Technical Director

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This role leads MapAction’s technical strategy ensuring the organisation has an exceptional technical offering in a highly dynamic situation and that it is evolving its technical capability to deliver on all aspects of the organisation’s work.

As an inspirational leader with strong technology experience you’ll be taking MapAction’s current technology to the next level. You are a visionary who can make and implement plans. An excellent communicator you are a team player who can mobilise and lead the organisation’s skilled membership to be an outstanding technical provider. You’ll need to have extensive domain knowledge and a significant understanding of the latest advances and trends in the technology marketplace. You will be knowledgeable of industry advances and have the capability to adapt these opportunities to MapAction’s mission.

Role purpose

This role leads MapAction’s technical strategy ensuring the organisation has a relevant and forward looking technical offering for a highly dynamic situation and that the organisation is efficiently evolving its technical capacity to deliver on all aspects of its work.

Main Responsibilities

You will lead all aspects of the organisation’s technical capability and innovation in order to enhance and strengthen MapAction’s geospatial analysis and Information management service. You will ensure new technologies are continuously identified and incorporated whilst maintaining the charity’s IT infrastructure. You will enjoy doing this in partnership with the charity’s technical expert volunteers, relevant staff, outsourcing contracts, working in partnership with others, and undertaking tasks where needed yourself.

This role combines strategic leadership, day to day management and some hands-on responsibilities.

Key Activities

Functional capability

- Lead the implementation of technical plans in support of MapAction’s five year strategic objectives to achieve improvements in humanitarian outcomes through the application of geospatial technologies.

- Ensure this makes optimum use of latest technologies where appropriate, including those outside the areas which MapAction currently focuses on.

- Ensure that suitable tools, processes and training are in place to support the specific technical challenges of field operations.

- Maintain full oversight of the technical infrastructure of the organisation to ensure that it provides cost efficient and effective support to the volunteers, staff and trustees of the charity as they deliver MapAction’s services, both in UK and other countries.

- Ensure the technical function supports the monitoring and evaluation processes for response, preparedness and training activities.

- Ensure the technical capacity of the organisation is resilient ensuring appropriate plans are in place for disaster recovery, risk mitigation and out of hours support.

- May be required to travel sometimes at short notice, in order to understand the business and technical requirements of MapAction’s work.

Innovation and learning

- Foster an environment which identifies and encourages more efficient technical innovation drawing on industry innovation and through relationship building.

- Ensure projects are well managed and deliver timely results that are monitored. This will involve convening the resources of the volunteer circles and working groups, staff members and paid contractors. For technical collaborations this may involve managing relationships with operational

partners and contractors.

- Work with the Operations function to ensure the continuous monitoring and evolution of MapAction’s technical capacity.

Management

- Participate as a member of MapAction’s management team providing strategic leadership to the organisation.

- Support direct reports to deliver on and excel in their roles

- Ensure the technical capability to deliver on compliance requirements.

- Be responsible for the technical budget working closely with the Finance Manager to achieve this.

- Represent MapAction at events and on external working groups, projects and networks.

- Support the Operations Director to uphold the volunteer team, ensuring that it possesses the necessary technical skill to be operationally ready at all times. This includes participating in recruiting volunteers and providing input into training events as required.

- Lead on the coordination of development activity between internal volunteer led groups.

- Take part in fundraising and communications activities as required.

- If requested, deputise for the Chief Executive.

- Act at all times in the best interests of MapAction while continually promoting the vision and mission within all sections of the community, as well as the media and/or at appropriate events as agreed

- Participate in team meetings, deliver updates, and assist in developing and implementing projects and initiatives as required to support the achievement of MapAction’s targets.

- As required assist with the practicalities of getting teams to and from airports for emergencies and help with the logistics of training events. This responsibility is shared by all staff.

Direct reports

- Head of Technical Development

- IT Support Manager

- Senior Systems Engineer

Key Competencies Essential

- Proven technical leadership experience with a practical "get it done" approach.

- A visionary with demonstrable ability to evaluate technical options, including of new and emerging technologies.

- Experience of making and implementing technical strategy.

- Excellent project management skills and experience of a variety of project management methods

- Understanding of software development and systems administration technologies and ability to

support personnel to implement these.

- Experience in delivering organisational infrastructure requirements, including risk management and

recovery planning.

- Strong motivational qualities with volunteers and staff and experience in line managing personnel.

- Budget management and reporting experience.

- Positive team player and ability to work collaboratively.

- Strong commitment to MapAction’s mission and values.

Key Competencies - Desirable

- Training experience.

- Information management, geospatial analysis and/or data management experience an advantage.

Additional Information

- Flexibility and willingness to work outside office hours including evening and weekends, attending monthly weekend training events as required. In particular, training events will be scheduled for a weekend, once a month and this post is expected to attend some of these events. Reasonable time off in lieu is available by agreement.

- Note: this is an operational role in a small, highly specialised charity and an appreciation of, and affinity with the humanitarian purpose of the charity is essential, as well as a willingness to take up additional tasks outside of the normal role when needed.

- Must have access to the use of a car.

- Must have the right to live and work in the UK (as a small charity, MapAction is unable to consider candidates who do not already hold the appropriate permissions/work visas).

MapAction

MapAction is a small and dynamic volunteer based charity using geospatial technologies to support international humanitarian response coordination. This mapped information helps responders target their response effectively, contributing to saving lives and minimising suffering.

MapAction is in the process of revising its strategy for the next five years to ensure it can adapt to the needs of service users around the world. It has built a strong reputation in the humanitarian sector and is a technical partner of the United Nations and regional emergency management agencies. We are seeking to widen our partnerships with other responders and technical partners and strengthen our technical offer.

The charity has attracted funding from UK Department for International Development (DFID), Office of the U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, the European Commission and other major donors. HRH Prince Henry of Wales has been the charity’s patron since 2007.

Equal Opportunities Policy MapAction is an Equal Opportunities employer. All employees have a personal responsibility to promote and support measures designed to create a working environment which is free from harassment or discrimination on the grounds of gender, marital status, family status, age, race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, membership of the Travellers community or HIV&AIDS status.

This job description is not incorporated in the employment contract. It is intended as a guide and should not be viewed as an inflexible specification as it may be varied from time to time in the light of strategic developments and following discussion with the post holder. The post holder will be expected to work to agreed objectives, which should facilitate achievement of the responsibilities in accordance with the performance review process.

The closing date for applications is Tuesday 7 August 2018 with interviews taking place on Thursday 23 August 2018.

Please send your CV and covering letter setting out your interest in the role and how you meet the required competencies. Click the APPLY button.