Interim Chief Operating Officer – Maternity Leave Cover (6 months)

Interim Chief Operating Officer – Maternity Leave Cover (6 months)

Contract Type

Fixed-term contract – 6 months (maternity leave cover)
Start date: April 2026
Location: Remote (must be based in Europe)

About Relief Applications

Relief Applications is a humanitarian technology consultancy supporting NGOs, UN agencies, and impact-driven organisations to design, build, and operate digital solutions in complex contexts. Our work spans information management systems, no-code/low-code platforms, evaluations, and innovation projects across humanitarian response, disaster risk reduction, sustainable development and social impact.

We also work increasingly on AI-enabled solutions, workflow automations, system integrations, and data pipelines, with a strong focus on ethical, responsible, and practical use of technology in public-interest contexts.

Role Overview

Relief Applications is seeking an Interim Chief Operating Officer (Interim COO) to cover a 6-month maternity leave. The role focuses first and foremost on operational continuity and delivery coordination, with additional responsibilities in technical coordination, business development support, and selective project management.

This role is designed for a hands-on, autonomous operator with strong organisational skills and technical literacy, able to coordinate complex digital projects without acting as a technical architect or developer.

You will be responsible for ensuring delivery continuity and strong internal coordination while actively contributing to moving Relief Applications forward during this period. Beyond maintaining day-to-day operations, the role offers the opportunity to help shape priorities, strengthen how we work, and contribute to the organisation’s growth and positioning over the year.

Responsibilities such as technical coordination, business development involvement, conference participation, or acting as Project Manager are activated selectively, based on organisational priorities and capacity, with a focus on where your contribution can have the greatest impact.

While this is a time-bound maternity cover, there may be opportunities for longer-term continuity in a senior operations role depending on organisational needs and mutual fit.

Key Responsibilities

1. Operational & Delivery Coordination

• Support project managers with planning, resourcing, and coordination.

• Act as manager for the project management team

• Ensure day-to-day operational continuity across ongoing projects.

• Track timelines, deliverables, risks, and dependencies across projects.

• Act as a first escalation point for operational delivery issues.

• Ensure project documentation is up to date and accessible.
  
  

2. Technical Coordination & Risk Awareness

• Maintain a high-level understanding of ongoing technical work across projects.

• Support technical discussions by asking the right questions, flagging risks, and ensuring clarity between technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Help ensure coherence across projects in terms of tools, integrations, data handling, AI use, and automations.

• Identify technical or delivery risks early and coordinate mitigation with technical leads.

• This role does not require hands-on development or system design.
  
  

3. Selective Project Management

• Act directly as Project Manager on a limited number of selected projects, when required, particularly:
  
  

• High-stakes or sensitive projects

• Projects requiring French-speaking project management

• Situations where PM capacity is temporarily constrained
  
  

4. Internal Operations & Team Coordination

• Coordinate workflows across project management, technical teams, and business development.

• Support workload visibility, prioritisation, and internal planning.

• Ensure continuity of internal operational processes (timesheets, reporting, internal tools).

• Facilitate clear internal communication and follow-up on action points.
  
  

5. Business Development, Partnerships & Market Presence

• Play an active role in business development beyond proposal coordination, contributing to opportunity identification, offer shaping, and identification of scalable or repeatable work.

• Work closely with the CEO and Head of Business Development to support positioning, partnerships, and relationships with clients, donors, and peers.

• Participate in early-stage client and partner discussions, translating needs into realistic technical and operational approaches.

• Represent Relief Applications at selected conferences and sector events, including occasional travel, to support visibility, pipeline development, and market awareness.

• Contribute to internal reflection on what should scale, be repeated, or be deprioritised, based on delivery experience and market signals.
  
  

6. Handover & Continuity

• Work closely with the current COO during the handover period.

• Maintain clear documentation and decision tracking.

• Support organisational stability during a leadership transition phase.

• Work closely with CEO and Head of Business Development during the maternity leave cover
  
  

Required Profile

Essential

• At leats 5-7 years of experience in operations management, project coordination, or technical project management.

• Strong technical literacy (e.g. former developer, technical PM, solutions coordinator, or long-term work with technical teams).

• Experience working with digital platforms, information management, data-driven systems, automations, or AI-enabled tools (hands-on or coordination level).

• Experience working with NGOs, humanitarian organisations, or impact-driven projects.

• Ability to manage multiple priorities and make pragmatic trade-offs.

• Excellent written and spoken English and French (mandatory); Spanish is a strong asset.

• Ability to work autonomously in a remote, distributed team.

• Willingness to travel occasionally for conferences or client engagements.
  
  

Desirable

• Familiarity with data protection, security, or responsible AI considerations.

• Experience working across multidisciplinary teams.
  
  

A note on fit

This role sits at the intersection of operations, technology, delivery, and business development. We do not expect candidates to meet every requirement listed above. If you bring strong experience in some of these areas, a solid learning mindset, and comfort operating in complex environments with clear constraints, we strongly encourage you to apply.

Contract & Practical Information

• Duration: 6 months

• Workload: 80–100% (flexible depending on profile)

• Location: Remote (Europe-based)

• Start: Ideally 2–4 weeks before maternity leave for handover - April - mid April

• Salary: €40,000–€50,000 annual gross (pro rata)
  
  

How to Apply

Please send:

• A short CV

• A brief video (1–3 minutes) explaining why you would be a good fit for this role and how you approach operations, coordination, and working with technical teams.