Operational Security Advisor

FULL-TIME JOB VACANCY
Operational Security Advisor
Safety, Security and Staff Care Team
Multiple Locations Considered 
Application Deadline: January 6, 2025

Human Rights Watch (HRW) is seeking an Operational Security Advisor to play a key role supporting staff to manage safety and security risks in their work to investigate, expose and advocate to change human rights abuses globally.

The successful candidate will be joining a values-based Safety, Security and Staff Care team, comprised of a total of three people. This team seeks to apply the values of creativity, consistency, compassion and competence in all of their interactions with staff and they are currently working to intentionally embed trauma-informed practices within their security management work. To be a good fit for this team, your technical expertise in security management is just as important as your ability to engage with colleagues in ways that are kind, firm, informative and helpful, and promote psychological safety.

This role involves approximately 10-15% travel, occasionally to high-risk locations. It has the potential to bring with it physical security risks due to this travel. It also has the potential to bring with it mental health risks due to the high stress nature of caring for and supporting others conducting high risk work; the need to review potentially distressing material to inform security analyses; and because staff often engage us in discussions around past, and potential, traumatic events stemming from security incidents. We will discuss how HRW will support you to manage these risks during the interview process to ensure that the risks and the ways that we can support you can factor into your decision-making process if you are offered the role.

This position reports to the Director of Safety, Security and Staff Care, who is based in Ottawa, Canada. The position may be based in any of the following offices: New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Sao Paolo, London, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Stockholm, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Tunis, Toronto or Amman.

Responsibilities:

1. Lead safety and security planning: Conduct safety and security risk assessments, develop recommendations for associated mitigation measures, and where applicable, facilitate the development of security plans, for HRW staff, high-risk offices, travel, research and events to ensure we are minimizing safety and security risks in our work. This includes regular reviews of location-specific threats aligned with HRW’s threat matrix, and may involve travel.
2. Support development of, and promote, security processes and systems: Support the Safety, Security and Staff Care Director in the development of security processes and systems. Educate staff on proper use of, and adherence to, these security processes and systems, and elevate any gaps in compliance to relevant lines of management.
3. Conduct research and analysis on security-related issues and trends: Stay abreast of new developments in the international security sector, as well as security developments and trends relevant to respective regional and thematic areas of work, and escalate developments that signify a heightened level of risk to staff or HRW to the Safety, Security and Staff Care Director and relevant divisions/line management chains.
4. Support incident management: Support security incident management through person-, research-, and location-specific contingency planning; engagement in incident management and crisis management teams; and providing incident management cover for the Safety, Security and Staff Care Director during her leave.
5. Contribute to curriculum development, and facilitate security-related training: Support the Safety, Security and Staff Care Director in providing input into security-related training curriculum and facilitate trainings offered by the Safety, Security and Staff Care Team, including but not limited to HEFAT, training for events, and onboarding sessions.
6. Represent HRW in broader security fora: Engage in peer networking and conferences for sharing of lessons learned, strengthening HRW’s security reputation amongst peers, and maintaining strong information networks
7. Other: Engage in and support other security team projects and needs as requested

Qualifications:

Education: A level of education that when combined with your professional experience will adequately show you have the capability to contribute meaningfully to the security team.

Experience:  

• You have a minimum of 5 years of work experience supporting colleagues to engage in high-risk work in high-risk locations, preferably in the human rights, media or humanitarian sectors, conducting risk assessments and context assessments, developing security plans and contingency plans, and supporting incident responses.
• You have 3-5 years of work experience or lived experience in high risk locations around the world
• You have past experience in training facilitation, preferably with regards to facilitating advanced security trainings (hostile environment awareness and first aid), although we will accept other forms of training experience provided the training was experiential in nature.

Related Skills and Knowledge:

• You possess a strong ability to collect large amounts of information from multiple online and human sources, assess relevance quickly, and make clear and concise security recommendations based on an analysis of that information.
• You have a proven capacity to lead staff at all levels of the organization through influence rather than formal authority.
• You have the ability to communicate clearly- both verbally and in written form-with a diverse global workforce.
• We are building a security culture rooted in consistency, creativity, compassion and competence. You align with these values and have applied them to security work in the past.
• You have a strong background in conducting individual and team risk assessments in ways that are participatory and inclusive.
• You are able to bring staff alongside difficult decisions
• You gain and extend trust to others quickly and you model integrity
• You can communicate well in English
• We would like to enhance our ability to support our French-speaking colleagues in their own language, and will be especially excited to see applicants who can converse comfortably in French.
• You have experience and the ability to promote and demonstrate resilience and a work/life balance

We especially welcome candidates who do not meet the traditional profile of security professionals. In particular, this means people of colour, women, people living with disabilities, gender-queer folks, and those without military/policing backgrounds. You’ll be joining a small security team who span multiple racial and ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations, genders, and geographical locations. We feel this diversity helps us best understand and meet the needs of our global workforce at HRW, and we look forward to welcoming you and your uniqueness to our team!

Salary and Benefits: HRW seeks exceptional applicants and offers competitive compensation and employer-paid benefits including medical, dental, vision, disability and life insurance. HRW offers a relocation assistance package and will assist employees in obtaining necessary work authorization, if required; people of all nationalities are encouraged to apply. The salary range for this position if based in the US is USD 80,000 – 88,000. Salary ranges outside of the US vary based on location, and you will receive specific salary ranges based on your location early during the recruitment process.

How to Apply: Please apply by January 6, 2025, by visiting our online job portal at careers.hrw.org and attaching a cover letter and resume, preferably in PDF format. No calls or email inquiries, please. Only complete applications will be reviewed, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

If you are experiencing technical difficulties with your application submission or require a disability related accommodation, please email recruitment@hrw.org. Due to the large response, application submissions via email will not be accepted and inquiries regarding the status of applications will go unanswered.

Human Rights Watch is strong because it is diverse. We actively seek a diverse applicant pool and encourage candidates of all backgrounds to apply. Human Rights Watch does not discriminate on the basis of disability, age, gender identity and expression, national origin, race and ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or criminal record. We welcome all kinds of diversity. Our employees include people who are parents and nonparents, the self-taught and university educated, and from a wide span of socio- economic backgrounds and perspectives on the world. Human Rights Watch is an equal opportunity employer.

Human Rights Watch is an international human rights monitoring and advocacy organization known for its in-depth investigations, its incisive and timely reporting, its innovative and high- profile advocacy campaigns, and its success in changing the human rights-related policies and practices of influential governments and international institutions.