Contracts Coordinator - Edinburgh, UK

Description

Location: Edinburgh, UK 
Position Status: Full-time, Regular
Salary: UK: Starting salary for this role will be 31,120 GBP Offer will be commensurate on experience
Closing date: application until September 18th

**Please note this is a one-year position.

Candidates must have the independent right to work in the UK at time of application.

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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 Team
Mercy Corps Europe (MCE) has grown rapidly in terms of volume of activity and complexity. With offices in Edinburgh, London, Geneva and The Hague, we now attract over £90m in annual income. 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 in the field and we are always looking for talented individuals who share our passion and commitment.

The Position
The Contracts Coordinator (CC) will provide essential administrative support to the Senior Contracts Manager (SCM), the Compliance Adviser (CA), the wider Contracts team and as well as Desk and Field teams, in order to strengthen our portfolio of contract funding (as opposed to grant funding).

The CC will contribute to three broad areas: pursuit of new business and bid development; support to implementation of live contracts; and our overarching strategic approach to contract funding. Each of these allow the contracts team to support Mercy Corps’ European Strategic Plan, and, in turn, our global strategy Pathway to Possibility (P2P).

As we begin an intentional expansion of our contract work – to include new donors across Europe – this is an exciting time to join the contracts team and be a meaningful part of developing our contract portfolio and expertise.

Reporting to the Senior Contracts Manager, the CC will work with a variety of other HQ Programme units and other departments, including Compliance, Finance, People & Strategy, Legal, Policy and Advocacy, Mercy Corps Counterparts at MC HQ offices in Europe; MC donors and partners.
 
Essential Responsibilities
 
Opportunity identification and positioning

• Undertake donor research and identify appropriate funding opportunities from donors, creating concise summaries of the key information and disseminating appropriately.
• Reviewing donor guidelines and carrying out eligibility checks for new funding opportunities identified, and initial liaising with HQ Desk Teams (and, where appropriate, Country Teams) on opportunities.
• Keeping abreast of other peer/competitor organisations activities related to new funding opportunities (e.g. job adverts).
• Maintain an up-to-date tracker on funding opportunities.
• Participate in communication with potential partner and competitor organisations during any positioning for opportunities.

Bid Development

• Monitoring donor websites and portals for key information and documentation, saving these to the relevant storage folders (M Drive/SharePoint), and disseminating appropriately.
• Participating in any information meetings held by the donor (e.g. FCDO Early Market Engagement events), to capture notes and disseminate appropriately.
• Drafting Capacity Statements capacity statements/or other required documents, copy-editing, and final compilation for submission as needed.
• Setting up and maintaining a Bid Development Sheet for each opportunity.
• Coordinate the development of Contract Approvals (as per PFAP).
• Lead on administrative elements of processes related to partnership – Pre-Teaming Agreements, Teaming Agreements, Consortium Agreements, NDAs.

Contract Administration

• Support the SCM and wider contract team with administrative tasks such as maintaining required documentation, as per the internal Programme File, and knowledge management of the contracts, updating all internal information systems (server and Grant and Award Administration Tracker (GAIT)) – in coordination with RPT counterparts.
• Assist in monitoring and ensuring compliance with donor regulations and Mercy Corps policies and procedures.
• Advise country teams on formats for donor reporting and define timelines to review.
• As needed, support the reviews of donor reports and ensure that reports are submitted in accordance with reporting standards and in adherence to deadlines set out in the contract.
• Initiate, coordinate and send out New Award Initiation Summaries and project close-out messages.
• Support the SCM in the management of the complex programme oversight process and/or Contracts Oversight Group process.

Compliance

• Take the lead on administrative elements of compliance related processes for contracts.
• Some already mentioned elsewhere, but examples will include: ensuring Teaming Agreements are accurately and swiftly executed; support with contract-specific donor-related compliance requirements and due diligence requests; ensuring contract approval processes are efficiently executed; ensuring contract review and signature (AARC/AAAS) processes are efficiently executed; supporting due diligence checks on subcontractors and partners; managing subcontract and subaward amendments under contracts.
• Support in developing and updating compliance resources, including comprehensive best practice guidance and training materials.
• Assist with planning and delivering training and logistics, including assistance with European Contract donors’ rules and regulations trainings and webinars.

Internal Communications

• Serve as the primary point for internal communications, facilitate use of Mercy Corps web-based information systems to draft and update programme material (e.g. Contract Portfolio capstats).

Recruitment Support & Deployment

• Manage consultant contracting processes; ensuring necessary documentation has been submitted to relevant people, follow up with teams when the field team has not received a response; support new hires/consultants/interns/etc.

Administration

• As needed, lead on travel/logistical support for field and headquarters teams.

Orientation

• Facilitate the training of new Programme and other staff as appropriate on internal contract management, administration and proposal development processes, tools and systems.

Representation

• Represent Mercy Corps at meetings and events when required.

Other:

• Act as a focal point for backstopping for SCM during field trips or short-term absence.
• May be required to travel to the field to support any of the above.
• Any other duties as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibility
none
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Accountability**
Reports Directly To: Senior Contracts Manager
Works Directly With: Compliance Adviser, wider Contracts Team, HQ Programmes Teams, Policy and Advocacy, New Initiatives, Programme Accountability and Quality, Strategic Partnership Team.
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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 field projects.
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Minimum Qualifications & Transferable Skills**

• Experience in international relief or development, particularly in grant or contract administration and compliance preferred
• Awareness and understanding of the international development sector.
• Demonstrated experience in providing administrative/coordination support.
• Proven ability to communicate effectively with colleagues from various backgrounds and cultures·
• Proficiency with MS Office software required (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint).·
• Prior NGO or international development experience preferred.
• Preference given to candidates with prior work experience in Africa
• Additional European language (especially French, German, Dutch, Swedish; proficient or fluent) desirable, but in no way essential

Success Factors
The Contracts Coordinator must be a detail-oriented multi-tasker who is able to communicate clearly and work under pressure. They must demonstrate patience, flexibility, and taking initiative to solve problems. Vital skills include communication (both written and verbal), as well as building and maintaining effective internal and external relationships. They must demonstrate the ability to understand and follow agency procedures, meet deadlines, and work both independently and as part of a complex distanced-based, multi-cultural team. An exposure to and interest in international development issues is important, and an understanding of the complex challenges faced by programme teams operating in overseas environments is critical.
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Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions**
The position is based in the UK in either Edinburgh or London or Netherlands, The Hague. The CC can expect to travel internationally up to 20% of the time – sometimes at short notice — to areas with limited access to medical facilities and amenities.

Mercy Corps’ team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a country office posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

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.