Oxfam is a global movement of people working together to end the injustice of poverty.

• Do you have substantial humanitarian experience leading WASH or public health engineering in responses across multiple continents?
• Do you have proven experience of managing and leading senior technical teams and strategies, including budget and project management for large-scale emergency WASH programs?
• Do you have experience influencing the WASH sector in multi-agency forums and fundraising/ proposal writing?

If the answer is yes, then we would like to hear from you.

The Role:

Oxfam's Global Humanitarian Lead is looking for a Public Health Engineering Lead to position Oxfam as a Public Health Engineering (PHE) Lead in the WASH sector, ensuring knowledge of sector standards and learning are shared widely and drive innovation in the sector. To ensure high quality PHE responses by building on and adapting to new developments and by strengthening accountability at all levels of response. Ensure Oxfam’s Public health engineers get the basics of engineering right and are accountable for ensuring community participation shapes programme decisions, actively seek a partnership approach and work following feminist principles including strong awareness of power dynamics. To, along with other leads, advisors and managers, promote safe programming in all humanitarian responses.

Location:

This role can be located in a country where Oxfam has a presence, subject to Oxfam’s ability to employ in that location, the affordability of doing so and right to work requirements being met. Follow this link to see where we work as a guide to where Oxfam may have the ability to establish a contract of employment. Due to legal constraints, it is not currently possible for this role to be based in some Oxfam locations. These include, but are not limited to, Brazil, France, Italy and Sweden.

Please indicate your preferred location and whether you have the right to work there on your application. 

Please note that this is a national role, the salary and benefits will be appropriate to the national salary scales for the country in line with Oxfam policy and local cost of living.

What we are looking for: 

We’re looking for a candidate who cares about Oxfam's mission to end poverty and is personally aligned to our feminist principles and values of empowerment, accountability and inclusion in all you do.

An ideal candidate for the role will also be / have:

ESSENTIAL  

• Self-awareness, mutual accountability; strategic thinking and judgement; decisiveness; influencing and relationship building. 

• Knowledge and demonstrated commitment to Oxfam’s values, mission and work 

• Knowledge and understanding of global justice, social change, women’s rights and gender equality and commitment to delivering humanitarian work through feminist principles. 

• Ability to scan the environment, anticipate changes, be comfortable with lack of clarity and deal with a large number of elements interacting in diverse and unpredictable ways. 

• Substantial WASH experience in leading humanitarian emergencies on at least two continents, including coordination of large-scale WASH activities across a wide geographical area 

• Experience of leading the public health engineering component of a large-scale humanitarian response in collaboration with PHP 

• Proven experience of innovative thinking, and the ability to use own initiative to shape and define departmental strategies and initiatives for use in the field 

• Strong personal drive to achieve results and effectively lead a team to meet objectives 

• High-level decision-making skills 

• Conceptual thinking 

• Demonstrable commitment to developing others 

• Well organised and efficient, with the ability to manage a complex workload 

• Proven ability to communicate complex information effectively to a wide audience 

• Proven experience of managing and leading a senior team 

• Post-graduate qualification relevant to the field of public health engineering 

• Experience of fundraising and proposal writing 

• Good understanding of cross-cutting humanitarian issues such as diversity, HIV and AIDS, humanitarian protection and accountability, with proven commitment to incorporating these concepts in programme implementation 

• Sound understanding of the importance of and commitment to gender and participation in humanitarian work 

• Commitment to and familiarity with humanitarian principles and minimum standards for humanitarian response 

• Excellent command of written and spoken English 

• Ability to travel to difficult and insecure environments for up to 12 weeks per year and at short notice if required to support rapid onset crises. 

Desirable 

• Experience of advocacy and lobbying on public health and engineering issues to international forums. 

• Working knowledge of French, Spanish or Arabic. 

Please see the attached job description for full details of the role.

We offer:

We offer a competitive salary in line with the local salary scales and a range of additional benefits to staff including flexible working options, generous pension scheme, annual leave, additional leave allowances, company sick pay, life assurance and a range of other benefits. 

From the day you join Oxfam we invite you to stretch and learn in your role. Our wide range of Learning & Development opportunities includes in-house courses, e-learning modules, on-the job learning opportunities, coaching and mentoring, and much more. 

You can read more about all Oxfam has to offer here.

Flexfam: 

We believe flexible working is key to building the Oxfam of the future, so we’re open to talking through the type of flexible arrangements which might work for you. 

How to apply:

As part of your online application, please upload your up to date CV and Cover Letter explaining your suitability against the essential criteria in the job profile.  

Interviews are expected to take place week of the 18th February 2026.

Our values and commitment to safeguarding

Oxfam is committed to preventing any type of unwanted behaviour at work including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and financial misconduct; and committed to promoting the welfare of children, young people, adults and beneficiaries with whom Oxfam GB engages. Oxfam expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment through our code of conduct. We place a high priority on ensuring that only those who share and demonstrate our values are recruited to work for us.

The post holder will undertake the appropriate level of training and is responsible for ensuring that they understand and work within the safeguarding policies of the organisation.

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which can include criminal records and terrorism finance checks. Oxfam GB also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme.  In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms his/her understanding of these recruitment procedures.

We are committed to ensuring diversity and gender equality within our organisation and encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds to apply.

About us

Oxfam is a global community who believe poverty isn’t inevitable. It’s an injustice that can be overcome. We are shop volunteers, women’s right activists, marathon runners, aid workers, coffee farmers, street fundraisers, goat herders, policy experts, campaigners, water engineers and more. And we won’t stop until everyone can live life without poverty for good.

Oxfam GB is a member of international confederation of 21 organisations working together with partners and local communities in the areas of humanitarian, development and campaigning, in more than 90 countries. 

A thriving diverse Oxfam:

It’s people power that brings about change. To play our part as a global organisation working to overcome poverty and inequality, we need equality, diversity and inclusion across our community of staff, partners and volunteers. Together, we’re committed to becoming a more diverse workforce, better able to tackle the global challenges that face our world today.

To do that:

• We need to dismantle the unequal power structures that exist everywhere, this including Oxfam and the wider development and charity sectors.
• We need an inclusive Oxfam where everyone can bring who they are to our work and feels celebrated for the differences they bring.
• We want and need everyone, and that means we need you.