leadership of, the Regional Multi Country Director of Programs. They will provide leadership, technical oversight, management and strategic vision of the multi-sectoral portfolio that spans humanitarian and development programming while managing staff and resources to ensure that the programs are of highest quality adhere to internal Mercy Corps policies and procedures as well as donor rules and regulations, and meet its targets and deliverables on- time, on-scope and within budget.

Essential Job Responsibilities

STRATEGIC VISION & LEADERSHIP

• With the support of the Regional Multi-Country Director of Programs and Deputy Regional Director Programs, lead on and communicate a clear vision for Mercy Corps’ programs in Lebanon, aligned with regional and global strategies.
• Lead the development and implementation of countrywide strategic plans, ensuring that they are responsive to the rapidly evolving context in Lebanon.
• Pursue new opportunities for innovative programming and to sustain and grow MC portfolio in Lebanon in line with the country strategy.
• Follow analysis of the Lebanon crisis and the impact of policy, political, and military changes on the context, ensuring that this analysis is recognized and incorporated in planning for both short-term humanitarian and longer-term recovery and resilience programming.
• Recognize opportunities for innovative action and create an environment where alternative viewpoints are welcomed and considered.
• Ensure that Mercy Corps strategy is updated and implemented as a collaborative process with MCL team, well communicated and guides decision-making.

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

• Oversee the design, implementation, and monitoring of multi-sector programs, ensuring they are on-time, on-scope, and within budget.
• Work with program leads (Project Manager(s), MEL, CARM) to ensure that all programs adhere to Mercy Corps’ Program Management Minimum Standards (PM@MC 2.0) and meet donor expectations.
• Support and mentor teams, fostering collaboration, learning, continuous improvement and adaptive management.
• Build and maintain operational systems that ensure proper administrative support for programs, as well as segregation of duties between finance and operations.
• Ensure all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm principles, and program participants accountability standards.

STRATEGIC BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

• Lead strategic business development efforts, identifying and securing new funding that align with Mercy Corps’ strategic goals in Lebanon, under the leadership of the Regional Multi-country Director of Programs and with the support of the Regional Program Team.
• Ensure Mercy Corps’ active participation in the development and humanitarian coordination structure, cultivate partnerships with international and national actors to facilitate pre-positioning and advance our localization agenda.
• Track and review new program development opportunities and identify opportunities that match Mercy Corps’ strategic interests in Lebanon on a coordinated and timely basis.
• Ensure each opportunity is fully staffed with a lead writer, coordinator, technical advisor and other required positions, proactively taking on these roles as required.
• Coordinate with partner organizations and field program staff on proposal development and design, including gathering information for concepts and proposals and serving as primary drafter/editor of proposals and needs assessments.
• Apply the agency’s best practices in donor cultivation, pre-positioning, and proposal development efforts for institutional donors.

TEAM MANAGEMENT & SAFEGUARDING

• Develop capacity of the team and assist with career development; Assist team members with information, tools and resources to improve performance & reach objectives.
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one on ones and performance reviews.
• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect and accountability, where team members strive to achieve excellence.
• Lead recruitment efforts for key positions, ensuring the selection of highly qualified and culturally competent staff.
• With the support of the mutli-country DoP, lead restructuring efforts of the program teams as needed to ensure alignment with programmatic needs and available budget.
• Act as safeguarding lead as needed, ensuring staff are trained and reminded on the reporting mechanisms and that the country mission safeguarding action plan is regularly updated.

PROGRAM QUALITY, EVIDENCE & LEARNING

• Communicate a clear vision of program goals and strategies to program team members and stakeholders, translating into concrete work plans.
• Provide leadership to increase coordination, collaboration, communication and harmonization of Mercy Corps programming and operations in Lebanon, ensuring adherence to the highest technical program standards.
• Building a supportive and accountable pathway for Program Managers to fully be responsible for meeting PM@MC standards with minimal oversight from Country Manager over time.
• Liaise with the regional and global teams, including regular updates with the Deputy Regional Director for Programs and regional heads of TRAQ and Evidence and Learning units to ensure MC Lebanon remains on track with regional and global objectives and gets the required support to maintain program performance and quality at the country level.
• Support the QEL Team in ensuring the planning and proactive implementation of high-quality data collection (assessments, evaluations etc…) along with the development and implementation of a learning agenda across programs.
• Build consensus around a common vision of what shared success looks like, including developing and tracking appropriate indicators.
• Ensure programs meet donor and internal obligations on scope, time, and budget, including efficient coordination of program, operational, and financial issues.
• Create and maintain systems to ensure efficient and transparent capture of program data for management decision-making and timely and informative internal and external reporting.
• Oversee the establishment of systems, policies, and approaches necessary to ensure and demonstrate the quality of programs and ensure technical coherence and promote creative programming across the portfolio.
• Ensure that all the program staff have received training in line with their level of responsibility and receive technical support relevant to their programs.
• Coordinate all program units for the timely preparation of quality internal and external reports that flag contractual challenges where necessary.
• Promote an evidence-driven culture, contributing to the establishment of the country’ evidence and learning priorities, in line with the regional Evidence and Learning Agenda.

FINANCE & COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT

• Oversee financial management processes, ensuring transparency, accountability, and compliance with donor regulations and Mercy Corps’ policies.
• Recognize the high level of donor scrutiny in Lebanon programming and ensure continuing effective, transparent and responsive compliance mechanisms are in place.
• Maintain oversight of overall program budgets ensuring appropriate allocation of resources to meet program objectives.
• Ensure all internal control procedures are adhered to and that necessary measures are put in place to ensure high standards of accountability and compliance.
• Create and maintain systems for regular review and implementation of corrective measures based on regular budget variance analysis in line with donor and Mercy Corps policies.

INFLUENCE AND REPRESENTATION

• Hold the legal representation of Mercy Corps in Lebanon.
• With the support of the Regional Multi-Country Director of Programs, represent Mercy Corps Lebanon to donors, government officials, private sector partners, civil society and other stakeholders, ensuring strong partnerships and collaboration.
• Anticipate needs and opportunities, understand donor pool and contribute to shaping donor’s views on development programming in Lebanon through regular engagement, sharing of key products and program udpates.
• Demonstrate flexibility, resilience and ability to maintain positive relationships and composure.
• Develop and maintain internal and external relationships to ensure optimum program success including, ensuring Mercy Corps active representation in sectoral clusters and working group and in the Humanitarian INGO forum.
• Maintain high ethical standards and treat people with respect and dignity.
• Exhibit awareness of his/her own strengths and development needs.

LEARNING

• As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

ACCOUNTABILITY TO AFFECTED POPULATIONS

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts towards accountability, specifically to our program participants and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging program participant communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Supervisory Responsibility: All Country-level Program Teams

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Regional Mutli-Country Director of Programs

Works Directly With: Country Program Team, Regional Leadership, Regional Program and Technical Team, Regional Support Services Teams, Global Program Technical Teams (AMT, BD, TRaQ,  Evidence & Learning, Institutional Donors Engagement), additional global support teams as needed.

Knowledge and Experience

• MA/S or equivalent in relevant field;
• At least 5 years continuous experience in portfolio and/or country management expertise, with technical design and implementation of FSL, cash and market systems development programming; At least 2 years in humanitarian response in a complex context with international NGOs;
• Experience in or cultural roots in the Middle East preferred;
• Experience as a Director of Programs or similar role a strong advantage;
• Strong management, mentorship and leadership skills with ability to build team capacity;
• Strong technical skills in food security, livelihoods, market systems and cash approaches in complex emergency context; Other technical skills in peacebuilding and social cohesion; other approaches to economic growth and integrated water resource management also welcome;
• Strong communications skills with exceptional ability to articulate technical issues with colleagues at different capacity levels;
• Understands donor regulations and compliance (USAID, ECHO, EU, DFID, UN, etc.);
• Ability to work under high pressure with multiple deadlines in a challenging environment;
• Excellent representation abilities with proven experience interacting with authorities, donors and other partners to advance strategic objectives;
• Strong program management skills, promoting innovation, collaborating effectively across sectors and departments and adopting a solution-oriented attitude at all times;
• Ability to adapt and work effectively in a multi-cultural context and remain culturally sensitive and appropriate at all times.
• Excellent oral and written English skills required, proficiency in Arabic an asset.

Success Factors

The successful Country Manager for Lebanon must demonstrate excellent program leadership, and team management, with proven expertise in fostering strong donor, partner, and team relationships. They should be proactive, independent, and capable of multitasking in high-pressure environments. The role requires technical proficiency, adaptability, and resilience, along with the ability to develop and implement large, multi-sector programs. Strong communication, cross-cultural sensitivity, and problem-solving skills are essential, as is the ability to mentor and build capacity within teams. The Country Manager must embody Mercy Corps’ values, maintain a commitment to teamwork and accountability, and navigate evolving challenges with diplomacy, patience, and a sense of humor while ensuring effective decision-making in all situations.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The Country Manager position is based in Beirut Lebanon. When in Lebanon, regular travels to field offices are expected. Security conditions in the country are volatile, with a range of violence and insecurity, requiring close monitoring and vigilance. Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY 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.