Risk Relationship Manager

International Justice Mission

5d•Hybrid

About The Position

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 For over 25 years, IJM has pioneered the work to protect vulnerable 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% for very large populations of people in poverty. As we grow to expand our impact to protect 500 million people from violence, we are seeking a 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 to operate safely and effectively in volatile, high-risk environments. You will not “police” compliance; you will enable our mission by assisting to transform risk 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 to Vice President, Risk and is only available for candidates with the right to work in the US.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field required. 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 record of 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, philosophies and approaches.
Advanced proficiency in 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.
Mature orthodox Christian faith as defined by the Apostles’ Creed.
You are kind, patient and gracious when working across cultures.
You have the ability to travel 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, memorable and persuasive style.
You are easily able to learn quickly, maintaining curiosity 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.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree preferred.

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, developing deep understanding of their objectives, 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 will facilitate informed, 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, risk appetite and 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, encouraging and 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, striking an appropriate balance between 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 and expertise as 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.
Identify where 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 to represent and contribute on behalf of the risk organization and our efforts.
Measurement, Learning, and Reporting Support, and at times own, the establishment of mechanisms to monitor risk management, mitigation, and escalation, and to report on same.
Support the development of metrics and dashboards to assess risk management effectiveness in achieving targeted vital behavior change and management of targeted risk, and incorporate assessment learnings into continuous improvement practices.
Support Safeguarding, Compliance and MERL assessments from a risk management perspective.