Senior Officer, Supply Chain

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian network, with 191-member National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. IFRC uses the Triple R – response, resilience and respect – to deliver on Strategy 2030. IFRC responds to disasters and crises, ensuring timely, coordinated and locally led humanitarian action. IFRC supports its members in building community resilience in the areas of climate and environment, health and wellbeing, and migration and displacement. IFRC promotes respect for our fundamental principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality, including in our work on values, power and inclusion. The IFRC focuses throughout on our core mandate – our raison d’être – of strategic and operational coordination, humanitarian diplomacy, National Society development, and accountability.

IFRC is led by its Secretary General and has its Headquarters in Geneva and five regional offices in Africa (Nairobi); the Americas (Panama); Asia Pacific (Kuala Lumpur); Europe (Budapest); and MENA (Beirut) as well as representation offices, service centres and delegations across the globe.

IFRC has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment and other forms of harassment, abuse of authority, discrimination, and lack of integrity (including but not limited to financial misconduct). IFRC also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles.

This position is based in Dakar, Senegal as part of Regional Supply Chain office for Africa. Depending on current and anticipated needs, it may require frequent deployments to support National Red Cross Societies as well as IFRC programmes and operations within the Region and Globally. The Supply Chain Senior Officer plays a strategic and operational role at the intersection of programmes and operations, ensuring that logistics and supply chain services enable timely, efficient, and accountable delivery of humanitarian assistance before, during, and after emergencies.

The Supply Chain Senior Officer reports to the Head, Regional Supply Chain Management Unit for Africa based in Nairobi.

The Regional Senior Supply Chain Officer provides regional technical leadership and operational support to ensure the timely, compliant, cost-effective, and reliable movement of humanitarian goods across Africa. Based in Dakar and working as part of the Regional Supply Chain Management Unit for Africa, with its regional presence in Dakar and Nairobi, the position serves as a focal point for air, sea and road transportation, international and regional freight forwarding, import and export processes, and customs facilitation for IFRC offices, operations, and Red Cross/Red Crescent National Societies.

A central purpose of the role is to support the establishment, implementation, and performance management of regional framework agreements for air/sea and road transport, freight forwarding, customs clearance, and related logistics services. The position will also lead and maintain regional customs and corridor mapping, including country import requirements, exemptions, documentation, border crossings, ports and airports, clearance arrangements, transit constraints, and viable alternative routes. This work will strengthen preparedness, improve market coverage, reduce lead times and costs, and enable faster scale-up during emergencies.

The senior officer provides hands-on support to resolve complex transportation, freight, and customs challenges affecting operations across the continent. This includes working with National Societies, government and customs authorities, clearing agents, transporters, freight forwarders, Movement partners, and other stakeholders to remove bottlenecks, address delayed or non-compliant shipments, and identify practical routing and delivery solutions. Through technical advice, market and performance analysis, training, and operational deployments, the role contributes to stronger regional supply chain resilience, compliance, service quality, and National Society capacity.

Regional strategy, planning and coordination

• Lead development/implementation of regional transportation, freight forwarding, and customs work plan.
• Advise on transport strategies, cross-border movements, customs arrangements, and suitable logistics corridors, closely working with procurement teams in Nairobi, Dubai and Budapest and with finance, legal, security, programmes, operations, and global supply chain functions ensuring integrated, timely movement planning.
• Translate programme pipelines, preparedness priorities and emergency forecasts into transport-capacity, freight, customs, and service-provider requirements.
• Lead technical design and establishment of regional framework agreements for road/sea/air transportation, international freight forwarding, customs clearance, cargo handling and related logistics services.
• Serve as single regional point of contact for pro-bono partners and transportation
• Conduct market assessments, corridor-level cost bench-marking, support setup/measuring service requirements, geographic and lane coverage, technical specifications, service levels, key performance indicators, and evaluation criteria.
• Provide technical inputs/recommendations for the procurement process
• Manage operational activation and performance of framework agreements, e.g., rate cards, service requests, provider allocation, performance reviews, corrective action plans, escalation of persistent service failures.
• Maintain adequate market coverage and contingency options and identify qualified alternatives to avoid operational gaps or capacity risks.

Customs, import/export, and corridor mapping

• Develop, maintain, and update regional customs and import/export mapping, including documentary requirements, permits, licences, restrictions, exemptions, duty and tax arrangements, and clearance processes.
• Map and assess major humanitarian transport corridors, border crossings, ports, airports, transit regimes, lead times, operational constraints, security considerations, and viable alternative routes.
• Support correct commodity classification and documentation, advise teams on customs-compliance requirements before dispatch, reduce risk of holds, penalties, storage costs, or rejected shipments.
• Build effective working relationships with customs and other authorities, NSs clearing agents, freight forwarders, and Movement partners to facilitate predictable and compliant clearance arrangements
• Lead on IFRC Authorised Economic Operator certification for East Africa
• Focal point for IMPACCT international working group

Transport and freight operations and problem-solving

• Provide technical, operational support for complex domestic, cross-border, regional, and international shipments from planning and booking through customs clearance, delivery, and goods receive notes (GRN)
• Advise on transport mode, routing, consolidation, cargo readiness, Incoterms, shipping documentation, transit arrangements, and delivery schedules to achieve best balance of speed, cost, reliability, and compliance.
• Troubleshoot delayed/blocked shipments, customs holds, incomplete or incorrect documentation, border disruptions, carrier failures, capacity shortages, demurrage and detention, and bottlenecks.
• Coordinate practical recovery actions with country teams, NSs, authorities, brokers, carriers, suppliers, and partners, e.g., rerouting, replacement documentation, escalation, and activation of alternative providers.
• Support management and resolution of cargo loss, damage, discrepancy, and service-failure cases, ensuring timely documentation, claims, corrective actions, and lessons learned.

Emergency preparedness and response

• Develop transport and customs preparedness arrangements for priority risks, e.g., standby capacity, emergency rate agreements, priority corridors, pre-clearance options, and alternative routing plans.
• Support contingency planning, pre-positioning and cross-border readiness by identifying movement constraints and ensure that customs and transport solutions are incorporated into emergency plans.
• Be available for rapid deployment to establish/reinforce transportation, freight, and customs functions during emergencies and other periods of increased operational demand.
• Provide movement tracking, operational updates, risk analysis, and recommended actions to management and response teams during critical shipments and emergency scale-up.
• Lead/contribute to after-action reviews ensuring operational lessons are translated to improved agreements, procedures, corridor maps, and preparedness measures.

Compliance, risk management, and accountability

• Ensure transportation, freight forwarding, customs, and import/export activities comply with applicable IFRC policies and procedures, national laws, donor requirements, contractual conditions and internal controls.
• Maintain complete, accurate auditable shipment and customs records, e.g. approvals, transport documents, customs declarations, exemptions, invoices, delivery records, and GRN
• Identify/mitigate operational, financial, legal, reputational, fraud and compliance risks associated with transport corridors, customs processes, and service providers, escalating significant risks as required.
• Monitor avoidable logistics costs, including demurrage, detention, storage, penalties, failed delivery, and route deviations, and recommend preventive and corrective measures.
• Support audits, compliance reviews, investigations, and management actions related to transportation, freight, customs, and contracted logistics services.

Performance analysis, reporting, and decision support

• Establish and monitor performance indicators covering cost, lead time, customs-clearance time, on-time delivery, service quality, claims, and provider performance across key corridors and agreements.
• Maintain regional visibility of active shipments, transport capacity, framework-agreement coverage, customs arrangements, and corridor constraints through approved systems, dashboards, and reporting tools.
• Analyse transport spend, shipment volumes, lane performance, market trends, and operational data to identify consolidation opportunities, cost efficiencies, service gaps, and strategic sourcing needs.
• Produce timely management reports, operational updates, analyses, and recommendations to support evidence-based decisions and continuous improvement.

Partnerships and capacity strengthening

• Establish and maintain relationship with National Societies, Movement partners, government authorities, UN agencies, logistics coordination mechanisms, and private-sector service providers.
• Provide coaching, technical guidance, and training to IFRC and National Society personnel on transport planning, freight forwarding, customs compliance, shipment documentation, service-provider management, and corridor preparedness.
• Support National Societies and country offices to develop or improve local transport agreements, customs maps, standard procedures, and operational readiness in line with IFRC standards.
• Promote regional knowledge sharing, document good practices and lessons learned, and contribute to harmonized transportation and customs approaches across Africa.
• Undertake frequent travel and operational deployments and perform other related duties assigned by the line manager.

• University degree in Supply Chain Management, Finance, Business Administration
• Relevant professional training courses are preferred

• Minimum of 5 years progressively responsible experience in logistics or supply chain management, including at least four years of substantial responsibility for transportation, freight forwarding, customs, or import/export operations.
• Proven experience designing, tendering, establishing, and managing regional or multi-country framework agreements for road transport, freight forwarding, customs clearance, cargo handling, or related logistics services, including technical specifications, rate structures, evaluations, service levels, and performance indicators.
• Hands-on experience planning and overseeing international multi-modal and cross-border cargo movements, particularly within Africa, including mode and route selection, consolidation, Incoterms, shipping documentation, transit arrangements, shipment tracking, delivery, and proof of receipt.
• Demonstrated practical experience with customs and import/export procedures, including documentary requirements, permits and licences, exemptions, duty and tax arrangements, commodity classification, transit regimes, and liaison with customs authorities, brokers, and clearing agents.
• Demonstrated experience resolving complex transportation and customs problems, such as shipment holds, incomplete or incorrect documentation, border disruptions, carrier failure, capacity shortages, demurrage and detention, route changes, and cargo loss or damage.
• Experience conducting transport and freight market assessments, benchmarking rates and lead times, managing logistics service providers, monitoring service-level agreements and key performance indicators, and analysing cost and performance data to improve service delivery.
• Experience in humanitarian or emergency logistics, including preparedness, pre-positioning, emergency scale-up, cross-border response, or rapid operational deployment in complex and high-pressure environments.
• Experience working with Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement partners, particularly National Societies, and providing technical guidance, coaching, training, or institutional capacity strengthening in multicultural and multilingual environments.
• Understanding of and commitment to IFRC’s mission and values.
• Relevant experience in Africa is strongly desirable.

• In-depth technical knowledge of domestic and international transportation, including road, sea, air, and multimodal freight operations; cargo consolidation; routing; carrier and freight-forwarder operating models; shipment tracking; and delivery controls.
• Advanced knowledge of customs and import/export processes, including commodity classification, customs valuation and origin, permits and licences, duty and tax exemptions, transit regimes, Incoterms, shipping documents, and clearance procedures.
• Strong knowledge of logistics-services procurement and contracting, including framework-agreement design, technical specifications, lane and geographic lotting, rate cards, evaluation methodologies, service-level agreements, key performance indicators, contract activation, and supplier-performance management.
• Demonstrated ability to analyse transport corridors, markets, routes, lead times, costs, capacity, border and customs constraints, security considerations, and operational risks, and to develop practical primary and contingency solutions.
• Excellent operational problem-solving, judgement, and negotiation skills, with the ability to diagnose complex shipment and clearance problems, coordinate multiple stakeholders, manage escalation, and deliver workable solutions under time pressure.
• Strong analytical and digital skills, including advanced use of spreadsheets and reporting tools for rate benchmarking, cost analysis, shipment visibility, lead-time monitoring, provider scorecards, dashboards, and evidence-based recommendations.
• Excellent communication, coordination, and relationship-management skills, including the ability to prepare clear SOPs, guidance, corridor maps, technical reports, and management recommendations, and to train and advise colleagues and National Society counterparts in multicultural and multilingual environments.
• Sound knowledge of risk management, internal controls, audit trails, documentation standards, donor and contractual compliance, and fraud-risk mitigation as they apply to transportation, freight forwarding, customs, and contracted logistics services is preferred.
• Proficiency in supply chain digital tools, ERP systems, and data visualization platforms (e.g., Power BI, Excel advanced functions) to support planning, tracking, and performance analysis. Proven ability to enhance supply chain visibility and decision-making through digital solutions.

Languages

• Full fluency in French and English is required
• Good command of another IFRC official language (Spanish, Arabic) is preferred
• Good command of Portuguese is preferred

Core competencies: Communication; Collaboration and teamwork; Judgement and decision making; National Society and customer relations; Creativity and innovation; Building trust

Values: Respect for diversity; Integrity; Professionalism; Accountability