Job Offer (strictly no recruitment agencies)
Join MSF OCG as the General Director!
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.
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).
MSF is a worldwide movement of 25 sections, 17 branch offices and 7 directorates which directly manage field operations. MSF is almost entirely funded by private donors; In 2024, more than 7.1 million individual donors and private institutions (private companies and foundations) provided 95% of the €2.36 billion raised.
Today, OCG runs medical humanitarian programs in 32 countries through more than 60 field projects. With a 370 million CHF budget, it employs over 7,000 professionals worldwide, of which the majority are locally recruited and work in the projects while 450 are based in HQ hubs (Geneva, Zurich, Amman, Dakar and Mexico).
The General Director of MSF Switzerland / Operational Centre Geneva (OCG) is the organization’s highest executive authority and is responsible for implementing its medical-humanitarian social mission in line with MSF’s Charter, values and humanitarian principles, and with the orientations set by the General Assembly, Board of Directors and OCG Congress.
Reporting to the President of MSF Switzerland, who acts on behalf of the Board of Directors within the associative governance framework, the General Director provides overall executive leadership and is accountable for the organization’s strategic ambitions, operations, people, resources and risk management. The role includes leading the implementation of OCG’s multi-year strategic ambitions (SA 2026-31), ensuring alignment with MSF’s movement-wide strategic and resource frameworks (SPARC), and balancing competing priorities in support of medical operational needs, resilience and the social mission.
The General Director appoints the departmental directors and leads the Management Team, fosters a culture of integrity, accountability, inclusion and performance, and ensures effective collaboration between headquarters, regional hubs and field operations. Within MSF’s associative governance model, the General Director works closely with the Board of Directors, OCG Congress and President, ensuring coherence between associative governance and executive action while maintaining a clear separation between governance responsibilities and executive decision making. As a senior leader within the MSF Movement, the General Director contributes actively to global strategy and policy via participation ot the Core ExCom and other forums. He or she works closely with other Operational Centres and partner sections to strengthen coherence, complementarities and innovation across the movement.
The General Director represents MSF Switzerland / OCG externally with donors, Swiss authorities, international institutions, humanitarian partners and, when relevant, the media. The role carries a high level of visibility and responsibility, requiring strong ethical leadership, integrity of behavior and a sustained commitment to inclusion, duty of care and safeguarding.
Tasks & Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership
- Provide overall strategic leadership to ensure the effective delivery of MSF Switzerland / OCG’s social mission, in line with MSF’s Charter, values and humanitarian principles.
- Ensure that medical-humanitarian priorities remain at the centre of all organisational decision
- Lead the development, implementation and monitoring of the multi-year strategic ambitions, in close collaboration with the President, Board of Directors, the OCG Congress and the Management Team.
- Maintain a permanent strategic reflection on the stakes, constraints and dilemmas of medical-humanitarian action in a rapidly evolving global environment.
- Promote a culture of integrity, accountability, ethical behaviour, innovation and learning, consistent with MSF Behavioral commitments and management values.
Executive management
- Ensure the overall management of the organisation, including operations, people and resources, to guarantee effectiveness, efficiency and coherence.Appoint, lead, coordinate and evaluate members of the Management Team, ensuring strong cohesion and collective responsibility.Provide strategic oversight to, and construcitve support and challenge the Director of Operations and Medical Director, contributing to the analysis of the operational portfolio and the definition of overarching operational and medical policies.Ensure effective coordination between headquarters, hubs and field operations, and the availability of relevant, high-quality information to support decision-making.
- Lead organisational risk analysis and ensure the definition and implementation of mitigation measures, particularly in relation to staff security, safety and critical incident management, in close coordination with operational and support leadership.
Governance, accountability and risk management
- Work in close collaboration with the Board of Directors, OCG Congress and President, providing timely, accurate and transparent information to support governanance oversight, while retaining executive accountability.
- Ensure regular reporting on strategy implementation, organisational performance, risks and challenges.
- Ensure organisational oversight of risk analysis and mitigation, including safety and security risk management, critical incident governance and duty of care, with appropriate reporting to governance bodies.
- Ensure organisational compliance with legal, regulatory, statutory and MSF internal frameworks.
Financial Stewardship
- Ensure sound financial management, including budgeting, reporting, auditing and internal controls, in line with legal requirements and MSF rules.Integrate financial considerations and impact assessments into strategic and operational decision-making at all levels.Enable access to diverse and ethical funding sources, ensuring that private and institutional funds are used responsibly and in support of MSF’s independence and social mission.
Movement Leadership, partnership and external representation
- Actively participate in the MSF Movement’s Executive Committee (Core-ExCom) and other international executive fora, contributing to collective decision-making and implementation.
- Collaborate with General Directors of other Operational Centres, the International Secretary and partner sections to strengthen coherence, synergies and complementarities across the Movement.
- Represent OCG internationally and contribute to debates on humanitarian positioning and operational challenges, while safeguarding OCG’s interests and promoting movement-wide strategic priorities.
- Develop and maintain strong relationships with partner sections, ensuring OCG’s full integration within the MSF Movement.
- Represent MSF Switzerland / OCG externally with donors, Swiss authorities, international institutions, humanitarian actors and, when relevant, the media, in line with associative positions and MSF principles.
People, culture, duty of care and inclusion
- Act as a role model for ethical leadership and integrity, setting clear expectations regarding professional behaviour, safeguarding, prevention of abuse and respect for MSF Behavioral commitments .
- Foster an organisational culture grounded in inclusion, integrity, empowerment, respect, accountability, and collaboration.Ensure HR policies and practices support fair and socially responsible working conditions, staff wellbeing and professional development at all levels.
- Ensure the existence, independence and effective functioning of mechanisms to prevent, report and respond to abuse, discrimination and misconduct, including safeguarding concerns, in line with MSF standards and duty of care.
Your profile
Education
- Advanced university degree in medicine, public health, humanitarian affairs, political sciences, management or a related field, or equivalent senior-level professional experience.
- A medical or health-related background, or a demonstrated and sustained engagement with medical-humanitarian action, is a strong asset.
- Strong alignment with MSF’s social mission, charter and humanitarian principles, including a patient-centred approach.
Experience
- Extensive senior leadership experience in a complex and large international non for profit organisation, in the humanitarian or medical-humanitarian sector. Solid understanding of the mechanimsm and processes relevant to organizations, such as human resources, operations, finance etc.
- MSF experience is a major asset.
- Experience in executive or senior management roles, including General/Executive Director or Director of a major organizational function.
- Demonstrated experience engaging with and overseeing medical-humanitarian operations with the ability to operate in highly insecure working environment.
- Exposure to ethical, access and security dilemmas.
- Experience working within associative or multi-layered governance structures.
- Demonstrated experience leading organisational change, transformation or strategic reform.
- Strong background engaging with external stakeholders (donors, governments, UN agencies, partners) in politically sensitive environments.
Languages
- Fluency in English and French. Swiss German (or German) and or Italian an asset. Additional languages are an advantage.
Skills/ Technical competencies
- Excellent leadership and organisational skills, with the ability to lead inclusively and decisively in complex, high-pressure environments.
- Strong strategic planning, execution and organisational performance management skills.
- Proven operational leadership, including process optimisation, resource allocation and cross-functional coordination.
- Solid understanding of governance, compliance and risk management frameworks.
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively with a Board of Directors, respecting the specificities of associative and executive roles and ensuring constructive complementarity and clear accountability.
- Strong financial literacy at management level, including budget oversight.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills, including at senior external representation level and in cross-cultural contexts.
- Ability to motivate, coordinate and lead large and diverse teams, including through participatory, empowering and accountable&nbs