Technical Advisor I-Shelter & Settlements RAPID

Catholic Relief Services; United States; Remote; USD 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Catholic Relief Services seeks a technical advisor for Shelter and Settlements, primarily remote in the United States. You will guide program design, quality standards and donor-aligned approaches across country programs, ensuring strong implementation and learning.

The role emphasizes capacity strengthening, proposal development and cross-sector coordination, with travel up to 50%. Fluency in English is required and other languages are a plus, to support global programming.

Qualifications

• Experience in project design and proposal development.
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation and analysis.
• Experience with donors, partners and faith-based civil society organizations; strong relationship management.

Responsibilities

• Support the development and implementation of agency-wide strategies, standards, tools and best practices in Shelter and Settlements.
• Provide technical solutions for CP teams, remotely and on-site, for strategic planning and how to apply standards, tools and M&E.
• Assist in development of technical design for proposals and support design, submission and approval processes.
• Support capacity strengthening initiatives through learning strategies, curricula, trainings and coaching.
• Collect and analyze program data, capture lessons learned and share best practices to improve decision-making.
• Maintain relationships with donors, peer organizations and research institutions; participate in forums to promote CRS' work.

Skills

MS Office

Web Conferencing

Budget management

Shelter & Settlements

Proposal development

Capacity strengthening

Monitoring & evaluation

Donor relations

Partnership principles

Relationship management

Strategic thinking

Technical writing

Training & coaching

Problem solving

Cross-cultural

Job description

Location: United States

Position duration: Tentative September 2026 - December 31, 2027

Note: this is a remote position, and relocation is not being offered.

Project Overview:

Catholic Relief Services is implementing a global emergency response initiative designed to deliver timely, life-saving humanitarian assistance in rapidly evolving crises worldwide. This program will enable fast, flexible action to address urgent needs arising from sudden shocks and protracted emergencies. It supports critical humanitarian sectors through context-appropriate assistance while emphasizing operational readiness, rapid response activation, locally led implementation, accountability to affected communities, and safe, dignified programming. The initiative strengthens the organization’s ability to respond at speed and scale in complex and resource-constrained environments, ensuring help reaches people most in need when it matters most.

Job Summary

You will provide technical advice and support to a range of program design and implementation issues in the area of Shelter and Settlements in line with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) program quality principles and standards, donor guidelines, and industry best practices to Country Program (CP) teams to advance the delivery of high-quality programming to the poor and vulnerable. Your advice, knowledge, and support will contribute to determining how effective, adaptive and innovative CRS' Shelter and Settlements programming is across the globe.

Roles and Key Responsibilities

• Support the development and contribute to the implementation of agency-wide strategies, standards, tools and best practices in Shelter and Settlementsthat effectively engage partners, donors, and governments. Help ensure a cross-sectoral approach integrating gender, protection mainstreaming, and disaster risk reduction.
• Provide technical solutions to CP teams, remotely and on-site, for strategic planning and how to best apply standards, best practices, partnership principles, tools and M&E, helping to ensure high-quality implementation.
• Contribute to the development of the technical design for proposals. Support the process of preparation, design, submission and approval of project concepts and full-fledged proposals. As needed, act as a technical writer on proposal development teams. Advise project teams on integrating donor strategies, priorities and technical requirements into CRS' approach.
• Support capacity strengthening initiatives in Shelter and Settlementsprogramming for staff and partners through helping develop learning and training strategies and agendas/curriculums, conducting trainings and workshops, and coaching.
• Collect and analyze program data, capture and share lessons learned and best practices for specific projects to facilitate improvements in decision-making and contribute to the Shelter and Settlements learning agenda.
• Contribute to maintaining relationships with donors, peer organizations, research and other institutions, participate in forums in Shelter and Settlements to collect and share best practices and promote CRS' work.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Proficient in MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, information and budget management systems, knowledge-sharing networks.
• Knowledge of technical principles and concepts in Shelter & Settlements. General knowledge of other related disciplines to ensure a proper cross-sectoral approach.
• Experience in project design and proposal development. Experience in writing content for proposals.
• Knowledge of capacity-strengthening best practices.
• Experience with program monitoring and evaluation and analysis.
• Experience and skills in networking and relations with donors, peer organizations, and faith-based civil society partners. Understanding of partnership principles.
• Strong relationship management skills with ability to influence and get buy-in from people not under direct supervision and to work with individuals in diverse geographical and cultural settings
• Good strategic, analytical, problem-solving and systems thinking skills with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment
• Good technical writing skills
• Presentation, facilitation, training, mentoring, and coaching skills
• Proactive, resourceful and results-oriented

Required Languages: English fluency required. Arabic, French, Spanish, and/or Portuguese a plus.

Travel: Must be willing and able to travel up to 50%.

Supervisory Responsibilities: None