Deputy Director, Arms

Responsibilities: 

• Develop, oversee, and implement the Arms Program’s strategy and identify innovative new opportunities and approaches to advance humanitarian disarmament and to prevent or restrict the use of weapons that inflict unnecessary harm to civilians, including related to emerging technologies.
• Lead HRW’s continued high-level engagement in the international coalitions and networks focused on landmines, cluster munitions, explosive weapons, and killer robots, including by playing roles on governance bodies.
• Coordinate and participate actively in our advocacy and media work, especially during relevant treaty, convention, and declaration meetings, in order to create, strengthen, implement, and enforce humanitarian disarmament norms.
• Conduct rigorous reviews of the division’s research products and other publications, ensuring that the highest research standards are adhered to while also working to improve the quality of the writing and serving as a sounding board for staff working on projects.
• Draft own opinion and analysis pieces as possible.
• Guide and advance HRW’s broader work on crisis, conflict, and arms including by supporting with the design of strategic projects and work plans and by editing and reviewing different products. 
• Act as a senior representative and advocate internally for Arms Program priorities, including by participating in various coordination meetings.
• Act as a senior spokesperson and liaise with external actors to advocate on the work of the division, including the Arms Program.
• Assist the Director in regularly monitoring the budget and ensuring that resources are allocated appropriately.
• Assist the Director in developing and implementing effective systems for team coordination and communication.
• Work with the Director and HRW’s Development and Outreach Department in identifying and cultivating new fundraising opportunities for the division’s work. 
• Undertake other responsibilities as required.

Managerial Responsibilities:

• Lead, motivate, and mentor direct reports, including communicating clear expectations, setting performance objectives, providing regular and timely constructive feedback, ensuring balanced workload, providing guidance on professional growth, and monitoring staff well-being as it pertains to stress and resilience issues and staff care.
• Work with the Director and the Security Team to support the development and implementation of physical and digital security and safety plans, and to ensure that staff in the division adhere to security protocols, especially when traveling to high-risk environments.
• Assist the Director in ensuring that the management, staffing, and culture of the division are suitably aligned with evolving goals and strategic ambitions.
• Assist the Director in managing the implementation of performance management processes that measure and evaluate progress against operational goals for the Division.
• Promote an inclusive, creative, positive, and trauma-informed work environment including by soliciting diverse points of views, encouraging staff to participate in efforts to strengthen diversity, equity, and inclusion, and proactively addressing bias, discrimination, and microaggressions.

Qualifications: 

• Education: An advanced (graduate) degree in law, international relations, journalism, social science or other relevant field, or equivalent work experience, is required. 
• Experience: A minimum of seven (7) years of relevant work experience with at least four (4) years in a management position is required. 

Required Skills and Knowledge: 

• Deep knowledge of and experience related to humanitarian disarmament, weapons that cause unnecessary harm to civilians (such as antipersonnel landmines, cluster munitions, incendiary weapons, explosive weapons in populated areas, and killer robots), and efforts to ban or restrict them.
• Experience establishing, strengthening, implementing, and/or enforcing norms, and working with global civil society in coalitions to advance such goals.
• Excellent English writing and editing skills in various formats (such as in-depth reports, press releases, op eds, newsletters, etc.), with an ability to edit documents for factual and technical accuracy and precision, while also working to make the writing as compelling and impactful as possible.
• An ability to analyze relevant international law and apply it to disarmament and conflict situations.
• Recognized management experience, and an ability to supervise a team of talented professionals with significant experience, in multiple global locations.
• Ability to use the findings of conflict-related research, such as interviews, open-source data, and physical evidence, to build an advocacy case, with direct experience conducting human rights investigations in crisis and conflict settings desired.