Senior Advisor, Global Research & Policy (Geneva, Brussels or London)

About CIVIC

Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) is an international non-governmental organization dedicated to the protection of civilians in conflict. CIVIC envisions a world where every civilian is protected from the harms of conflict. Our mission is to keep civilians safer in conflict by working with communities, armed actors, and decision-makers to prevent and respond to harm. CIVIC was established in 2003 by Marla Ruzicka, a young humanitarian who advocated on behalf of civilians affected by the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Honoring Marla’s legacy, CIVIC has kept an unflinching focus on the protection of civilians in conflict.

Today, CIVIC has a presence in conflict zones and key capitals throughout the world where we work with and alongside communities affected by violence to strengthen their own protection and advocate for their rights. We engage armed actors and decision-makers to prevent and respond to civilian harm, and we influence policies and practices to make civilian protection a global priority. As a humanitarian protection actor, we bridge the gap between people at risk and those with the power and responsibility to protect them. At CIVIC, we believe that civilian harm is not an unavoidable consequence of conflict—civilian harm can and must be prevented. Learn more at civiliansinconflict.org.

At CIVIC, our efforts to better protect civilians in conflict depend on high quality research. We conduct research on global, local, and thematic protection-related topics to better understand protection concerns, and we use this knowledge to raise awareness of key developments, and to drive meaningful and sustainable change to policy and practice.

About the Position

This position presents an exciting opportunity to lead CIVIC’s research activities, including developing and maintaining research guidelines, strategic identification of research priorities, and backstopping research activities in programmatic countries. This position is based within CIVIC’s Protection of Civilians Division.

Job Purpose:
​Oversee research at CIVIC, including development of policy/guidance, implementation of research processes, development of research partnerships, and quality control of research deliverables. Member of CIVIC’s Protection of Civilians (POC) Division. Provide strategic policy analysis that informs CIVIC’s humanitarian diplomacy engagement with armed actors, governments, and multilateral institutions, ensuring that research findings translate into operationally relevant policy positions and practical recommendations.

Location: Brussels (Belgium) with possible consideration of London (UK) or Geneva (Switzerland). Candidates must be fully authorized to work without the need for sponsorship.

Travel:​ Up to 20% (domestic and international)

Reporting to:​ Director, Protection of Civilians Division

Staff Reporting:​ Currently none, but possible in future. Will manage research partnerships and ​consultancies/fellows.

Contract: ​Open-ended (depending on funding)

Salary (Brussels): ​Up to 103,583 Euro/year (depending on profile/experience) and comparative salary in Geneva & London

Key Responsibilities

• Provide support, oversight, and quality control to research projects implemented by CIVIC’s country and regional program teams, including support developing methodologies and research plans, ensuring data quality, navigating implementation challenges, and reviewing research analysis and papers.
• Establish, maintain, and ensure the implementation of research policy and guidance by CIVIC staff, consultants, and partners. Lead a community of practice on research at CIVIC through which staff capacity is built and concerns addressed.
• Contribute to the development of CIVIC’s policy positioning on priority Protection of Civilians issues, ensuring coherence across programs and alignment with humanitarian diplomacy objectives.
• Lead and implement cross-country, or new thematic research projects at CIVIC.
• Develop a strategic vision for how research contributes to CIVIC’s programs in conflict zones, in humanitarian diplomacy hubs, such as Addis Ababa, Doha, Brussels, Geneva or New York as well as how it supports CIVIC’s global thought leadership on protection of civilians. Act as catalyst to foster research-related exchange loops among different CIVIC programs.
• Identify emerging policy trends affecting civilian harm and proactively propose areas for CIVIC engagement.
• Identify strategic research priorities that strengthen CIVIC’s thought leadership and respond to evolving conflict dynamics and policy debates.
• Ensure that CIVIC’s research remains relevant amid evolutions in warfare, including the deployment of new technologies, amid evolutions in harms and needs for affected populations, and in light of changing geopolitics.
  
• Contribute to business development in support of CIVIC’s research agenda and thematic priorities.
• Form and manage relationships with local research institutions and think tanks that result in knowledge exchange and potentially the publication of research products.
  
• Support the hiring, identification, and training of research staff, including consultants/ fellows.
• Represent CIVIC in advocacy meetings, during public events, and with the media, as needed.
  Build relationships with policy institutions, think tanks, and academic partners to ensure CIVIC’s analysis contributes to broader policy debates on civilian harm and protection.
• Translate research findings into concise policy briefs, talking points, and analytical products tailored for engagement with military, governmental, and multilateral stakeholders.
• Work closely with country and regional teams to identify research needs, ensure methodological consistency, and extract cross-context insights that strengthen CIVIC’s global positioning.

Priority thematics areas:

Priority thematic areas include weapons, particularly the protection implications of explosive weapons in populated areas (EWIPA), emerging military technologies (including drones and AI-enabled targeting), civilian harm mitigation policies and practices, including in relation to information environment dynamics (e.g., mis-disinformation), civilian preparedness and resilience, and PoC and climate.

Key Qualifications/Requirements

Skills and experience sought:

The ideal candidate will have specialized skills in managing qualitative research projects from start to finish with many moving parts, inputs, and stakeholders. They can cultivate and manage relationships with strategic research partners at the global and local levels. They are creative, able to work independently while thriving as part of a dynamic team. The right candidate works well under pressure to meet deadlines while maintaining high standards of quality. More specifically:

• At least eight years of relevant and direct research and research management experience, in addition to formal education in research methods—preferably both qualitative and quantitative.
• Demonstrated experience implementing the full research life cycle on projects related to humanitarian protection or a related field, including completing desk reviews, drafting research methodologies, and conducting qualitative interviews with key informants and focus groups.
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex research into actionable policy recommendations for decision-makers, including military, governmental, or multilateral actors.
• Excellent writing and editing skills (including for policy audiences), with an established record of publications.
• Experience working in conflict-affected countries as well as remotely managing research projects involving multiple stakeholders and/or partnerships.
• Technical expertise and conceptual fluency in protection of civilians or humanitarian affairs more broadly. Specific expertise on the impact of climate as well as evolving weapons technology on the protection of civilians desirable.
• Demonstrated knowledge and respect of humanitarian and protection principles and practices.
• Capacity for organizing information and distilling analytical conclusions from large, potentially disparate sources of information.
• Ability to work independently, but also able and willing to lead and/or collaborate as part of a diverse team.
• Receptivity for guidance and feedback.
• Skills using qualitative and quantitative data analysis software, such as MAXQDA, Tableau, or Stata, desirable but not required.
• Poise, flexibility, discretion, and mature judgment to handle and respond appropriately and professionally in a fast-paced and often rapidly changing environments.

Qualifications:

• Passion for protecting civilians
• MA or MS in related field – PhD will be a plus
• Minimum eight years relevant full-time work experience
• English language fluency, French strongly desirable and other language skills desirable (particularly Arabic).
  

Additional Details

Work Authorization & Location Requirement
Candidates must already reside in and/or possess full legal authorization to work Switzerland, Brussels, or the United Kingdom. CIVIC does not provide relocation or sponsorship for this position, and applicants will not be asked to move move from either of these locations to another.

Deadline for applications: April 14, 2026

Potential starting date: ASAP

Position is contingent upon funding.

Due to the high volume of applications, only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

CIVIC seeks to recruit, develop, and retain top talent with diverse backgrounds and experiences in the belief that this is critical to achieving our goals. We strongly encourage candidates with diverse backgrounds and experiences to apply.

Note to Recruiters and Placement Agencies: CIVIC does not accept unsolicited agency resumes and does not pay placement fees for candidates submitted by agencies other than its approved partners.