Risk Relationship Manager
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Overview
Job Description
Who We Are
International Justice Mission (IJM) is a global movement working to protect people in poverty from everyday violence—human trafficking, slavery, sexual violence, police abuse, and other brutalities that destroy lives and communities. IJM partners with local authorities in 30+ countries to rescue victims, hold perpetrators accountable, restore survivors, and strengthen justice systems so they protect the vulnerable long after IJM leaves.
The Need
Forover25 years, IJM has pioneered the workto protectvulnerable people from violence.9 out of 9 times in the last decade, IJM’s Justice System Strengthening Projects have reduced slavery and violence between 50 and 85% forvery largepopulations of people in poverty.As we grow to expand our impact toprotect 500 million people fromviolence, weareseekinga seasoned strategic advisor and liaison to serve as a Risk Relationship Manager across our global corporate functions and global programs.
This role blends a relationship-building and advisory approach to portfolio management with the discipline of traditional risk management. The role is integral to fostering a culture of transparency, trust, and support, while introducing and integrating a consistent risk-based approach to managing risk into operational and strategic decisions. Acting as an internal consultant, you will manage a portfolio of internal stakeholders as the primary point of contact for all matters relating to risk. You will build trusted relationships, understand operational realities, and translate complex risk concepts and organizational challenges into practical guidance. You will be the go-to-person for risk-related questions within your coverage portfolio, helping teams navigate uncertainty and the need to take courageous action while stewarding God’s resources.
The successful candidate for this strategic and cross-functional role will be expected to make decisions under uncertainty, consider the end user/client/survivor as the focus of our mission, and co-design solutions that allow us tooperatesafely and effectively in volatile, high-risk environments. You will not “police” compliance; you will enable our mission by assistingto transformrisk management into a strategic advantage. You will apply Human-Centered Design (HCD) principles along with the rest of the Risk subfunction as we build relationships, processes and risk management tools that are intuitive and supportive, ensuring that our risk framework and coverage support are fit for our purpose and season.
This position is based in the Washington, D.C.area and is available to be hybrid (onsite Tuesdays & Thursdays). It reports toVice President, Riskand is only available for candidates with the right to work in the US.
Responsibilities
Strategic Partnership and Advisory
Develop strong client-stakeholder relationships across a portfolio of internal stakeholder groups grounded in organizational awareness and knowledge, deep listening, curiosity, empathy, and servant leadership.
Serve as the primary risk partner to assigned functions and programs, developingdeepunderstanding of theirobjectives, challenges, and risk profile/landscape.
Act as a trusted advisor during sensitive conversations, helping client-stakeholders navigate complex risk scenarios in challenging, confidential, complex, uncertain, or rapidly evolving situations.
Partner with client-stakeholders to integrate risk considerations into strategic planning, new initiatives, and operational decisions.
Develop strategic partnerships across the organization with relevant SMEs, program and country teams, external consultants, and peers across the division to create open dialogue and relationships based on trust that willfacilitateinformed, valid, integrated, and relevant transformation of our risk coverage model.
Risk Management
Participate in and help shape the development, socialization and adoption of the organization’s risk language, riskappetiteand tolerance, and newly designed or uplifted components of the risk management framework to foster a culture of risk-based decision making and proactive risk management across all levels of the organization.
Work with senior leaders and pertinent subject matter experts as an advocate who informs and supports the creation and drafting of governing documents and other risk and compliance initiatives so that they accurately reflect and address the needs of your internal stakeholders.
Develop a reputation for being a well-informed, supportive, pragmatic, and solution-oriented advisor for risk owners, and communicate proactively and effectively with all relevant customers and stakeholders at each “moment that matters” in the risk management lifecycle so that your knowledge, trust, and relationships facilitate ease and wise decision-making.
Bring a sense of the possible when helping to shape our risk decisions so that we can encourage and enable our functions and programs to take courageous action while stewarding God’s resources.
Provide targeted support for compliance and safeguarding initiatives,encouragingand enabling stakeholder adherence to internal policies and other governing documents, external regulations, and donor requirements.
Facilitate the contextualization and harmonization of risk advice and decisions across regions and functions, strikingan appropriate balancebetween needed global consistency/standardization and local requirements.
Risk Enablement
Focus on the “One Thing” – protecting 500 million people living in poverty from violence -- by stewarding strong and supportive relationships, thereby enabling those who need to rely on your perspective andexpertiseas they take courageous action on mission.
Investigate what is working well in business partnership or relationship management roles at IJM and how we can do more of it. Where possible, develop strategies based on these proven blueprints, aiding in a pragmatic focus on the pursuit of the possible.
Prioritize risk-taking and/or decision making that drives business success by helping mitigate the greatest threats or unlock the greatest opportunities to scale the protection of people living in poverty from violence.
Ensure we take a risk-based approach to safeguarding, oversight and governance, and compliance that supports the organization’s risk appetite and tolerance.
Identifywhere the organization can remove friction points and administrative bottlenecks in risk reporting and mitigation, so that the desired behavioral changes, routes to compliance, and escalation routes are the path of least resistance for risk takers and risk owners to adopt.
Participate in a variety of cross-functional, initiative-specific project teams torepresentand contribute on behalf of the risk organization and our efforts.
Measurement, Learning, and Reporting
Support, and at times own, the establishment of mechanisms tomonitorrisk management, mitigation, and escalation, andto reportonsame.
Support the development of metrics and dashboards to assess risk management effectiveness in achieving targeted vital behavior change and management of targetedrisk, andincorporate assessment learnings into continuous improvement practices.
Support Safeguarding, Compliance and MERL assessments from a risk management perspective.
Qualifications
Bachelor’sdegree in a relevant field. Advanced degree preferred.
10+ years of broad experience in human-centered design, agile delivery, operational design or effectiveness, change strategy or related field, preferably in international NGO, mission-driven, or complex operational environments.
Demonstrated success in solving complex, multi-stakeholder challenges, navigating ambiguity and cross-functional projects, and designing scalable frameworks or operating models that drive behavior change.
Deep experience in agile delivery while leading enterprise-wide change.
A track recordof working in or consulting for the Human Rights, Humanitarian, Development, or International NGO sector, with a grasp of how this environment presents unique challenges and opportunities.
Practical experience functioning formally or informally as an internal consultant, shepherding a complex matrix of stakeholders through planning, problem framing, recommendations, prioritization, resourcing and building of project-related deliverables.
Demonstrated exposure to (or willingness to learn) risk management foundations,philosophiesand approaches.
Advancedproficiencyin the Microsoft 365 Office Suite, using core applications to support collaboration, analysis, documentation, and executive-ready communication across teams.
Strong working knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite, with the ability to create, edit, and refine visual and presentation assets that support storytelling, stakeholder engagement, and strategic initiatives.
Experience with collaborative design and visual communication tools (e.g., Canva, Figma) to prototype ideas, co-create with partners, and translate complex concepts into clear, human-centered visuals.
Demonstrated experience using work and project management platforms (e.g., Asana, Monday.com) to plan, prioritize, and track initiatives, manage dependencies, and increase visibility and accountability across cross-functional teams.
Critical Qualities
Mature orthodox Christian faith as defined by the Apostles’ Creed.
You are kind,patientand gracious when working across cultures.
Youhave the ability totravel domestically and internationally on an occasional and short-term basis.
Your strategic thinking strength is balanced with your drive to execution.
You hold a deep commitment to communicating with empathy, with the ability to translate complexity into simplicity, synthesize for an executive audience, and educate and inform all stakeholders in a simple, coherent,memorableand persuasive style.
You are easily able to learn quickly,maintainingcuriosity and openness as the landscape and environment become familiar. Awareness of how you learn, how others learn, and a focus on allowing the learning process to be a priority and integral to the journey.
ApplicationProcess
Upload Resume, CoverLetter& Statement of Faith* inone PDF document.
*What is a statement of faith?A statement of faith should describe your Christian faith and how you see it as relevant to your involvement with IJM. The statement can either be incorporated into the cover letter orsubmittedas a separate document and should include, at a minimum, a description of your spiritual disciplines (prayer, study, etc.) and your current fellowship or place of worship.
What does IJM have to offer?
Comprehensive Medical/Dental/Vision benefits
Monthly commuter and parking benefitsin the DC metro area
Retirement benefitoptions
Paid leave starting at23 days
12holidays (plusearly releasethe day prior)
Daily, quarterly,and annual community spiritual formation
Robust staff care resources
IJM holds strict safeguarding principles and a zero tolerance to violations of the Safeguarding Policy, Protection against Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment Policy, and Code of Ethics. Candidateselectionis based on technical competence, recruitment,selectionand hiring criteria subject to assessing the candidate’svaluecongruence and thorough background, police clearance, and reference check processes.
At IJM,we’recommitted to building a diverse workforce through fair andequitableemployment practices. IJM encourages people of any race, color, age, sex, maritalstatusor political ideology to apply for employment. While we welcome everyone into this work, wetruly believethat the work we are doing is God’s work, not our own, and practice spiritual disciplines together daily.That’swhy we legally require under SEC. 2000e-1 [Section702] of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that all employees practice a mature orthodox Christian faith, as defined by the Apostles’ Creed.
IJMrequiresa background check, policeclearanceand thorough review of references with an employment offer and/or employment contract.
Automate your job search with Sonara.
Submit 10x as many applications with less effort than one manual application.
