Director of Risk Advisory Services

Team Description

ILS is a small, vibrant, risk management company, dedicated to supporting aid agencies, academic institutions and campaign groups to develop their resilience and meet their duty of care, even in the most challenging environments.

Founded by aid workers in 2010, the company has grown to become a global leader in the development and implementation of people-centric risk management solutions.

As a values driven company, we place emphasis on our own principles and values and those of Agenda2030. We strive for gender equity and increasing diversity in our team. We recognise the importance of creating an inclusive work environment, to enable all team members to perform effectively and work in a manner that they find comfortable.

Our Risk Advisory Team is a close-knit and diverse group of professionals. The team works closely and collaboratively, sharing ideas and ensuring that ILS’ work always remains innovative, tailored and risk appropriate.

Job Purpose

The Director of Risk Advisory Services is a senior, client-facing role with overall responsibility for the successful delivery of our Risk Advisory consulting work.

Reporting to the Managing Director, the post holder assumes overall management of the Risk Advisory function, overseeing the management of a team of risk management professionals. The Director of Risk Advisory Services ensures that the team delivers its work in a timely and profitable manner, whilst remaining collaborative and innovative, working closely together to solve critical risk management questions. The postholder also supports the delivery of the strategy of the business as a member of the Operational Management Team (OMT) and engages with the Commercial Team to develop new business opportunities.

Key Accountabilities

Risk Advisory Management (50%)

• Overall responsibility for the commercial success of the Risk Advisory Team, ensuring that the team is appropriately resourced and profitable.
• Responsible for leading on the Risk Advisory strategy, including delivery of existing strategy and future strategy development.
• Ensures that data from Risk Advisory work feeds into company strategy and is used to demonstrate ILS’ impact.
• Drives development and implementation of new and current Risk Advisory products.
• Ultimate responsibility for the quality assurance of ILS’ Risk Advisory services.
• Overall responsibility for ILS’ Risk Advisory methodology, ensuring methodological guidelines are in place and that ILS’ approach to risk management is current, effective, commercially viable, in line with best practice and is consistently applied across all work.
• Overall responsibility for the management of the Risk Advisory Team.
• Responsible for the selection and engagement of any external consultants that may be contracted to deliver Risk Advisory services.

Technical Delivery (30%)

• You will manage a client portfolio, delivering training and Risk Advisory work for a variety of selected clients.

Business Development/Management (20%)

• Work with the Commercial Team to develop potential business leads by identifying and meeting with existing, new and potential clients.
• Input to the development of proposals for new business and negotiate and agree terms of references in client contracts for the delivery of ILS services, in conjunction with the Managing Director.
• Act as a representative of ILS at meetings, trade shows and conferences, where required.

The ideal applicant will have empathy with ILS’ values and be able to work in a way that reflects these.

• You are a visionary leader, able to lead your team to achieve strategic goals.
• You have experience working as a strategic leader and can generate ideas to further develop team success.
• You are a skilled manager, able to effectively oversee and delegate tasks to maximise time, resources and productivity.
• You must be able to demonstrate adaptability and the ability to respond to changes in our business, our clients’ requirements, the wider sector and the operating contexts on which we advise.
• You are an outstanding communicator, able to write and present in an engaging and articulate manner.

Essential Requirements

You will have:

• Direct and very extensive experience of working in the Humanitarian / International Development (or related) field, at a senior level.
• Experience of working in a commercial or consulting field and understand the demands of a business environment.
• Experience of managing a team of senior professionals.
• Demonstrable and extensive experience of working in insecure environments.
• A strong understanding of contemporary Security Risk Management practices.
• A strong understanding of legal and moral duty of care requirements.
• Demonstrable critical incident and crisis management experience.
• Excellent writing skills, with the ability to produce concise and succinct reports.
• Written and spoken fluency in English.
• High levels of IT literacy.

Desirable Requirements

• A graduate, ideally post-graduate degree qualification, in Security Risk Management, humanitarian or development practice, international relations or a similar field.
• Digital / Information Security knowledge or Safeguarding knowledge.
• French, Spanish or Arabic language skills.

Compensatory Package and Benefits

• Starting salary £61,500 – £75,000 depending on experience, with clear salary progression scheme*
• Generous annual (discretionary) bonus scheme
• 36 days of annual leave (formulated as 25 days standard leave + 3 days additional Christmas leave + 8 days of bank holidays).
• Further leave allowance accrued with length of service.
• Flexible working arrangements (see working location, below)
• Free access to psychological support service
• Generous Time Off In-Lieu (TOIL) policy
• Personal development plans

* Salaries are determined by the extent to which the essential & desirable criteria are met

Working Location:

• The position is based in ILS’ office in the UK, very close to Haywards Heath railway station with direct trains to London and Brighton.
• We adopt a hybrid working policy, whereby staff are expected to attend the office 60% of their working hours.
• The candidate will be expected to travel to client offices in the UK and overseas, sometimes to high-risk locations.