COMPLIANCE OFFICER

Organization: World Disaster Center (WDC)

Department: Compliance, Ethics & Organizational Integrity

Reports to: Founder / Executive Leadership

Location: Remote / International

Engagement: To be determined based on candidate profile and organizational needs

About World Disaster Center

World Disaster Center (WDC) is a self-funded international humanitarian and disaster resilience organization working to support communities and institutions affected by disasters, crises, and other vulnerabilities.

WDC has been built through passion, humility, collaboration, and a strong commitment to helping communities prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. As the organization expands its international operations, partnerships, programs, workforce, and volunteer network, WDC is strengthening its institutional compliance, ethics, accountability, and risk-management systems.

We are therefore seeking a highly professional and independent Compliance Officer to establish and lead WDC’s compliance and case-management function.

Position Overview

The Compliance Officer will serve as the central focal point for organizational compliance, ethics, internal complaints, disputes, investigations, risk management, and professional conduct matters.

The successful candidate will ensure that sensitive organizational matters are handled through documented, impartial, and professional processes rather than informal or emotional exchanges.

The Compliance Officer will have responsibility for receiving complaints, preserving evidence, reviewing documentation, coordinating internal investigations, preparing findings and recommendations, and managing appropriate communications with relevant parties.

This role will help protect the integrity, reputation, people, partnerships, operations, and humanitarian mission of WDC.

Key Responsibilities

Complaint and Case Management

The Compliance Officer will:

• Receive and formally register complaints, allegations, disputes, grievances, and other compliance concerns.
• Establish a confidential case-management and tracking system.
• Conduct initial assessments of complaints and determine the appropriate review or investigation process.
• Ensure that sensitive cases are handled independently, professionally, and based on documented evidence.
• Serve as the primary organizational contact for compliance-related correspondence.
• Coordinate responses to formal complaints and serious allegations.
• Ensure that cases are not handled through unnecessary personal confrontation or informal escalation.
• Maintain complete and secure case records.

Investigations and Fact-Finding

The Compliance Officer will:

• Review contracts, emails, invoices, financial records, messages, reports, policies, and other relevant documentation.
• Establish clear timelines and factual chronologies.
• Identify whether claims or allegations are supported by available evidence.
• Interview relevant personnel, volunteers, consultants, partners, or other parties where appropriate.
• Identify inconsistencies, missing documentation, conflicts of interest, and compliance risks.
• Prepare impartial findings for organizational leadership.
• Recommend corrective or protective measures where justified.

Ethics and Professional Conduct

The Compliance Officer will:

• Develop and implement professional standards of conduct.
• Support the establishment of a WDC Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct.
• Address allegations involving harassment, intimidation, retaliation, fraud, conflicts of interest, misrepresentation, abuse of organizational resources, and other misconduct.
• Review conduct involving staff, consultants, volunteers, contractors, advisors, and other associated individuals.
• Promote a culture of respect, accountability, confidentiality, professionalism, humility, and responsible communication.

Contractual and Financial Compliance

The Compliance Officer will:

• Review disputes concerning contracts, payments, invoices, consultancy arrangements, and volunteer engagements.
• Verify whether a legitimate contractual or financial obligation exists before a claim is accepted or rejected.
• Review documentation relating to approved payments and financial commitments.
• Identify situations in which work may have been performed without a formally documented agreement.
• Recommend appropriate corrective measures to prevent future disputes.
• Coordinate with finance, administration, legal advisors and leadership where required.

Volunteer, Consultant and Staff Relations

The Compliance Officer will:

• Review and improve documentation governing volunteers, consultants, contractors, and staff.
• Ensure that volunteer engagements clearly state whether they are paid or unpaid.
• Help prevent misunderstandings regarding compensation, recognition, intellectual contributions, authorship, and professional opportunities.
• Support fair and consistent treatment of all individuals associated with WDC.
• Establish appropriate procedures for resolving disputes before they escalate externally.

Organizational Risk and Reputation Protection

The Compliance Officer will:

• Identify risks arising from serious allegations against WDC.
• Review external communications that may materially affect WDC’s reputation or partnerships.
• Recommend appropriate factual corrections where false or misleading information has been circulated.
• Coordinate the preservation of relevant evidence.
• Advise leadership when external legal, professional, or institutional guidance may be required.
• Help protect WDC while ensuring that legitimate whistleblowing and good-faith complaints are not improperly restricted.

Immediate Priorities

The Compliance Officer’s first priorities will include:

1. Reviewing all currently unresolved complaints and disputes involving WDC.
2. Establishing a confidential Compliance Case Register.
3. Creating a formal complaint submission and acknowledgment procedure.
4. Establishing procedures for evidence preservation and document review.
5. Developing a Code of Conduct for staff, consultants, volunteers, and partners.
6. Developing a Volunteer Engagement and Compensation Policy.
7. Creating standard consultancy and contractor agreements.
8. Establishing procedures for payment and invoice disputes.
9. Developing an Investigation and Case Management Procedure.
10. Establishing a formal compliance escalation process for serious cases.
11. Creating templates for compliance notices, investigation letters, and case closure decisions.
12. Developing a framework for conflict-of-interest declarations.
13. Establishing procedures for communicating with external partners during serious disputes.

Required Qualifications

Candidates should have a background in one or more of the following areas:

• Compliance;
• Law;
• Ethics and integrity;
• Risk management;
• Internal investigations;
• Audit;
• Governance;
• Human resources;
• International organizations;
• Humanitarian or development operations;
• Contract management;
• Financial compliance.

A relevant bachelor’s or master’s degree is preferred. Significant professional experience may be considered in place of specific academic qualifications.

Required Skills

The successful candidate must demonstrate:

• Excellent judgment;
• Strong independence and impartiality;
• Ability to remain calm during highly sensitive disputes;
• Strong written communication skills;
• Experience handling confidential information;
• Strong documentation and evidence-management skills;
• Ability to distinguish allegations from established facts;
• Understanding of due process and fair procedures;
• Ability to manage difficult or emotional correspondence professionally;
• Ability to write clear findings and recommendations;
• High ethical standards and integrity.

Independence and Authority

The Compliance Officer must be able to conduct reviews objectively and independently.

The role is not intended to simply defend organizational leadership. Its purpose is to establish the facts, identify compliance risks, protect all relevant parties, and recommend appropriate action based on evidence.

Where appropriate, the Compliance Officer may recommend:

• no action;
• informal resolution;
• corrective action;
• mediation;
• administrative measures;
• changes to policies or procedures;
• external legal consultation;
• referral to relevant authorities where legally required.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should submit:

• a CV or résumé;
• a cover letter explaining relevant compliance or investigation experience;
• evidence of experience handling sensitive cases, investigations, governance, ethics, audit, legal, HR, or risk matters;
• two professional references; and
• a brief statement describing you would establish an independent compliance function for an international humanitarian organization.

Our Commitment

World Disaster Center is committed to building a professional, accountable, and ethical organization capable of operating internationally while protecting its humanitarian mission, personnel, volunteers, partners, and communities.

We are looking for someone who understands that compliance is not about punishment alone. It is about preventing problems, establishing facts fairly, resolving disputes professionally, protecting legitimate rights, and ensuring that no individual or organization is unfairly harmed.

Applications are invited from qualified professionals with a strong commitment to integrity, impartiality, confidentiality, and humanitarian values.

World Disaster Center reserves the right to close this recruitment process when a suitable candidate is identified.