Safety and Security Coordinator

Background

People and communities around the world have the solutions to social injustice, authoritarianism, and the climate crisis. But repressive governments, corrupt corporations, and armed groups use violence and oppression to try and silence them.

By building resistance and resilience among those challenging unaccountable power, Open Briefing supports a shared vision for a world where communities and ecosystems can thrive.

As a mission-driven nonprofit, we join forces with grassroots activists, community groups, and social movements at risk. Working together, we strengthen their physical safety, digital resilience, and collective wellbeing. As a social impact consultancy, we help high-profile nonprofits and foundations navigate risk and support the people and partnerships that make change possible. This dual approach allows us to work at every level of civil society, from the grassroots to the global.

We have scaled to meet a surge in demand for our support over the past two years, with our international team now responding to 774 calls for assistance across 68 countries. This led to nearly 7,000 hours of mentoring and accompaniment delivered to at-risk civic actors, and 1,400 activists in 155 holistic security workshops. Read our latest impact report here.

Across all our work, we come with questions, not just answers. We listen to the knowledge and experiences of the people we support before sharing our own. Then we act together to challenge unaccountable power.

We are expanding our diverse, inspired, and purpose-driven team. Will you join us as our new safety and security coordinator?

Role description

You will play a critical role in providing safety and security advisory and consultancy services to at-risk defenders, grassroots organisations, and collectives, and to new and existing nonprofit and foundation clients through a mixture of direct delivery, project scoping and proposal development, mentoring assistance, and administrative support.

Your primary responsibilities will include:

Consultancy, advisory and consultant peer support (50%)
Act as a lead for the direct delivery of safety and security assistance on selected, contracted projects with nonprofits and foundations, and referrals received through our rapid response programme, Responsive Assistance
Act as a peer mentor to safety and security consultants assigned to projects and cases
Provide technical oversight of active responsive assistance cases within a specific region for the safety and security team (to be determined based on profile of successful candidate), by providing initial peer support / mentoring, troubleshooting and quality assurance to consultants
Provide technical safety and security input into key publicly-accessible resources or other activities or initiatives being undertaken organisationally
New leads / enquiries and administration (25%)
Take introductory calls with new non-profits and foundations, and provide necessary information about our mission, mandate, approach and services
Develop proposals of support activities based on the understanding of goals, realities and needs of non-profits and foundations that are interested engaging with Open Briefing
Support with the administration of client-paid projects being managed by the safety and security team (such as contracting and invoicing)
Organisational support (25%)
Support travel management (preparation and check-ins) for travelling team members.
Support with the development and revision of organisational policies and procedures under the custodianship of the safety and security team
Connect with and act as a link between programme and operational teams
Partner with the Programme Director to identify individual learning needs and avenues.
Integrate 360 and regular feedback into an annual learning & development plan.
Implement learning and development plan and raise concerns on the delivery when relevant.

Person specification

Essential
You have at least 5 years experience in working with grassroots activists, communities, organisations, and movements, and/or international nonprofits and foundations, with strong value placed on direct, on-the-ground experience.
You will have a deep knowledge of security risk management, including security in violent environments, duty of care, protection strategies, shrinking civic space, and state and non-state adversaries.
You will be highly organised and possess strong project management skills
You will have experience of working in consultancy, customer service, sales, or other customer-facing roles.
You will be sensitive to the progressive and rights-based missions and diverse profiles of our clients and other stakeholders.
You will have a strong commitment to creativity and innovation, and be open to learning and growth.
You will have excellent written and spoken English.
Desirable
You may have excellent written and spoken French or Arabic
You may have experience in a coaching or mentoring role.
You may have a strong understanding of the digital security and psychosocial aspects of holistic security and how they intersect with physical security.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion
Open Briefing values diversity. We are committed to being equitable and inclusive, and to being a place where all can be their authentic selves. We therefore encourage applications from all who may meet the person specification and particularly from candidates who are from racialised communities and others who are underrecognised in our team, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour. Please read our diversity, equity, and inclusion policy for more information.

Open Briefing is neuroinclusive, positive about mental health, and a Disability Confident Employer. We welcome applications from all candidates who meet the person specification. We will share the interview questions with you in advance and make closed captions available during interviews. Beyond that, please let us know in your cover letter how we can be the recruiter and employer that you need us to be.

We voluntarily follow the gender pay gap reporting guidance from the UK government. We have checked the text of this advert using the Gender Decoder tool.

Terms and remuneration
We are a global, remote-first, and digital nomad-friendly organisation. This is a home-working role with some potential for travel.

It is a full-time, employed role. Your line manager will be Tom Bendall, our director of safety and security.

We offer a remuneration package made up of fair pay, sector-leading benefits, and progressive leave policies, including:

Salary of £49,057/ $64,539 / €57,480 per annum.
‬‭ 7% employer pension contribution
‬‭ Family private medical insurance.‬
‬‭ Employee Assistance Programme, including welfare counselling.‬
‬‭ Unlimited professional coaching.‬
‬‭ 25 days annual leave plus local public holidays.‬
‬‭ Up to three additional leave days for annual close down.‬
‬‭ Enhanced sick pay.‬
‬‭ Flexible working‬‭, including flexitime and remote and‬‭ home working.‬
‬‭ Support for climate action:‬
‬‭ Personal carbon emissions offsetting.‬
‬‭ Up to two additional leave days for‬‭ sustainable travel‬‭ .‬
‬‭ Up to two additional leave days for climate activism.‬
‬‭ Apple MacBook Air and peripherals.‬
‬‭In order to ensure that we comply with local laws and regulations, Open Briefing staff based‬ in the United States and elsewhere outside the United Kingdom will be contracted locally through an‬‭ employer of record‬‭ (EOR).‬ Wherever possible, we apply the same terms and conditions of employment to all staff,‬ whether employed directly or through an EOR. Where there are differences due to local laws and regulations, we will apply the better of the provisions set out above or the local statutory requirements.

Safeguarding

Open Briefing is dedicated to upholding the highest safeguarding standards, ensuring a culture of respect and protection for both our internal and external stakeholders. Our approach encompasses preventative measures and a strong response mechanism to any safeguarding concerns, guided by a survivor/victim-centred ethos. We enforce a strict no-tolerance policy towards any violations of safeguarding policies, ensuring that all concerns are addressed promptly and appropriately.

It is part of our policy and duty of care to identify and communicate any risks that relate to the roles we recruit for. We have identified vicarious (secondary) trauma‬ and compassion fatigue as wellbeing risks associated with this‬ role. Our wellbeing policy and procedure set out the mechanisms and resources we have put in place to manage these risks, including effective line management, counselling support, wellbeing check-ins, and psycho-education.

There are also digital security risks associated with this role, including possibly account and device breaches by state or non-state threat actors. These risks are mitigated through our information security framework, including technical and organisational security measures.

How to apply

To apply, please submit your CV and cover letter (no more than two pages each) using the secure form here. You will be asked two screening questions in the form, which form part of your application:

Provide an example of when you’ve provided transformative and impactful security risk advisory or consultancy to an at-risk individual or organisation
A new non-profit organisation has approached Open Briefing, and is interested in our support services. What process would you follow to assess their needs, align expectations and ensure we are offering meaningful support?
Please note the following dates:

Closing date for applications: 24 April 2026
First round interviews: 5, 6 and 7 May
Second round interviews: 12 and 13 May
Ideal start date: 1 July 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter