Regional Humanitarian Manager - Middle East and Asia (MEA)

Cordaid; Middle (NV); Remote; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Cordaid is seeking a Regional Humanitarian Manager for the MEA region. The role will lead humanitarian strategy, crisis preparedness, and response across Middle East and Asia, enabling local partners to lead while ensuring principled, locally led, and well-coordinated actions.

The position is home-based in the MEA region with up to 50% travel. Requires a Master’s degree and 10+ years of leadership in humanitarian settings, plus fluency in Arabic and English and strong donor engagement experience.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in humanitarian leadership and crisis management.
• Fluency in Arabic and English.
• Deep knowledge of CHS, SPHERE, and triple nexus.
• Experience with local partners and capacity strengthening.
• Proven donor engagement with major humanitarian funders.
• Willingness to travel up to 50% within MEA.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for humanitarian action across MEA and support rapid crisis decision-making.
• Strengthen regional preparedness and crisis readiness and coordinate with ACT Alliance and Caritas fora.
• Foster equitable partnerships with national and local partners and support localisation.
• Link emergency response to longer-term systems strengthening and resilience.
• Ensure compliance with CHS, SPHERE, protection, and safeguarding across responses.
• Engage with institutional donors and build a healthy regional funding pipeline.
• Represent Cordaid in humanitarian coordination clusters, UN/OCHA, and donor forums.
• Manage risk, safeguarding, and integrity within regional operations.

Skills

Leadership experience

Arabic & English

CHS & SPHERE

Donor engagement

Partnership development

Strategic thinking

Travel up to 50%

Education

Master’s degree in humanitarian assistance or related field

Job description

Regional Humanitarian Manager - Middle East and Asia (MEA)

Cordaid is an international organisation for development and humanitarian assistance, working especially in fragile and conflict-affected regions. Guided by Christian values of human dignity, justice and compassion, we work towards a world without poverty and with equitable opportunities for all.

More than 1.9 billion people live in fragile contexts where access to essential services and opportunities is limited. Together with our partners, we support locally led programmes that strengthen healthcare, education, agrifood and justice systems. When crises occur, we work alongside local organisations to provide humanitarian assistance worldwide. Cordaid has Regional cores in Europe, West Africa, East, Central and Southern Africa and in the Middle East and Asia. In our development work we work with 15 country offices, in our humanitarian work we operate worldwide and needs based, mainly through our networks of ACT Alliance and Caritas.

Our organisation operates through a domain-based model, where regional teams work closest to partners and context, supported by specialised domains that provide technical expertise, quality standards, donor engagement and compliance. This interdependent way of working enables us to combine local ownership with strong organisational standards and deliver effective, context-driven programmes.

Regional Humanitarian Manager - Middle East and Asia (MEA)

(Fulltime, home-based in the MEA region)

• As our Regional Humanitarian Manager for MEA, you provide strategic leadership for humanitarian action, emergency preparedness, and crisis response across the Middle East and Asia. Working at the interface between the MEA Regional Core and the global Humanitarian Assistance Platform, you ensure that humanitarian responses are principled, locally led, conflict-sensitive, and effectively integrated into regional strategies and Country Engagement Models (triple nexus approach). Rather than managing direct programme implementation, you enable local partners to lead, by strengthening preparedness, technical quality, and organisational readiness in highly volatile environments. You report directly to the MEA Regional Director.
• What you do
• Humanitarian Leadership & Strategy: Provide strategic leadership and expert advice on humanitarian action across the MEA region, supporting Regional Directors and country teams in rapid crisis decision-making while upholding humanitarian principles, CHS, and SPHERE guidelines.
• Emergency Preparedness & Response: Strengthen regional preparedness and crisis readiness in high-risk contexts by coordinating regional contingency planning, supporting emergency response activations, promoting anticipatory action, and coordinating with regional ACT Alliance and Caritas fora.
• Humanitarian Partnerships & Localisation: Foster equitable partnerships with national and local humanitarian partners across MEA, supporting partner preparedness, capacity sharing, and local leadership in complex emergency settings.
• Triple Nexus & Conflict Sensitivity: Spearhead the humanitarian-development-peace nexus approach, linking emergency response and recovery to longer-term systems strengthening, protection, and peacebuilding while ensuring robust conflict-sensitive programming. Sectoral interventions focus on life-saving support like FSL, WASH and Shelter, but extend to other sectors where needed.
• Technical Quality & Accountability: Ensure compliance with international humanitarian standards, accountability to affected populations (AAP), protection, and safeguarding across regional responses in close coordination with the Global Humanitarian Assistance Platform.
• Resource Mobilization & Positioning: Support strategic engagement with institutional humanitarian donors (ECHO, BHA, UN agencies, Country-Based Humanitarian Funds) and collaborate with the Business Development Manager to build a healthy regional humanitarian funding pipeline. Coordination with the Global Humanitarian Assistance Platform on Dutch and Europe based funds (SHO, DRA, START) and with ACT Alliance and Caritas at regional and country level to pursue funding opportunities.
• Networking, Representation & Advocacy: Represent the Regional Core in humanitarian coordination clusters, UN/OCHA meetings, INGO platforms, and donor forums to advance strategic priorities and advocate for principled, locally led responses. ACT Alliance and Caritas country fora are instrumental for Cordaid to channel its humanitarian interventions.
• Risk Management, Safeguarding & Integrity: Implement Cordaid’s Integrity Compliance Framework, manage complex operational, security, and contextual risks, and provide high standards of duty of care and safeguarding.

Who you are

• You hold a Master’s degree in Humanitarian Assistance, International Development, Disaster Management, International Relations, or a related field.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible experience in humanitarian leadership, emergency response, and crisis management in complex, politically sensitive, and conflict-affected environments.
• Extensive understanding of the humanitarian sector and conflict dynamics across the Middle East and Asia (MEA), including a strong awareness of cultural dynamics in the Middle East. Fluency in Arabic and English, both written and spoken, is essential.
• Sound practical expertise in Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS), SPHERE guidelines, cash transfer modalities, protection in humanitarian settings, and the triple nexus approach.
• Proven track record in working through national and local partners, driving localisation, and supporting partner capacity strengthening in emergency settings.
• Demonstrated experience engaging with institutional humanitarian donors (ECHO, BHA, UN/CBHF, bilateral donors), humanitarian networks such as ACT Alliance and Caritas, and a diverse range of stakeholders.
• Strong strategic thinking, diplomatic negotiation, analytical and financial management skills, with the ability to effectively communicate, advocate and navigate donor environments and complex humanitarian contexts.
• Able to work and communicate effectively with a wide range of actors, including church leaders, aid recipients, business representatives and local partners, while connecting humanitarian issues to other domains within Cordaid. Experience advocating and lobbying on sensitive issues, such as Israel-Palestine, is an asset.
• Willingness to be home-based in the MEA region, with flexibility to travel up to 50% of the time within the region. A hands-on mentality, flexibility, and availability outside regular office hours are required.
• You recognize yourself in Cordaid’s mission and values and have knowledge of, and affinity with, the faith-based identity of Cordaid, its partners, and its networks.

What we offer

• A high-profile senior leadership position within an international, professional organization with a focus on social impact.
• A varied, highly impactful, and autonomous role where strategic initiative and vision are essential.
• A global organization with a strong commitment to social entrepreneurship and locally led impact.
• Good international working conditions and excellent secondary benefits.
• An initial contract for 1 year with the intention of extending, home-based in the MEA region.
• Hybrid working conditions and a market-conform contract with employment terms and conditions aligned with the responsibilities of the position.

Acquisition regarding this vacancy is not appreciated.