Senior Manager of Ship P&C Operations
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AI Summary
Who We Are
Mercy Ships is a global faith-based charity that uses hospital ships to bring life-changing surgeries and transformational medical training to people in some of the most challenging contexts along the African coast. For over 40 years, Mercy Ships has been delivering lasting hope and healing through safe surgical care, while working alongside partners and stakeholders to strengthen local healthcare systems in more than 55 countries. Since the inception of this dream by founders Don and Deyon Stephens in 1978, Mercy Ships has served more than 2.7 million direct beneficiaries without regard for race, gender, or religion.
Do you have a heart for the hurting and a desire to invest your talents and experiences into a mission with eternal significance? For every transformative surgery that takes place onboard one of our Mercy Ships, there are dozens of men and women being used of the Lord to prepare the way through their vocational gifts and talents!
The Senior Manager, Ship People & Culture (P&C) Operations provides day‑to‑day operational leadership for core HR functions onboard Mercy Ships vessels. Reporting directly to the Senior Director of Ship P&C Operations, this role ensures consistent, high‑quality delivery of business‑as‑usual P&C services by supervising Ship P&C Directors and P&C Support Specialists and maintaining operational standards across both ships.
This role is intentionally operational, not strategic. The Senior Manager is responsible for executing core HR practices, including crew relations, disciplinary processes, policy application, workforce administration, and coordination with ship leadership. They serve as the primary operational leader ensuring stability, compliance, and continuity in shipboard HR operations.
The Senior Manager partners with the Senior Director of Ship P&C Operations and the P&C Transformation Partner during organizational improvements, policy updates, and system rollouts. While the Senior Director leads strategy and transformation, the Senior Manager ensures that changes are implemented effectively and embedded into daily practice at the ship level.
This role supports a multi‑status workforce (volunteers and employees) within a faith-based, international NGO and acts as the operational bridge between shipboard P&C teams and shore-based leadership. Strong HR generalist expertise, sound judgment, and the ability to operate within a maritime-informed context are essential.
The role must be based in either Africa or Europe so as to be close to the same time zone as our ships and on-ship teams and be willing to travel up to 40% of the year.
*Compensation range for this position is $90,000- $95,000
**Compensation range listed is for U.S. hires only. Actual compensation may vary dependent upon location of hire.
This is a full time, REMOTE position
How You’ll Contribute
- Provides direct supervision, coaching, and support to Ship P&C Directors and P&C Support Specialists, ensuring clarity of responsibilities, strong HR practice, and a healthy team culture.
- Oversees day‑to‑day HR operations onboard both vessels, ensuring consistent delivery of core P&C services (crew relations, policy adherence, disciplinary processes, workforce administration) in alignment with organizational expectations and maritime regulations.
- Implements organizational changes (policies, systems, processes) at the ship level, ensuring smooth adoption and providing operational feedback to the Senior Director and P&C Transformation Partner.
- Serves as the first-line escalation point for crew relations and disciplinary cases, supporting Ship P&C Directors with guidance rooted in policy, fairness, and pastoral care; escalates high‑risk or sensitive matters to the Senior Director.
- Coordinates across shipboard stakeholders under time-sensitive and high-impact conditions, ensuring decisions are timely, consistent, and care-centered.
- Builds and maintains strong working relationships with shipboard leadership teams (Managing Directors, Captains, Senior Management Teams), acting as a trusted HR operations partner.
- Ensures ship-to-ship standardization in HR processes, reporting, expectations, and operational standards, while accommodating contextual differences where appropriate.
- Monitors operational HR metrics, identifies areas for improvement, and supports continuous improvement initiatives focused on operational stability and service quality.
- Serves as a key communication link between shipboard and shore-based stakeholders, ensuring unified expectations, aligned priorities, and clear operational messaging.
- Travels to the ship(s) as needed to maintain operational consistency, support Directors, or temporarily fill in during leadership gaps.
- Supports crew care practices across ships, collaborating with Chaplaincy, Member Care, Crew Occupational Health, and other departments to ensure holistic wellbeing.
- Upholds Mercy Ships Core Values, Code of Conduct, and organizational policies, modeling integrity, excellence, and servant leadership.
- Other duties may be assigned to support shipboard HR operations.
The Ideal Candidate
- Leadership & Team Management: Strong leadership and people management skills, with experience supervising managers and multi‑location operational teams. (Required)
- HR Generalist Expertise: Demonstrated expertise in core HR/People operations, including case management, crew/employee relations, policy application, and day‑to‑day workforce administration. (Required)
- NGO Leadership: Ability to lead within a multicultural, international, faith‑based NGO environment. (Required)
- Communication & Conflict Resolution: Strong communication, collaboration, and conflict‑resolution skills. (Required)
- Change Adoption Support: Ability to partner effectively on change initiatives, supporting adoption and implementation at the operational level rather than leading transformation design. (Required)
- Cultural Intelligence: High cultural intelligence and emotional maturity; ability to navigate sensitive interpersonal situations with grace. (Required)
- HR Systems & Workflow: Familiarity with HRIS systems and process‑oriented workflow management. (Required)
- Maritime/Remote Context: Ability to operate effectively within a maritime or remote-operating context, or to quickly develop working knowledge of shipboard environments and constraints. (Required)
Education & Experience
- Degree Expectations: Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Organizational Leadership, Business, or a related field. (Preferred)
- Experience Requirements: 5–7 years of progressively responsible experience in HR, People Operations, and/or volunteer program management, with demonstrated competence in daily HR operations. (Required)
- Leadership Experience: Strong leadership and people management skills, with demonstrated experience supervising Managers and multi‑location or remote-working teams. (Required)
- Sector Experience: Experience in nonprofit, NGO, mission-based, international, or volunteer-reliant settings. (Preferred)
- Operational Environment: Experience in maritime, remote, or highly regulated operational environments. (Preferred)
- Equivalent Experience: Or equivalent combination of experience and education
- HR Certification: HR certification (SHRM-CP/SHRM-SCP, HRCI-PHR/SPHR, CIPD, etc.). (Preferred)
- Conflict Resolution Training: Training in conflict resolution, mediation, or cross-cultural leadership. (Preferred)
Pour your God-given talents into a mission with eternal return on investment -- join the Mercy Ships Crew, today! This is a paid position. To explore our many Mercy Ships volunteer opportunities, please visit us at: https://www.mercyships.org/get-involved/volunteer/
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