Senior Specialist, Staff Care in High-Risk Contexts

With 75 years of experience, our focus is on helping the most vulnerable children overcome poverty and experience fullness of life. We help children of all backgrounds, even in the most dangerous places, inspired by our Christian faith.

Come join our 31,000+ staff working in nearly 100 countries and share the joy of transforming vulnerable children’s life stories!

Key Responsibilities:

The Senior Specialist, Staff Care in High-Risk Contexts, provides global technical leadership for staff care integration in high-risk, fragile, and crisis-affected operational environments across World Vision International. Reporting to the Director, Staff Care & Well-being, this role ensures staff care activation protocols, staff care safeguards, and post-event recovery approaches are integrated into crisis response systems. The role serves as the organization’s primary advisory interface between staff care and crisis response operations, supporting leadership during high-exposure events and strengthening preparedness capacity across regions. The role contributes operational insights to the Staff Care & Well-being (SCW) system while working within established governance frameworks for psychosocial risk and mental health.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

Crisis Response Advisory & Operational Interface

• Serve as World Vision International (WVI) lead technical advisor for staff care integration in high-risk and crisis-affected contexts, aligned with SCW Strategy and operational priorities within the Theory of Change.
• Advise leadership on proportionate workforce sustainability safeguards during acute operational events.
• Coordinate activation of approved referral pathways and peer support mechanisms during crises.
• Contribute staff care insights to crisis after-action reviews and organizational learning processes.
• Monitor emerging operational risks affecting staff well-being and advise response leadership early.

Crisis Support Activation & Structured Support

• Provide advisory support to crisis leadership during high-risk operations, including surge deployments when required.
• Ensure structured stabilization and debrief processes are implemented following critical operational incidents.
• Align surge interventions with governance, confidentiality, and referral standards.
• Support regional teams in contextualizing staff care activation protocols in fragile or volatile environments.
• Share operational insights with the global SCW team to inform learning resources.

Preparedness & Capacity Strengthening for Crisis Contexts

• Develop crisis preparedness guidance aligned with global staff care standards, the SCW Strategy, and crisis response frameworks.
• Support simulation exercises and preparedness planning with regional and national teams.
• Provide mentoring and advisory support to staff care focal points operating in fragile or high-risk contexts.
• Ensure preparedness systems incorporate referral pathways, escalation protocols, and peer support structures.

Post-Event Recovery & Organizational Learning

• Design and steward post-event recovery frameworks following high-impact operational incidents.
• Advise leadership on phased stabilization and return-to-normal operations.
• Document lessons learned from crisis events and contribute to organizational learning processes that inform continuous improvement with the SCW Theory of Change.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Collaborate with staff well-being enablement teams to integrate crisis learning into training and engagement resources.
• Coordinate with P&C, Risk, and SSR functions to align staff care with resilience and crisis management frameworks.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s degree in psychology, social work, public health, humanitarian studies, organizational resilience, or related fields.
• Advanced education in mental health specializations related to crisis-affected populations, or relevant disciplines, preferred.
• Training in trauma-informed care, crisis response, humanitarian leadership, or related fields desirable.
• Minimum 8–10 years’ experience in humanitarian operations, crisis environments, staff care, psychosocial support systems, or related fields.
• Proven ability to operate effectively in volatile, high-pressure environments requiring sound judgment and rapid decision-making.
• Demonstrated experience supporting high-risk or emergency operations, including advisory roles in complex environments.
• Experience designing or implementing staff care or workforce support mechanisms in humanitarian contexts.
• Experience working with large international organizations or humanitarian networks.
• Fluency in English, fluency in additional languages considered an advantage.
• Flexibility to travel up to 20%, dependent on Partnership Travel Guidelines.

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE

• Strong understanding of humanitarian operating environments and the psychosocial risks faced by staff in fragile or high-risk contexts.
• Experience supporting staff care, workforce well-being, or psychosocial support systems within humanitarian or emergency response settings.
• Familiarity with humanitarian frameworks and standards, including IASC MHPSS Guidelines and staff care principles.
• Experience advising leadership teams during complex operational or crises affecting staff.
• Experience advising leadership during complex operational situations, including crises, security incidents, or high-impact events affecting staff.
• Knowledge of trauma-informed approaches and recovery practices for teams
• operating in high-stress environments.
• Strong cross-cultural competence with experience working across diverse international contexts.
• Ability to translate field experience into practical organizational guidance.
• Experience collaborating across security, operations, and risk management functions.
• Strong facilitation and communication skills for engaging leaders and teams during high-pressure situations.
• Ability to operate effectively in fast-changing and ambiguous environments.

Applicant Types Accepted:

Local Applicants Only

About Us

Our vision for every child, life in all its fullness. Our prayer for every heart, the will to make it so.

As a global Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation, our focus is on helping the most vulnerable children overcome poverty and experience fullness of life. We help children of all backgrounds, even in the most dangerous places, inspired by our Christian faith.

Learn more about our work at wvi.org.

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Our Culture

Our organisational culture reflects a "Partnership" of World Vision offices in 100 countries and 31,000+ staff working towards one vision: life in its fullness for every child.

A career with World Vision is a God-given calling, and we believe that every staff member has been brought to World Vision for God’s purposes. Whether working from home, in an office, or with children and community members, we celebrate and embrace each staff member’s diverse background and talents – knowing that together, we can make a difference. Together, #WeAreWorldVision.

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Your Rewards

Our people are our greatest asset.

Each staff member brings their unique experience and God-given talents to the organisation – and in return World Vision provides employees a competitive "Total Rewards" package tailored to the context in which they work.

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