Director, Global Peacebuilding Unit

Countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mali, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tajikistan, Tunisia, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Organization: International Alert

Closing date: 16 Apr 2023

International Alert is seeking a dynamic peacebuilding expert to lead our Global Peacebuilding Unit. This is an exciting role that sits at the heart of International Alert’s peacebuilding expertise and leadership. Reporting to the Global Director of Policy, Advocacy and Communications, you will be responsible for Alert’s global thematic peacebuilding programming and partnerships, and for linking this to our advocacy and influencing to make a compelling case for changes in policy and practice and for peacebuilding itself.

You will lead a high performing team of (currently 9) specialists across our key thematic areas: Gender & Peacebuilding; Climate Crisis and Natural Resource Management; Peace Economies; and our Global Conflict Hub.

You will shape and deliver ambitious plans to achieve change in Alert’s global influencing priority areas, and to strengthen our partnerships with others, especially development actors, to promote conflict sensitivity and peace-positive investment. You’ll strengthen the support and technical assistance the GPU offers to our country teams, adding strategic value to our in-country work and working with our regional programming leads to support peacebuilding quality and cross-organisational learning on peacebuilding themes and trends. Responsible for the Unit’s budget (currently a little under £1.5m), you’ll also secure new funds, maintain key donor relationships, and evolve the business model for the unit’s long-term sustainability.

Whether you are representing Alert as an expert spokesperson, collaborating with Alert’s country teams to share learning, or coaching and steering the GPU team, you will get to work flexibly across a broad portfolio of issues and geographies. As a member of Alert’s global leadership team and Executive Team, you will play an important role in the overall success of the organisation.

We are looking for a candidate with strong experience and knowledge of peacebuilding, and the ability to lead, nurture and motivate an expert team. You will have a proven ability to manage complex projects and budgets, with experience of income generation and good financial acumen. Our ideal candidate will be a brilliant leader, collaborator and peacebuilder, with great ambition and focus.

Role duties and responsibilities:

Provide strategic leadership to the team

• Oversee the implementation of the Unit’s existing strategy and develop propositions for future strategy;


• Develop, implement, monitor, adjust and report on the Unit’s workplans;


• Lead the team, ensuring coherence across the different aspects of its work;


• Guide, motivate and manage the performance of the four thematic leads, coaching and mentoring them to anticipate and solve problems and effectively manage their own teams and areas of work;


• Ensure that the team is structured to be effective and efficient, and that it can access the support required from other functions such as finance, HR, and fundraising;


• Position and represent the team across the organisation, building a shared understanding among Alert teams of the role of the Unit and the support and added value it offers.

Oversee global thematic programmes, secure new funds, manage donor relationships and ensure the Unit’s long-term sustainability

• Lead and play a hands-on role in the development of project proposals for global programmes to ensure a sustainable and broad fundraising pipeline, ensuring that GPU staff, programme design and fundraising staff, and regional programme colleagues as appropriate are fully involved. Approve proposals being submitted to donors;


• Work with senior leadership, the Unit and our peacebuilding teams globally to strengthen peace-positive approaches among our current and potential partners and draw and share lessons on emerging peacebuilding trends and across key thematic areas


• Implement and develop/evolve a business model for the Unit that is realistic and achieves financial sustainability for the team;


• Ensure timely and high-quality reports are provided to donors, demonstrating project’s impacts;


• Build strong relationships with key funding partners;


• Work with the finance department and GPU colleagues to develop and manage an annual working budget (currently just under £2m), and to monitor financial performance;


• Ensure that programme funds are spent in compliance with Alert policies, donor budgets and any other stipulations – including funds passed to partners;


• Ensure that resources purchased with donor funds are used appropriately and maintained securely.

Ensure the Unit provides strong technical support to country programmes, and work with others across Alert on this support overall

• Support the team leaders to ensure that the Unit provides high-quality support to country programmes in the thematic areas on which it leads (Gender & Peacebuilding; Climate Crisis & Natural Resource Management; Peace Economies; and conflict sensitivity)


• Work with the Programmes leadership team to ensure that Alert as a whole has the right technical support in areas outside the thematic areas on which the Unit currently leads (for example on peacebuilding approaches, programming framework, impact and learning), as part of an internal ecosystem of peacebuilding expertise and innovation;


• Ensure that advisory approaches and ways of working contribute to and promote a strong culture of learning and trust across country teams;


• Develop and ensure uptake of research, conflict-sensitivity and gender-sensitivity standards within Alert;


• Consider new models for Alert’s future advisory expertise, including more decentralised models, in line with reflections on our next strategy during 2023, and implement or support the implementation of these over time once agreed.

Support Alert’s global policy advocacy

• Support the Global Director of Policy, Advocacy and Communication in designing and implementing plans to achieve change among global decision-makers on the thematic priorities on which the Unit leads. Currently Gender, Peace and Security and Climate and Natural Resource Management are our two influencing priorities here.


• Support the Unit’s thematic programmes leads to achieve peacebuilding impact and help translate local insights into global expertise and advocacy;


• Lead Alert’s engagement on selected policy processes and initiatives, including engagement in major international reviews, conferences;


• Develop and maintain collaborative relationships with other organisations and networks in the peacebuilding sector and beyond;


• Ensure Alert’s research outputs in these thematic areas are of high quality and designed from the start to achieve change;


• Represent the organisation externally.

Contribute to Alert’s strategic thinking

• Act as a thought leader within Alert on peacebuilding issues and trends in our sector, in particular scoping new/emerging dynamics and trends influencing Alert’s peacebuilding work


• Build Alert’s capacity to track these issues and trends and use them to inform decision-making and future strategic thinking


• Act as a full member of Alert’s Executive Team.

Please note that the above are just some of the role requirements. To view the full job description, please click here.

How to apply

Please follow this link to apply.

Applications on a job-share basis are welcome.

The closing date for all applications is the 16th of April, 2023.

The first round of interviews are expected to be held w/c 24th of April, 2023.

All job applicants must already have the right to work in the country in which they intend to be based.

We will be happy to disclose the salary and applicable benefits to applicants as part of this process, however, please kindly note that this will vary according to the location of the appointed candidate and therefore it is not possible to include full details here. We endeavour to offer a competitive salary and benefit package applicable to the location of the appointed candidate.

International Alert prides itself on being an equal opportunity employer and particularly welcomes applications from underrepresented people including women, people from the Global South, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ people, disabled people, and other historically marginalised people.

While International Alert will endeavour to contact all candidates within a reasonable time, this may not always be possible due to limited resources. Therefore, if you have not heard from us within two weeks of the closing date, you can assume that your application has, on this occasion, been unsuccessful.