Are you an experienced grants and contracting professional ready to shape global partnership standards and support localization across DRC operations worldwide?

Who are we?

The Grants Management Unit (GMU) supports DRC missions in efficient and compliant grants management to ensure timely and high-quality assistance to country operations. The HQ GMU provides oversight on compliance, contract management, cash-flow coordination and data management through DRC’s ERP system, Microsoft Dynamics. The GMU comprises Grants Management Specialists and a Student Assistant covering country portfolios across DRC’s regional operations managed by the Head of the Grants Management Unit.

About the job

The Contracts & Sub-Grants Advisor is a cross-cutting senior technical role that strengthens sub-grant management and contracting as a specialist field within DRC. The position supports DRC’s strategic shift toward localization by ensuring that contractual frameworks, due diligence policies and sub-granting procedures are equitable, compliant and risk-aware across HQ, regional hubs and country offices worldwide. It translates localization commitments into standardized global practices and ensures partnership management is applied consistently across all legal entities of DRC.

The Advisor acts as the Global Technical Owner of Sub-Grant Agreements (SGA), pre-award processes and the due diligence compliance framework. They provide expert guidance to ensure contracts with local NGOs, INGOs, private sector partners and duty bearers meet donor requirements and global standards, while supporting institutional compliance and advising country operations on complex contracting matters.

Key responsibilities include:

• Contract Templates & Sub-Grant Management
  • Act as global focal point for Sub-Grant Agreement (SGA) templates, ensuring alignment with donor rules, partnership policies and user-friendly guidance across partner types.
  • Review and advise on country-level requests to deviate from standard SGA templates and support country offices in negotiating complex contractual clauses with partners.
  • Provide oversight and support for high-risk or high-value SGAs, including cases where DRC is the sub-grantee.
  • Refine and implement Pre-Award Letter (PAL) processes and support digitalization of sub-grant workflows in Dynamics/Power Apps.
• Due Diligence & Compliance
  • Lead HQ-level due diligence review of international NGO partners and maintain the global overview of approved partners and documentation.
  • Act as global compliance liaison when external organizations conduct due diligence on DRC, coordinating across HQ business areas.
  • Maintain and update due-diligence guidance, contracting instructions and internal resources on INSITE.
• Manual & Procedure Development
  • Lead development and integration of sub-grant management procedures into DRC’s Operations Framework, ensuring alignment with partnership policies and PCM/tiering approaches.
• Support to Country Operations & Capacity Building
  • Provide global technical advisory support to country offices on sub-grant management processes and complex contracting issues.
  • Develop learning materials and deliver trainings or webinars for the global grants community on sub-granting best practices, contract negotiation, and localization-compliant tiering.

About you

To succeed in this role, you are a structured and diplomatic professional with strong experience in grants compliance, contracting or partnership management. You are comfortable advising diverse stakeholders across HQ and country offices and balancing compliance requirements with equitable partnerships.

All employees should master DRC's core competencies: Communicating, Taking the lead, Collaborating, Striving for excellence and Demonstrating integrity.

Moreover, we also expect the following:

Required

• Minimum 5–7 years of relevant experience in grants management, contracting, compliance or legal/regulatory frameworks, including at least 3 years in an advisor or specialist role.
• Strong expertise in partnership contracting and sub-granting with civil society, INGOs, private sector and duty bearers, including tiered approaches and donor compliance.
• Proven experience managing contracts with a variety of actors, including civil society, private sector partners and government/duty bearers.
• Strong negotiation and diplomatic skills to balance risk management with the need for flexible, equitable partnerships.
• Master’s degree in international development, Law, Political Science, Economics or similar
• Full professional proficiency in English

Desirable

• Experience working with grants or financial processes in an ERP system (e.g. SAP, Microsoft Dynamics).
• Experience developing policies, templates or operational procedures
• Experience delivering trainings or capacity-building sessions
• Able to work in Danish, French, Arabic or Spanish an added advantage.

We offer

Contract length: Permanent contract, 37 hours per week

Workplace: Lyngbyvej 100, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, just by Ryparken station

Start date: As soon as possible.

Salary and conditions will be in accordance with the agreement between DRC and AC. The position is at “fuldmægtig” level. This is a national position for which local terms and conditions apply.

Application process

All applicants must upload a cover letter, an updated CV in English as well as a degree certificate(s).

Closing date for applications: 8 March 2026. We expect to conduct interviews primarily online during the month of March.

Further information

For questions regarding the vacancy please contact Jason Lee, Head of Standards & Operational Support Division jason.lee@drc.ngo.

For further information about the Danish Refugee Council, please consult our website drc.ngo.