Senior Operations Officer at Mercy Corps

Location: Maiduguri – Borno State

Program/Department Summary

• With the insurgency affecting North East Nigeria and displacing millions of people, Mercy Corps is expanding its humanitarian programming to support the conflict-affected population in Borno.
• In response to the ongoing crisis, Mercy Corps is scaling-up food security, non-food items, nutrition, protection, livelihoods, and water sanitation hygiene (WASH) activities in Dikwa, Ngala, and Jere Local Government Areas in Borno State to address emergency needs.

General Position Summary

• Mercy Corps is looking for a Senior Operations Officer (SPO) who will be responsible for managing Mercy Corps’ operational functions in the Maiduguri Office and all field locations, including Dikwa, Ngala and Jere.
• The SPO ensures the maintenance of all field support operation functions in a timely manner. The SPO oversees all arrangements and coordination for program support logistical duties.

Essential Job Functions
Project Goods/Commodities Logistics:

• Oversees all activities associated with the delivery and receipt of goods/commodities from internal or external vendors to planned destinations in  Miaduguri office in coordination with MC staff
• Plan goods delivery to MC Maiduguri office or Project sites in accordance to the needs, while minimizing cost and taking into account any other delay effects
• Maintain strict adherence to relevant donor policies and procedures
• Negotiating contracts with  any service providers and suppliers
• Complete required and customary documentation for any goods such as waybills, bills of lading, customs declarations etc
• Troubleshoot any problems with the goods/commodities pipeline or delivery schedules from Abuja to Maiduguri.
• Maintain contact with partners (NGO partners and others) to ensure smooth coordination of operations activities
• All other activities to ensure the smooth and consistent delivery of goods and supplies to offices or distributions points.
• Procurement - Participates in all procurement activities to ensure purchasing is done according to Mercy Corps procurement policy and completed in a timely manner, including, but not limited to:
  • Obtains quotations and pro forma invoices from suppliers and vendors as necessary;
  • Prepares Quotation Analysis and submits to the relevant supervisors.
  • Completes Goods Received Notes for items received from Abuja office.
  • Maintains current and orderly files of all procurement documents processed through the Abuja office.
  • Maintain the PR linked database in computer and ensures the hardcopy files match the database softcopy

File Maintenance:

• All operations files must be clearly maintained. These files must always be updated, organized, clearly marked, and complete.
• Pipeline prospectus reports for all good/commodities request by MC in for Maiduguri office or program, produced and filed by field office or program.
• Warehouse reports (including receipts, dispatches, internal waybills, and information regarding laborers and equipment), produced and filed by month
• Manuals, documentation, receipts, shipping documents, and other critical information such as passwords or programming  is to be safely kept
• Copies of goods receiving notes for all procured items purchased in Nigeria Abuja And transferred to MC Maiduguri field office

Field Asset Management:

• Maintain the asset records for the Maiduguri office and update a centralized Assets inventory of all MC Nigeria offices
• Ensure all the items bought that falls under Asset category according to MC Policies are properly registered on the Asset Register with all the required information
• Maintain a softcopy of the Asset Register for Maiduguri
• Liaise with the field offices on the Assets Management, monitor if the register is properly maintained and it matches with the centralized softcopy.
• Every six months review and physically crosscheck the Asset Register with the assets to ensure the asset tags are available on the assets and update the assets condition – depreciation if applicable.
• Overall responsibility for the MC Nigeria Operations
• Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps.
• Perform other tasks as requested and needed by the Mercy Corps Operations in Maiduguri
• Conduct him/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to mercy corps and not to jeopardize its humanitarian mission
• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by Mercy Corps Country Program.
• Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

Organizational 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 Beneficiaries:

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

Knowledge and Experience

• At least 3 - 4 years’ experience in Accounting, Economics, Logistics and Procurement Management, Business Management, or related field ( with international NGOs is an asset)
• Relevant qualifications and/or experience in an area of logistics, supply chain management or equivalent.
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation and coaching
• Three to four years’ experience in logistics and procurement with strong organizational skills, ability to maintain the procurement and logistics filing system, ability to interact effectively with international and national personnel, adaptability to unanticipated circumstances.
• Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well in an international environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures
• Experience managing the development, implementation, administration, and compliance of US Government, ECHO/EC, UN, private foundation, and corporate grants, and related projects.
• Experience in managing the operations component of a food distribution program
• Microsoft Office computer skills and experience with using email.
• Proven ability to solve problems independently without supervision
• Ability to communicate in English, Kanuri and Hausa

Success Factors

• The successful candidate will be capable of multi-tasking, rapid decision-making, have initiative, drive and a lot of energy, as well as high emotional intelligence, constructive mentoring skills and proven experience with capacity building.
• S/he will be committed to long-term program sustainability and the delivery of high-impact activities at the community level. Successful Mercy Corps team members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and challenging environments, and make effective written and verbal communication a priority.
• In particular, the successful candidate will be willing to travel to locations such as Dikwa and Ngala according to the needs of the Mercy Corps program. This will mean sometimes staying and working in stressful environments with very basic living conditions, strictly following security protocols at all times and sometimes working long and irregular hours.
• Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and Mercy Corps' policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.