Doctors Without Borders is looking for a Flying Planning and Design Officer (Part-time; French-speaking)

Title: Médecins Sans Frontières Suisse - Flying Planning and Design officer

URL Source: https://medecinssansfrontieressuisse.recruitee.com/o/flying-planning-and-design-officer

Join MSF OCG as a Flying Planning and Design officer!

We are looking for passionate candidates ready to contribute to our humanitarian mission.

Below, you will find the job details and the qualifications we are looking for.

This is a field-based position with visits to the headquarters in Geneva

Inclusivity and Diversity at MSF

Do your qualifications and experience not exactly match all requirements of the job?

At MSF OCG, we are committed to an inclusive culture that supports and amplifies the diverse voices of our staff members. We strive to create workplaces where teams of people with diverse backgrounds, characteristics, perspectives, ideas and experiences work together to advance MSF's social mission and create better outcomes for our patients and the communities we work with.

We understand that some people may hesitate to apply for employment if they don't meet all listed job requirements. Research shows that this is especially true for women. If you believe your profile is a good match for this position, we invite you to apply even if you don’t fulfil every listed qualification.

We encourage applications from individuals of all genders, ages, sexual orientations, ethnicities, background, religions, beliefs, ability status, and all other diversity characteristics.

MSF does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of discrimination or harassment, including sexual harassment. All selected candidates will undergo reference checks.

Context & mission

Médecins Sans Frontières is an independent, international medical and humanitarian organization that provides care to people in need, people affected by natural or man-made disasters, and victims of armed conflict, without discrimination and without regard to race, religion, creed or political affiliation (MSF Charter).

The responsibility of the Flying Planning and Design officer is to provide technical and organisational support for implementation of construction activities with the objective of optimizing the methodologies and technical solutions related to construction and shelter implemented by the logistics in MSF programs.

The Flying Planning & Design Officer (Assistant Maître d’Ouvrage - AMO) supports a portfolio of construction or renovation projects during the initial stages of the project cycle, and assists missions and operational cells in their role as project owners:

• Assists in clarifying/defining needs in the form of a medico-operational program or project narrative document.
• Translates these needs into a concept design while considering cost, quality, and timeline constraints.
• Recommends the methods and means to achieve the objectives by providing support in construction/renovation project management, proposing a contextualized project cycle, and an organizational structure tailored to the project's specific needs.
• Supervises construction/renovation project management teams, providing functional management support.

Around 80% of the time is spent on-site, for

• Direct technical support to field operations (regular missions and emergencies)
• Audit and recommendation to missions
• Training, coaching and On-boarding
• Validation of products and local suppliers and contractors.

Tasks and responsibilities

Description of main activities

• Plays an advisory role, while the project owner, MSF operations, remain the final decision-maker.
• Interacts with different levels across various locations, from headquarters to the field, depending on the nature and progress of the projects.
• Understands the nature and scale of the project and :
  • Proposes the most suitable management/governance approach in accordance with the latest internal rules and policies. They facilitate project coordination in its initial phase, enabling the project owner to fullfill their project management responsibilities.
  • Clarifies and prioritizes program elements (needs, administrative and technical constraints, possible risks), ensure a multidisciplinary approach with other support actors and structures them into a specifications document (project narrative) and a design concept.
  • Upon request from the project owner, facilitates the mobilization of needed resources for the construction project in the field.
  • May be authorized by the construction referent to validate local or regional service providers, materials, tools, or contextual implementation method.
  • Carries out any additional tasks relevant to the construction technical team, including the functional management of construction managers and occasionally site supervisors, participation in construction or shelter related emergencies, support on training linked to construction activities, and temporary replacement of the technical referent during absences.

During field missions:

• Direct technical support to field operations
  • Promotes and implement construction activities of the mission based on the construction project cycle (implement or facilitate) and its related document.
  • Supports the construction team (especially Planning and Design Officer) in:
    • Technical Assessment and feasibility phases
    • Program support visits
  • Assumes the position of construction team leader or Coordinator, where and when appropriate, in emergencies.
• Audit and recommendation to missions
  • Evaluates
    • Construction activities needs through the implementation of basics and processes
    • Pertinence of specific construction activities within projects,
    • Construction activities proposed.
  • Provides recommendation to improve quality of construction activities.
  • Follow-up and monitoring of construction emergency activities.
• Training, coaching, on-boarding
  • Provides support for the choice and development of construction or logistic staff in accordance with his expertise.
  • Provides coaching to construction and logistic teams both local and international staff.
  • Participates in presenting of MSF training modules.
  • On-boarding new construction manager.
• Validation of products and local suppliers.
  • validates technically sensitive product or tools,
  • validates local suppliers.
  • Cleans up stock and Eprep stocks (especially on shelter) if required.

Your profile

Education & Experience

• Degree in Construction Project Management, Architecture, or Civil Engineering.
• Experience in construction project management.
• Experience in hospital design.
• MSF field experience is a plus.
• Experience in construction within the humanitarian sector or developing countries.
• Experience in hospital management is an advantage.

Languages

• English and French fluent.
• Knowledge of other languages an asset.

Personal Abilities & Skills

• Knowledge of construction, project management, site supervision, and medical programming.
• Dynamic, organized, rigorous, with strong analytical and synthesis skills while respecting existing structures and their evolution.
• Ability to collaborate, strong interpersonal skills, sense of dialogue, and good listening skills.
• Ability to communicate at different levels and maintain a global vision of the project..

Terms of employment

• Fixed-term contract, 12 months
• Part-time, 80% (32h/week)
• Working place : Field-based position with visits to the headquarters in Geneva
• Practical working conditions in the field are in accordance with the MSF OCG volunteer manual.
• Ideal start date: April 1st, 2026
• Gross monthly salary: CHF 4’400.- (for an 80%)
• Benefits: Health insurance and living expenses in the countries of intervention and at headquarters, paid according to internal regulations.

How to apply

Candidates are invited to submit their application exclusively through our recruitment platform, following these guidelines:

• CV (maximum 2 pages)
• Cover letter (maximum 1 page)
• Documents must be submitted in either English or French.

The application deadline is March 22nd, 2026.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier if we receive a sufficient number of quality applications.

All applications will be treated confidentially.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Please note that we do not wish to use the services of recruitment or placement agencies.

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