International Programmes Department – Operations Specialist
Pubblicato il 26-10-2026 - WeWorld in Milano
Position: International Programmes Department - Operations specialist
Reporting Relationship: Head of International Programmes Department (IPD)
Location: hybrid working in Italy (home / Milan or Bologna offices), with travel to country offices as required, including short-notice field deployment where feasible
Type of contract: Fixed-term, full-time employee contract (12 months)
Deadline: 13/08/2026
Starting date: ASAP
The International Programmes Department (IPD) oversees all international programmes at both the country and regional levels. Within the Department, this role acts as the operational right hand of the Head of Department, ensuring country offices and cross-functional priorities receive timely, practical, high-quality support.
PURPOSE OF THE ROLE
Reporting to the Head of International Programmes Department, and acting as their deputy on operational matters, this role provides hands-on operational support across a diverse portfolio of international operations. It filters and synthesises information from country offices and internal stakeholders, follows up on agreed actions, supports decision-making and directly carries forward tasks that require coordination, judgement and momentum.
The post holder will be particularly involved in backstopping Ukraine and Afghanistan country offices, coordinating roving/surge capacity, supporting cross-departmental coordination and prioritisation with Partnership, Grants and Operations colleagues,
and contributing to a time-bound initiative to strengthen IPD's internal tools and processes - while ensuring that urgent operational issues are escalated with clear options and recommendations.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Country Office Backstopping and Operational Support
- Serve as the first operational filter for selected country offices, initially Ukraine and Afghanistan, and multi-country programmes (such as Akelius Language), ensuring that information reaching the Head of Department is concise, decision-oriented and prioritised.
- Follow up directly with Country Directors, Heads of Programmes, HoSS and other key staff to clarify issues, unblock bottlenecks and ensure timely action.
- Prepare short decision notes, issue briefs, risk summaries and recommended options for the Head of Department.
- Track key deliverables, deadlines, donor commitments, internal actions and unresolved operational issues for assigned countries.
- Support country offices with operational planning, internal coordination and problem-solving while respecting country office authority and accountability lines.
Cross-Departmental Coordination and Prioritisation
- Support the Head of Department in coordinating with Partnership, Grants, Operations and other central departments,
helping prioritise support requests and emerging issues based on risk, strategic relevance and country office capacity.
- Translate cross-departmental discussions into clear action points, responsibilities and follow-up mechanisms.
- Ensure timely follow-up after meetings with Country Directors, Heads of Region and central departments, maintaining visibility on decisions and pending issues.
IPD Tools and Process Improvement
- Contribute to a time-bound initiative (approx. 6-12 months) to map, centralise and improve existing IPD tools, trackers and planning documents, including support to a shared platform or dashboard to strengthen coordination and decision-making.
- Monitor the regular use and update of key departmental tools (e.g. BEAM, risk trackers, roving planners), flagging gaps or opportunities to simplify processes.
Roving and Surge Team Coordination
- Oversee the planning, prioritization and coordination of roving staff deployments and remote support, across country offices and thematic needs.
- Maintain an overview of roving team availability, ongoing deployments, terms of reference, deliverables and post-deployment follow-up.
- Review and prioritize deployment requests, ensuring appropriate justification and clear terms of reference.
- Coordinate with HR, Administration Finance and Control, Global Security Manager and relevant functional leads on deployment planning, duty of care and accountability.
- Capture lessons learned from deployments and remote support, recommending improvements to strengthen the roving support model.