The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) seeks a digital experience design expert to launch a new department to work in collaboration with program, external partners, and technology staff to help chart the way in creating a comprehensive, trustworthy, and accessible global digital platform that will equip displaced people and their advocates, in more countries than ever before, with the legal resources necessary to secure a pathway to safety for themselves and their loved ones. In this new position, the Director of Digital Resources, Products & Engagement must be a complex systems thinker, consultative thought partner, and a digital product and technology professional.

With offices in New York, Washington, DC, Berlin, Amman, and Beirut, IRAP has an innovative model of developing and disseminating critical legal resources to provide displaced persons with information they need to make informed decisions about their lives.

IRAP’s Audacious Idea

More than 84 million people globally have been forced to leave their homes, fleeing war, persecution, and – increasingly – the effects of climate change. For displaced people seeking lasting refuge, legal representation dramatically increases the chances of safe resettlement, yet the legal resources available to refugees are often fragmented, outdated, and, in many locations, nonexistent.

The responsibility to improve access to cross-border refugee rights sits outside the scope of any one government. This is the void that IRAP is proposing to fill. Over the next six years The Audacious Project, a collaborative funding initiative, will push forward IRAP’s efforts to equip 2.5M displaced people around the world with legal resources and pathways to safe resettlement by 2027 will be significantly amplified whether those pathways are through legal services or through knowledge and self-advocacy.

At this exciting moment of growth within IRAP, the Director of Digital Resources, Products & Engagement will be a catalyzing advisor and implementor of systems allowing IRAP to fulfill their goal of providing access to critical legal resources to refugees and displaced persons. The successful candidate understands that central to a successful outcome is holding accessibility at the core of their work. The Director of Digital Resources, Products & Engagement will bring an awareness of the barriers and factors that impact how resources are accessed by displaced people and their advocates including internet reliability and availability, cultural norms and language, reading levels and technology skills, and security and/or fraud exposure. The key to success is creating an end-to end, high impact, digital campaign experience and trainings that reach IRAP’s target audiences to achieve the desired outcomes.

The Digital Resources, Products & Engagement Director

Reporting to the Deputy Executive Director overseeing IRAP’s Legal Services, Learning & Evaluation and Pro Bono departments, the Digital Products & Engagement Director will lead the way in defining and building a new department for IRAP. The Director will be tasked to bring unexpected thinking to the design experience to conceptualize and design digital content and collateral supporting core IRAP programs across the IRAP network, working closely with colleagues and partners, providing vital up-to-date knowledge resources and other legal empowerment tools for the benefit of IRAP’s client base, legal partners, and other members of the refugee legal aid and humanitarian ecosystem.

The successful candidate will work closely and in tandem with IRAP’s IT department, which will be charged with building the technological solutions used on the platform. In coordination with the program departments, the Director will develop and ensure accurate, useful, and accessible content. The Digital Products & Engagement Director’s work and the global digital platform will function as a hub for information coming into and being shared out of IRAP. Incorporating the perspectives of country specific legal experts, legal services teams, legal and humanitarian advocacy partners, and clients themselves, the Digital Products & Engagement Director will apply innovative tech solutions in making information and resources accessible to those who need it the most. The Digital Resources, Products & Engagement Director will oversee all programmatic components of the new platform, including content and accessibility of these tools and resources. This position will support the growth of IRAP’s existing legal resources and tap innovative technological solutions for IRAP clients and community partners in an expanding global network.

Ideal candidates will have a strong understanding of product planning and interaction design and bring a sensitivity for user experience and technical skilling. They will also bring at least five (5) years of success managing complex projects with multiphase interaction on ambitious timelines and experience developing and managing online resources for a public-facing audience ideally in a multinational and multicultural frame. Compelling candidates for this position must be highly motivated, capable of self-directed work, be both holistic in their thinking as well as detail-oriented and able to work collaboratively across teams and departments. The Director must exhibit a keen sense of responsibility and enjoy working with multiple demands, shifting priorities and constant change.

The successful candidate will be a consultative thought partner and strong relationship builder. Excellent organizational and interpersonal skills are necessary. Strong verbal and written communications skills are absolute musts. Experienced communicator within a community-based education model is ideal. Most importantly, a personal and professional commitment of sensitivity to client empowerment and to working with clients of all backgrounds, including LGBTI clients, survivors of trauma, and other vulnerable populations.