Eu Advocacy Director

**Requisition ID**: req41900

**Job Title**: EU Advocacy Director

**Department**: Advocacy & Influence

**Employment Category**: Permanent

**Employment Type**: Full time

**Location**: Brussels, Belgium

**Background**: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) helps people affected by humanitarian crises to survive, recover and rebuild their lives. We deliver lasting impact by providing health care, helping children learn, and empowering individuals and communities to become self-reliant, always with a focus on the unique needs of women and girls. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, we now work in over 40 crisis-affected countries as well as communities throughout the U.S., Europe and Latin America.

The Global Advocacy & Influence Department is a dynamic team that uses the power of IRC’s ideas to solve the biggest challenges facing IRC’s clients. From the drivers of conflict to the needs of displaced people, the team partners with politicians, policy makers and civil society to bring these solutions to life. We take pride in being solutions-oriented and creative. We are precise in our tactics, and messages. We lead change year over year, knowing that system change takes dedicated focus while maintaining the flexibility to respond to emerging needs. Finally, we are collaborative, working not only with programs, strategy, research and innovation, and communications teams across the IRC, but also externally, constantly seeking to new ideas and perspectives from others in the humanitarian sector and beyond.

**Job Overview**: As the EU Advocacy Director, you are the IRC’s leading external specialist on our global influence priorities for the EU and manage a team that executes those priorities. You are responsible for crafting our influence strategies using IRC’s programmatic and research evidence, surgical policy and practice solutions, and trusted brand to inspire collective action. You are the go-to expert for understanding current legislative and policy trends in EU and the opportunities and constraints these create to advance our policy agendas. You contribute your fresh and creative analysis to inform IRC’s policy objectives and co-create solutions.

The EU Advocacy Director also sits on the IRC Belgium Senior Management Team and supports the Executive Director in setting out the strategic direction for IRC Belgium. This includes being part of the organizational planning, supporting with board activities and risk management.

Major Responsibilities:

- **Advocacy Strategy**:Develop and oversee implementation of multi-year, multi-geo advocacy strategies, in close collaboration with Directors of Policy, Director of Influence Comms and other IRC leaders to advance IRCs global influence priorities in Europe and maximize the opportunity for IRC to advance our influence objectives.
- **Influence Analysis**:Analyze power maps for key policy issues to identify influence priorities and targets, and to develop and execute creative influence strategies, including with nontraditional partners. Continuously ideate and identify new approaches and partners that go beyond advocacy as usual.
- **Advocacy, Reputation, and Relationships**:Build and manage IRC’s credibility, profile and relationships with key EU stakeholders including in the European Commission, European Parliament and Member State Representations in support of advocacy strategies on IRC’s priority issues. Spot and deliver on external opportunities to advance IRC’s profile, policy and influence objectives; advise on IRC positioning and prioritisation vis a vis the EU. Represent the IRC at key high-level meetings and fora.
- Legislative and Policy Tracking: Oversee the expansion of IRC’s legislative reach by tracking, understanding and anticipating: policy trends and shifting govt positions; individuals and organizations engaging on our issues; and the politics around our issues. Build strategic influence plans around legislative processes & profile opportunities / events; this includes hearings, deadlines and processes for engaging in annual bills, and major ad hoc bills moving in our space. Actively pivot and execute on influence strategy based on emerging opportunities.
- **Policy Prioritization and Contextualization**:Contribute to policy generation and prioritization by providing EU specific strategic insights that increase the credibility and efficacy of our solutions through constant collaboration with Policy and Solutions colleagues and in focused policy roundtable. Support IRC’s policy team in identifying and developing policy priorities that are impactful and achievable.
- **Communications and Profile Strategy**:In close collaboration with the global communications, policy comms unit and market leads, identify shared external relations priorities and opportunities. Provide market and audience expertise to communications team to shape communications specific to EU and develop materials for advocacy targets, including