Safeguarding and Security Manager

Salary: Please see our Global Salary Scales for more information on salaries payable in different locations. This role will be paid at the rate for Grade E1 in these scales. We do not negotiate on salary.

Location: This role is open to applicants based anywhere ADD currently has staff (Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda or UK). You must have an existing right to work in the country you wish to be based.

You can be based in any of the countries above. Exactly how this would work can be discussed once an offer is made, depending on your location.

If you are based in a country where we have an existing office you can choose to work from the office, from home, or a combination. If outside of these countries, you will be expected to work from home.

Reports to: Director of Resources, Systems and Culture

Contract: Full-time and permanent (though we are open to considering applications from those who want to work on a part-time or job-share basis). At ADD we work a 4-day week, Monday to Thursday 30 hours per week.

As an organisation that works with disability justice activists in Africa and Asia we are clear that lived experience of disability is hugely important to our mission. Priority for this role will be given to disabled people. We want to see you at your best and so please let us know if there are any reasonable accommodations at all that we can make to the recruitment process to ensure that it works for you. We are also committed to ensuring that we continue to review and make accommodations throughout your employment with ADD.

About ADD International.

ADD is a participatory grant-maker for disability justice. Our vision is for a world in which ableism no longer exists, and disabled people can fully participate in society. Our mission is to strengthen disability justice activists and organisations through resourcing, and leadership skills. In March 2024 we launched a new ten-year strategic framework which canbe found on our website here: https://add.org.uk/mtiririko/

We are transforming our organisation away from traditional development and getting back to our roots by sharing more power and resources directly with activists. Over the next ten years, we have a goal to provide £25 million long-term unrestricted grants directly to disability justice activists and movements. Crucially, we will also give disability justice activists greater decision-making power on who should receive funding and how funding should be spent.

Our new ‘Fundseeking’ Strategy outlines how we will raise the funding and cultivate the right partnerships to provide the flexible resources that disability justice movements need and that allow ADD to become the grant-maker we aspire to be. This is not a usual fundraising strategy. It decentres ADD’s own growth and instead focuses on using our position and proximity to wealth with intention to channel more resources to disability justice movements that are less able to access them. The first two years of this strategy have successfully raised £3 million in unrestricted funding from funders who share our vision.

The Opportunity

This role sits within the Resources, Systems and Culture team and works closely with one of the Co-CEOs, who serves as ADD’s Safeguarding Lead. It also works closely with the Safeguarding Focal Points, Participatory Grant-Making and Leadership Academy team, Head of People and Culture and the Inclusion Champion.

The purpose of this role is to maintain and implement ADD International’s Safeguarding Policy and Security Policies and associated processes. The role takes primary responsibility for responding to incidents and managing safeguarding investigations.

Key Responsibilities

Safeguarding

• Work with the Director of Resources, Systems and Culture, Co-CEOs and with relevant Trustees to develop and continuously improve ADD’s safeguarding policy and ensure its implementation.
• Proactively engage in safeguarding practice networks to keep up to date with changes in practice standards, policy, legislation and emerging issues.
• Develop and work with a cross-organisational group of Safeguarding Focal Points to ensure that ADD International implements our safeguarding policy and processes and encourages reporting of safeguarding and protection concerns.
• Work with the Grant-Making and Movement Support Directorate to ensure that ADD partners have appropriate policies and procedures to protect and safeguard the people they work with, and to support the team in ensuring that these policies are implemented in day-to-day practice.
• Ensure a robust reporting mechanism that is understood across the organisation and provide advice and guidance to members of staff, or partner staff, who may have concerns about sexual exploitation abuse or harassment.
• Work with the Safeguarding Working Group to create and update a safeguarding action plan and take responsibility for putting it into practice.
• Run learning reviews and connect with external partners to keep improving ADD’s safeguarding approach.
• Set up a quality assurance programme to check safeguarding practices across ADD International.
• Manage safeguarding investigations and ensure responses follow ADD’s procedures, including carrying out investigations personally, when appropriate.

Security Management

• Work with the Director of Resources, Systems and Culture, other ADD Directors and trustees to develop and continuously improve ADD’s security policy and ensure its implementation.
• Proactively engage in security management networks to keep up to date with changes in practice standards, policy, legislation and emerging issues.
• Develop and work with a group of Security Management Focal Points across the organisation to make sure ADD International follows its security policies and processes. Encourage people to report any security concerns.
• Work with the Grant-Making and Movement Support team to make sure ADD partners have clear security policies and procedures. Help the team put these policies into day-to-day practice.
• Manage emerging security risks and security planning for major ADD events.
• Advise on security management in high-risk situations (e.g. the conflict in Sudan, violence during elections etc).

During 2026 you will:
Safeguarding

• Create clear guidelines and training to help put ADD International’s new safeguarding policy into action. Make sure this works well for our participatory Grant-Making and the Global Disability Leadership Academy, in line with our strategy. Review reporting mechanisms and develop further ways to encourage reporting of safeguarding concerns.
• Deliver and/or commission training for staff, panel members and partners so that everyone that ADD directly works with receives training during 2026.
• Improve the design and management of the Safeguarding log.

Security Management

• Develop guidelines and training to support the implementation of ADD International’s security policy.
• Develop an internal security management group within ADD International.
• Deliver and/or commission training for staff, panel members and partners so that all staff receive training appropriate to the risks inherent in their role during 2026.
• Develop the Security Incident log and other security management processes.

Safeguarding level.

We are committed to ensuring we are a safe organisation that does no harm to people we work with. As we transition from project-based work to grant-making we recognise the power dynamics this creates that can make grant-seekers vulnerable to abuse and are putting in place robust systems to minimise risk to any communities we work with.

Our processes ensure all posts are graded, based on interaction with communities, persons or organisations of persons with disabilities. This post is a Level 3 post. See outline of all levels below:

• Level 1 - office based, no real direct access to communities, persons or organisations of persons with disabilities, and never alone.
• Level 2 - a travelling role, possible access to communities, persons or organisations of persons with disabilities but unlikely to be alone.
• Level 3 - regular access to communities, persons or organisations of persons with disabilities, including on their own, or lead responsibility for safeguarding within office/location.

All level 3 posts will be required to undertake regular police checks (or equivalent depending on location).

About You

• Demonstrated knowledge of, and experience of managing, safeguarding within international programmes, ideally in the Disability Rights space
• The ability to engage with a wide range of external stakeholders including Activists, DPOs/OPDs, partners - including consortium partners and donors
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to manage cross-organisational projects without formal managerial authority.
• Holds a relevant qualification in Safeguarding investigations or equivalent level of experience
• Experience of reviewing and drafting policies, procedures and guidelines
• Experience in designing and/or managing safeguarding investigations
• Experience of assessing security risks in different contexts and implementing processes which mitigate these risks.
• Experience of designing and facilitating training, face-to-face and remotely

If these statements sound like you, then we highly encourage you to apply for this rare and exciting job opportunity at ADD International.

Equal opportunities.

We are keen to promote strong principles of equality and diversity and would welcome applications from all backgrounds. Disabled people are strongly encouraged to apply and as a ‘disability confident employer’ ADD guarantees to interview all disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria. We also prioritise applications from disabled people, this means that we first only review applications from those who identify as disabled. Only if we are unable to recruit from this group will we review other applications.

For more information on this please see our Equal Opportunities Policy.

Safeguarding.

The nature of ADD’s work as participatory grant-maker for disability justice means that our staff, consultants, trustees and volunteers may come into contact with children and vulnerable adults in some capacity or another. As we transition from project-based work to grant-making we recognise the power dynamics this creates that can make grant-seekers vulnerable to abuse.

ADD is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all staff, consultants, trustees and volunteers to share this commitment.

At ADD, we’re committed to creating a safe and rewarding environment for all of our people to work and volunteer, as well as for those we come into contact with through our work.

This means we have robust safeguarding policies and procedures to ensure everyone is treated properly, and a whistle-blowing policy and process so people can raise any concerns they have, confidentially.

For more information on this please see the safeguarding pages on our website.

Data protection.

ADD International is aware of its obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK Data Protection Bill and is committed to processing your data securely and transparently. For more information on this please see our ‘Job Applicant Privacy Notice’.

Due to the nature of our roles, interacting with staff in our different countries, staff from our overseas offices are often involved in the recruitment process. This requires us to send applications (and therefore personal data) outside of the EU. By applying for this role, you are indicating your permission for ADD to send your personal data outside the EU.

How to apply

Interested applicants should complete the online application form, including uploading their CV or resume.

You also have the option of responding to the application questions through an audio or video recording of no more than 6 minutes and uploading this through the form. Please note these will be anonymised and reviewed before we look at the CVs of candidates Audio/video recordings will be transcribed before being shared with the recruiting panel to maintain anonymity.

If you need an accessible format, or if you have any queries about the application process, please contact recruitment@add.org.uk

Application deadline: Thursday 29 January 2026

Interviews will be held during the week commencing 16 February

Incomplete applications will not be accepted. We are unfortunately only able to reply to those shortlisted.