Compliance Manager / Idleb - Syria

General Description of the Programme:

GOAL is an international humanitarian and development NGO dedicated to alleviating the suffering of the poorest and most vulnerable. GOAL was established in 1977 and is currently operational in 14 countries worldwide. GOAL began operations in Syria in 2012 responding to the acute needs of conflict-affected communities. GOAL’s areas of operations include but not limited to Aleppo, and Idleb Governorates.

GOAL has been responding to the acute needs of conflict affected communities. The program focuses on food and nutrition security, WASH, shelter, livelihoods/ERMS and emergency response with a growing emphasis on cash and voucher modalities. GOAL Syria implements its programs directly, with over 500 staff based in Syria, as well as through Syrian NGO partners. GOAL’s program works at the household, community, and camp levels to improve community resilience and household coping strategies. 

Job purpose:

A compliance manager responsibility to keep the legal and ethical integrity of GOAL intact through policy enforcement and program planning. He/she makes sure all departments of GOAL Syria and Turkey Programmes are complying with the rules and regulations of the donors and GOAL. He/she will be responsible for keeping up-to-date with changing in the rules and the regulation of the donors.  He/she will be managing Compliance Staff in Syria and Turkey, and will work under the supervision of the Compliance Coordinator (CC).

Duties, objectives and competencies

• Monitor and assess changes in donor regulations, local laws, and internal policies to mitigate compliance risks and ensure alignment with GOAL’s operational and strategic objectives.
• Provide consultative guidance to functional departments and field offices, enabling teams to interpret and apply compliance requirements effectively across all programming and operational areas.
• Support the Compliance Coordinator (CC) in designing and delivering an effective compliance training program tailored to GOAL staff and implementing partners/sub-grantees.
• Lead and deliver training sessions, including compliance onboarding for new hires and ongoing refresher trainings for all staff and managers, ensuring understanding of donor rules and internal policies.
• Develop and monitor corrective action plans in collaboration with relevant departments, ensuring timely resolution of compliance gaps and documentation of follow-up actions.
• Collaborate with other departments (e.g., Internal Audit, HR, Procurement, Logistics, Programmes) to resolve issues raised in Compliance Quarterly Reports (Turkey and Syria), and ensure effective communication of findings and solutions.
• Lead process improvement initiatives, by reviewing and enhancing the Compliance Quarterly Reporting mechanism, incorporating lessons learned and stakeholder feedback.
• Staff Management: working closely with CC to:
• Work closely with the CC to set objectives and performance targets for compliance staff.
• Assign tasks strategically, ensuring efficiency and effective workload distribution.
• Build team capacity through targeted training on donor regulations (e.g., ECHO, USAID, BHA, SIDA) and partnership management.
• Ensure the availability and awareness of all relevant donor templates, tools, and formats in-country, and support contributing teams in meeting compliance obligations at every stage: proposal, kickoff, amendments, reporting, close-out, and audit.
• Coordinate and support external audits, liaising with auditors, compiling requested documentation, and ensuring accurate and timely responses to findings.
• Assist the CC in preparing and participating in GMMs (Grant Management Meetings), ensuring compliance aspects are represented and actioned.
• Serve as the compliance focal point for country office and field team queries, addressing matters within the Compliance Manager's scope and escalating critical issues to the CC as needed.
• Oversee and optimize the use of digital tools and platforms—especially SharePoint—for storing, organizing, and accessing compliance documentation, donor guidelines, and training resources.
• Enhance knowledge management and document control processes through effective use of SharePoint’s automation and collaboration features
• Contribute to annual planning, helping to identify departmental objectives, track progress, and ensure that compliance activities are aligned with organizational goals..
• Any other duties as requested by CC.

Sub Awards Management:

• Reviewing partnership funding agreements.
• Identify Partnership capacity building on compliance issues (donor rules, Ethics & Compliance Policies, etc)
• Work with program staff to ensure relevant donor requirements are effectively communicated and understood by implementing partners
• Work with Partners Compliance Team on reviewing The Financial Reports and Finalizing the Partners Compliance Report
• Assist CC in review implementing partner assessments, reviews, and other internal or external audit reports and ensure any issues and action points for GOAL or the partners to address are clearly documented and communicated with the relevant people in GOAL. Ensure that management and staff follow up on these issues and close any action points in a timely manner

Vetting:

• Gathering and checking all the required information for the Vetting Application.
• Uploading and checking all the required information in the Vetting Information.
• Keeping a tracker for all the vetting requests and follow up on any changes for the KIVs.

Requirements (essential)

• University graduate, background in, management, administration, finance or related field.
• Knowledge of the requirements of the major donors and experience in reporting to donors (USAID, ECHO, UN Agencies, ….)
• Knowing one of ATSC systems (Visual Compliance Accuity, WatchDog, …etc)
• Excellent computer skill in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and other Microsoft office Programmes
• Ability to learn new systems and IT software quickly and effectively
• Proven track record in management role
• Good attention to detail and analytical skills
• Ability to work independently on own initiative, assess risk and make plans accordingly
• Good English  and Arabic (spoken and written), Turkish advantage
• Prepared to work in insecure environments
• Flexible and creative approach with a proven ability to resolve issues and identify solutions;
• Patient, adaptable, flexible, able to improvise and remain responsive and communicate clearly and effectively under pressure;
• Excellent communication skills while interacting with colleagues and partners.
• Excellent planning, management and coordination skills, with the ability to organise a workload comprised of varying and changing tasks and responsibilities

Requirements (desired)

• At least 6 years experiences in NGO sector.
• Minimum of 2 years in a managerial position, with direct management responsibilities
• At least 4 years compliance or grants or finance experience (audit or Donor experience strongly preferred.
• Experiences in USAID Vetting and BIS requirements
• Previous experience training others an advantage

 

Interested? Then apply for this position via clicking on the "apply now" button and fill out the application form. All applicants must send an updated CV (no longer than four pages). Must be in English or Arabic. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. Application deadline is 17th August 2025 COB.  

 

General terms and conditions

Safeguarding

Children and vulnerable adults a must be safeguarded to the maximum possible extent from deliberate or inadvertent actions and failings that place them at risk of abuse, sexual exploitation, injury and any other harm. One of the ways that GOAL shows this on-going commitment to safeguarding is to include rigorous background and reference checks in the selection process for all candidates.

Accountability within GOAL

Alongside our safeguarding policy, GOAL is an equal opportunities employer and has a set of integrity policies. Any candidate offered a job with GOAL will be expected to adhere to the following key areas of accountability:

• Comply with GOAL’s policies and procedures with respect to safeguarding, Code of Conduct, health and safety, data protection and confidentiality, do no harm principles and unacceptable behaviour protocols.
• Report any concerns about the welfare of a child or vulnerable adult or any wrongdoings within our programming area.
• Report any concerns about inappropriate behaviour of a GOAL staff or partner.

This Job Description only serves as a guide for the position available. GOAL reserves the right to change this document. Any published closing dates are estimated.  Due to the nature of GOAL’s work we aim to fill vacancies as quickly as possible.  This means that we will close adverts as soon as we have found the right candidate and this may be before the published closing date.  We would therefore advise interested applicants to submit an application as early as possible.

Thank you.