Justice Rapid Response (JRR) is an intergovernmental initiative that partners with international, national and civil society actors by providing them with prompt, impartial and professional expertise, tailored to each context, to investigate international crimes and serious human rights violations and to promote the rights and access to justice of victims and survivors. The JRR Secretariat carries out JRR’s activities under the direction of the JRR Executive Director and is based in Geneva, Switzerland. For further information, please visit our website http://www.justicerapidresponse.org

The position

Justice Rapid Response is looking for a full-time (Senior) Programme Officer to join our team in Geneva, starting in April 2026, for a period of five months. The (Senior) Programme Officer will be a member of the International Justice Programme (IJP) and also function as JRR Child Rights Advisor.

The IJP goal is to improve the effectiveness of the international community to fight impunity for international crimes and serious human rights violations, including sexual and gender-based violence, and to promote the dignity of victims and survivors, with a child, youth and gender-sensitive and responsive approach. In order to do so, IJP partners with multilateral organizations and initiatives that seek to hold perpetrators of international crimes and serious human rights violations accountable or to address such
crimes through fact finding and truth seeking processes. IJP provides highly specialized expertise and tailors the support to every partner and situation IJP engages with. The IJP is also hosting the JRR thematic engagements on Gender and Child/Youth Rights.

The IJP (Senior) Officer is responsible for the implementation of the Programme’s strategy and objectives as set out in JRR’s Plan of Work. The (Senior) Programme Officer would cover JRR’s support to organizations working in enhancing child rights and international criminal justice, as well as in country situations such as Ukraine or specific countries in the Middle East, among others. They will work under the supervision of the IJP Head of Programme/ Senior Gender and Child Rights Advisor, with an additional reporting line to the JRR Director of Operations for a specific portfolio.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Head of Programme, the (Senior) Programme Officer:

Project Management

- Be responsible and/or support the management and implementation of self-contained IJP projects, the scope and size of which will be defined by the Head of Programme. This includes the projects’ scoping, planning, implementation and reporting with a particular focus on the monitoring and evaluation of the impact/outcome of activities.
- This can include coordination of JRR projects on capacity building sessions/webinars/experts’ meetings on topics of relevance to the IJP.

Child and Youth Rights

For IJP, they:

- Are responsible for the implementation of IJP Child and Youth Rights projects; - Coordinate deployments of child rights advisors;
- Support the development and implementation of funding proposals in the field of child and youth rights justice;
- Contribute to the harmonization of a child-sensitive lens in IJP operations (i.e. support in elaboration of ToRs; support in developing and updating SEA investigation methodologies) and advise IJP team members, as requested;
- Coordinate the IJP-led community of practice meetings of child rights advisors, in coordination and under the supervision of the JRR Senior Child Rights Advisor.

For JRR, they function as the JRR Child Rights Advisor; and help shape the strategy of the organization on that topic, represent JRR and develop the work of the organization on this topic. In this function they:

- Identify the needs of the JRR team in regards of JRR’s understanding of the thematic area, and subject to available capacity, use this to implement initiatives designed at building the capacity of Justice Rapid Response in this field, in coordination with the JRR Senior Child Rights Advisor;
- Provide advice, when solicited, to programme staff in relation to the deployment of experts in that thematic area, including on expert search and TORs development;
- Support the JRR Senior Child Rights Advisor, in informing work and strategies in that thematic sector by actively contributing to internal planning, project development and strategies;
- Keep appraised of evolutions in the thematic sector, as applied in justice processes, and position JRR within existing networks in the sector, as well as assess opportunities for JRR to support work in the thematic sector with its roster of experts, in coordination with the JRR Senior Child Rights Advisor;
- Subject to available capacity and resources, in coordination with the JRR Senior Child Rights Advisor, represent JRR at meetings and events on this thematic topic and participate in knowledge sharing and policy work initiatives on this topic;
- Assist the Recruitment and Certification Manager in assessing applications for new experts in the thematic category, conducting interviews, and once certified, assigning professions, expertise and proposing the skillsets for the expert;
- Work with the Roster Manager to optimise the categorisation of experts within the thematic category, as well as supporting with the Roster Review process.

Deployment Management and Implementation

For the deployments falling under their responsibility, the (Senior) Program Officer will:

- Work with the Supervisor on the assessment of new inquiries, including researching contextual and security-related information;
- Identify JRR experts for deployments and prepare the documentation for the requesting Entity on experts’ profiles;
- Initiate, coordinate and contribute to the implementation of the JRR security framework (RISK Form in particular) with the support of the Operations Officer and the Director of Operations;
- Work with the requesting Entity through the selection process and with the expert(s) and their employers on availability and release process;
- Facilitate communications between all internal and external parties through the administrative and contracting phase as well as throughout the deployment;
- Prepare pre-deployment briefing packages on country situations, including research of open source material relating to a deployment;
- Monitor and maintain records on the assigned inquiries and deployments including by updating the information in the roster management system as well as providing information for reporting and financial reporting on deployments;
- Facilitate the mission by deploying the experts when appropriate;
- Organize the debriefing of experts and ensure the implementation of recommendations made by experts and/or requesting entities;
- Take part in coordination calls led dealing with deployments and ensure continuous communication and coordination with other programmes.

Outreach and Partnership

- Gain new partners for the program by developing outreach strategies, find synergies and opportunities for future deployments and collaboration. Develop partnership agreements when
required. Document these efforts and contacts in Salesforce.

Public Communication

- Propose communication products and work. Collaborate with the Communications Officer to turn these into communication products (events, updates, blogs, messages for JRR social media accounts etc.).
- Participate in the organization of events.
- Draft speaking points and briefing notes in preparation for events or meetings.

Fundraising

- Support the identification of new funding sources for JRR and the development of concept notes and project proposals.
- Draft interim and final narrative reports to donors on Programme activities.

Qualifications

• Masters in International Law, Transitional Justice, International Relations or related field.
• Minimum of 4 to 6 years of relevant professional experience including project management, project design (incl. proposal writing), and monitoring and evaluation.
• Professional experience in the field of human rights, transitional justice and/or international law is essential. In addition, prior working experience on these issues in the context of child rights is an asset.
• Legal background, including experience in criminal justice, is an asset.
• Fluency in written and oral English is essential, competency in one or more of the other official UN languages is an asset.
• Strong research, analytical and writing skills.
• Strong diplomatic skills.
• Ability to work independently with limited supervision.
• Strong computer skills including working with databases.

Sought Competencies

• Creativity: Actively seeks to improve activities or services including by reaching out to key stakeholders and/or potential new partners and prospective experts.
• Flexibility: Comfortable working in highly flexible, decentralized environment in which autonomy, accountability and innovation are supported and valued;
• Teamwork: Ability to work in collaboration with colleagues in view of reaching organizational goals; to proactively solicit input and value colleagues’ ideas and expertise; to be willing to learn from others; to place team agenda before personal agenda;
• Planning & Organizing: Identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required. Allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work. Able to run all aspects of a project, including planning activities and managing budget.

Application process

Grounded in JRR’s value of diversity and principles of equality and non-discrimination, the organization encourages applications from qualified candidates of all nationalities and backgrounds. JRR has been granted privileges and immunities by Switzerland in December 2025.

Please send your CV and a cover letter (max 1 page) outlining your interest and indicating your availability to the following email address: jrr_recruit@justicerapidresponse.org

Please use the subject line “Programme Officer & Child Rights Advisor - *your name*”.

Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Deadline for applications: 6 February 2026
Anticipated Starting date: April 2026
Location: Geneva
Indicative gross annual salary (before taxes and social security contributions) for this position is 72,000 to 90,000 CHF, commensurate with relevant professional experience