Shelter and Construction Specialist

About the role

The Construction Shelter Technical Specialist is a senior position responsible for leading the design, quality and strategic direction of shelter and construction programmes across multiple sectors in Sudan. The role ensures that all construction and rehabilitation work meets international standards, is disaster‑risk‑aware and climate‑adapted, from design through to completion.

Key responsibilities

• Provide authoritative technical guidance on shelter design and construction standards for education, health, WASH and food‑security facilities.
• Review, design and approve construction drawings, Bills of Quantities, technical specifications and engineering plans, ensuring compliance with national building codes, Sphere standards and donor requirements.
• Develop and contextualise SCI technical standards, quality benchmarks and design templates for emergency, transitional and permanent construction.
• Integrate disaster risk reduction, climate‑adaptive design and Build Back Safer approaches into all projects.
• Identify new funding opportunities, cultivate donor relationships and lead the preparation of concept notes, proposals and programme showcases.
• Represent SCI in coordination forums, including the Shelter Cluster, UN agencies, government bodies and INGOs.

Required profile

• Extensive experience in humanitarian shelter and construction programmes, preferably in Sudan or similar contexts.
• Strong knowledge of national building codes, Sphere standards, DRR principles and climate‑adaptive design.
• Proven ability to lead multi‑sector technical teams and work collaboratively with education, health, WASH and livelihoods specialists.
• Demonstrated experience in donor engagement, proposal development and programme advocacy.

Required skills

• Shelter design
• Construction standards compliance
• Bill of Quantities (BoQ) preparation
• Technical specification development
• Engineering plan review
• National building codes knowledge
• Sphere standards knowledge
• Disaster risk reduction integration
• Climate‑adaptive design
• Build Back Safer methodology