Compliance Advisor - UK, NL, or Belgium

Location: UK, NL, or Belgium
Position Status: Full-time
Salary: UK: circa 37 - 42K ; NL and Belgium: circa 39K- 45K  - circa ranges flexible based on professional experience 
Closing date: Candidates must submit applications before March 20th

Candidates must have the independent right to work in UK, NL, or Belgium at the time of appointment

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact.

**The Program
**
Mercy Corps Europe (MCE) has grown both in terms of the volume of activity and its complexity. With offices in Edinburgh, London and The Hague, we now attract over £120m in income annually, and employ more than 120 domestic and internationally located team members. The breadth and impact of our programmes makes Mercy Corps a unique and truly rewarding place to work. Our teams are proud of what we achieve and we are always looking for talented individuals who share our passion and commitment. Mercy Corps Netherlands (MCNL) was established in December 2017. MCE, MCNL and Mercy Corps Global (MCG) operate as one global organization, sharing the same mission, vision, core values and charitable objectives, as well as operational resources for the support and implementation of programme activities.

**The Position
**
We are looking for an experienced and technically skilled Compliance Advisor with French language skills to join our European team supporting with European donors. The role will sit within the European Compliance, Governance and Risk team, working alongside the US based Compliance and Legal teams to ensure that the agency fulfils its responsibility to donors, the NGO community, implementing partners and other stakeholders, and is in compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. Each Compliance Advisor provides expert technical advice, support and training to their assigned countries/regions and in addition has responsibility for assigned compliance focus areas and related projects.
 
The Compliance Advisor plays a vital role in the organization by supporting MCNL and MCE’s programmes and finance teams in managing organizational and donor compliance of European-funded programmes.It will also provide compliance advice and guidance to stakeholders based in over 40 countries worldwide to be compliant with donor rules and requirements and relevant Mercy Corps policies and procedures. It will work providing training support to teams in relation to European donors and subaward compliance and communicating closely and working collaboratively with a variety of other Headquarters departments and colleagues to ensure that, whenever possible, approaches are globally consistent.
 
This is a fantastic opportunity for an experienced, ambitious legal or compliance professional who is interested in a career in the humanitarian and development sector. You will be joining the growing European entity of a leading global agency, helping people in some of the world's toughest places turn the crises of natural disaster, poverty and conflict into opportunities for progress.

Essential Responsibilities

EUROPEAN DONOR COMPLIANCE (for an assigned portfolio of countries/regions)

• Provide all relevant compliance and subaward support to Francophone Africa countries, working in French as/when required. As the majority of primes, subawards and donor due diligence exercises under the Francophone Africa portfolio are in French.
• Review and participate in negotiations of donor agreements, including highlighting main compliance issues and advising on points to negotiate with donor representatives.
• Provide compliance advice to ensure adherence to donor grant rules and regulations, including acting as the primary compliance ‘help desk’ function for European headquarters, supporting programmes, finance, technical and colleagues in the countries and regions where we implement programmes as required. Escalate issues as needed to MCE Senior Director of Compliance, Governance and Risk.
• Track, document and disseminate recurring donor compliance risks and issues.
• Establish and monitor key donor compliance indicators across the European portfolio and develop compliance systems and exceptions requests.
• Support donor inquiries, including responses to Donor Due Diligence.
• Where appropriate, review donor reports to ensure donor compliance.
• Provide advice to the Finance team in managing donor-led audits, including legal and contractual advice, seeking internal and external legal advice when required and negotiating contested findings where appropriate.
• Working together with the global Ethics team, support with donor notifications and reporting of fraud and corruption incidents.
• Participate and contribute to the external NGO networks and other initiatives to broaden perspectives on industry trends on compliance as well as keep up to date on changes in the donor compliance rules.

SUBAWARD COMPLIANCE

• Advise the Programme, Finance and Country teams on the usage and implications of partnering mechanisms (including Subawards) in support of programme implementation. Provide guidance on the appropriate use of subawards and other types of agreements such as consortium agreements and/or service contracts.
• Ensure the completion of Mercy Corps’ due diligence and pre-award compliance checks for subawards in accordance with established policies and procedures.
• In coordination with country and headquarters team members, draft and negotiate subaward agreements and amendments based on policies and procedures. Ensure subaward agreements flow down all relevant Mercy Corps’ and prime donor requirements.
• Develop and maintain an effective and efficient process for ensuring subawards are appropriately reviewed, approved and signed by authorised parties, including implementing partners.
• With review and input from other stakeholders, develop and maintain subaward and amendment templates, as well as other required agreements (such as consortium agreements, MOUs), for use with Mercy Corps’ prime donors awards.
• Provide training, via webinar or in-person, on subaward requirements and procedures.

TRAINING AND KNOWLEDGE RESOURCES

• As required, assist with the development and maintenance of MCE policies and procedures related to compliance and risk.
• Create, maintain and refresh a suite of donor compliance guidance and internal tools and templates to continue to support Mercy Corps’ compliance, for example researching and developing donor requirements and issuing reference guides.
• Develop and manage compliance resources, including comprehensive best practice guidance and training materials on main European
• Lead the delivery of compliance training or other start-up activities for European-funded programmes.
• Participate in Complex Boards and provide enhanced compliance training and support for complex programmes, as required.
• Attend training, conferences and/or programs as assigned, including European donors’ rules and regulations training, periodic webinars, and regional conferences.

Supervisory Responsibility

None
Accountability
Reports Directly To: Europe Senior Director of Compliance, Governance and Risk.
Works Directly With: Compliance Advisors, Programmes.

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our programmes.

Minimum Qualifications & Transferable Skills

• Educated to Bachelors level, ideally in Law or a related subject, or equivalent experience.
• Ideally 5+ years of experience in fast-paced work environments, with some exposure to working in a multinational
• Experience in a legal, compliance and/or grants management role (or similar).
• Experience of identifying compliance issues and providing guidance and or developing tools to improve compliance.
• Experience managing or working with partnerships and/or grants is highly desirable.
• Able to conduct research. Some experience in drafting legal agreements would be beneficial.
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• French language skills are required for this role.

Success Factors

The candidate should be detail-oriented multi-tasker, with excellent organization skills. It will need excellent communication skills (both written and verbal), able to work successfully in a multinational, multicultural organization. It should be able to build and maintain effective internal and external relationships and skilled in anticipating and solving problems, involving others as needed. It need to be able to cope with changing priorities, often at short notice, and work well under pressure. High levels of motivation and professionalism; proactive attitude is needed. An exposure to and clear interest in international development issues is important, as is an appreciation of the complex challenges faced by teams operating in overseas environments.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based in one of our European headquarters locations and may require up to 20% national or international travel, sometimes on short notice to areas with limited access to medical facilities and amenities.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives. We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.
We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme**.** We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

Our screening process is designed to be transparent and completed in partnership with new Team Members. You will have the opportunity to disclose any prior convictions at the conclusion of the recruitment process before the check is initiated. We ask that you do not disclose any prior convictions in your application materials or during the recruitment process.