What is a Engineering Manager at Médecins Sans Frontières?

As an Engineering Manager at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), you are stepping into a role that goes far beyond traditional technical leadership. You are the critical link between complex engineering solutions and life-saving humanitarian action. Whether you are overseeing the construction of medical facilities in conflict zones, managing water and sanitation (WASH) infrastructure, or leading the deployment of critical technology systems, your work directly enables medical teams to operate in some of the world’s most challenging environments.

This position requires a unique blend of technical expertise, extreme adaptability, and profound empathy. You will be tasked with designing, implementing, and maintaining systems where resources are scarce, supply chains are unpredictable, and timelines are heavily impacted by external crises. Your impact is immediate and tangible—the infrastructure and teams you manage literally keep clinics running, secure safe drinking water, and ensure reliable communications during emergencies.

What makes this role exceptionally challenging and interesting is the scale of ambiguity you must navigate. You will not be working in a highly optimized, predictable corporate environment. Instead, you will face shifting expectations, fluid timelines, and the need to build capacity among diverse, local teams. Success in this role means balancing rigorous engineering standards with the pragmatic realities of field operations, all while staying deeply aligned with the humanitarian principles of Médecins Sans Frontières.

Common Interview Questions

The questions below are representative of what candidates face during the various stages of the MSF interview process. They are not a memorization list, but rather a guide to help you understand the patterns of inquiry and the types of scenarios you will be expected to navigate.

Motivation and Behavioral Fit

These questions test your alignment with the organization and your readiness for the realities of the job.

• Why do you want to work for Médecins Sans Frontières rather than a private sector engineering firm?
• How do you handle situations where organizational timelines are not respected and project expectations seem unrealistic?
• Are you comfortable with frequent travel to potentially volatile or highly resource-constrained locations?
• Tell me about a time you had to adapt quickly to a sudden change in project scope or location.

Leadership and Capacity Building

These questions focus heavily on your ability to mentor and manage diverse teams.

• Walk me through exactly how you conduct technical trainings for your team.
• Tell me about a time you had to explain a complex engineering problem to a non-technical stakeholder, like a medical coordinator.
• Give an example of how you empowered a local team member to take over a responsibility that was previously yours.
• How do you manage a team member who is resistant to adopting new safety protocols?

Technical and Scenario-Based Problem Solving

These questions evaluate your practical engineering mindset and your approach to the extended case study.

• Walk us through how you would assess the engineering needs of a newly established field hospital.
• If a critical piece of infrastructure fails and replacement parts are weeks away, how do you manage the interim period?
• Describe a time you had to design a solution with significantly fewer resources or a smaller budget than you originally planned for.
• How do you balance the need for rapid, emergency implementation with the need for long-term sustainability and maintenance?

Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Preparing for an interview at Médecins Sans Frontières requires a shift in mindset. You are not just proving your technical competence; you are demonstrating your resilience, your ability to mentor others, and your unwavering commitment to the organization's mission.

Interviewers will evaluate you against several core criteria tailored to the realities of field and headquarters operations:

Humanitarian Motivation and Alignment – Interviewers need to know why you want to work for an NGO rather than a traditional corporate entity. They will assess your understanding of MSF’s core principles (neutrality, impartiality, independence) and your genuine motivation for joining a high-stress, mission-driven environment. You can demonstrate this by speaking passionately about humanitarian impact and showing a realistic understanding of NGO challenges.

Technical and Domain Adaptability – While you must possess strong foundational engineering knowledge, MSF evaluates how well you apply that knowledge when standard tools and materials are unavailable. You will be tested on your ability to design robust, low-maintenance, and scalable solutions tailored to resource-constrained environments.

Leadership and Capacity Building – A massive component of the Engineering Manager role involves training and mentoring local staff. Interviewers will closely examine your experience in conducting trainings, building team autonomy, and managing cross-cultural communication. Strong candidates highlight specific examples of how they have empowered others to take ownership of technical projects.

Resilience and Problem-Solving – You will be evaluated on how you handle ambiguity, shifting timelines, and high-pressure scenarios. Interviewers look for a calm, structured approach to crisis management and a willingness to travel to or live in volatile locations.

Interview Process Overview

The interview process for an Engineering Manager at Médecins Sans Frontières is thorough, highly structured, and designed to test both your technical limits and your psychological readiness for the role. Because the stakes of the job are so high, the hiring team takes a comprehensive approach to ensure candidates are a perfect fit for the organization's unique culture and operational demands.

Expect a multi-stage process that typically begins with an initial screening focused heavily on your motivation, expectations, and comfort with travel. From there, the process deepens into specialized technical interviews and rigorous competency-based behavioral rounds. What truly distinguishes this process is the inclusion of a heavy, multi-hour case study designed to simulate the exact types of ambiguous, high-pressure scenarios you will face in the field.

Throughout the process, interviewers will be exceptionally friendly and welcoming, but they will probe deeply into your past experiences. They want to see how you react when things do not go according to plan, as timelines and expectations in the field are often fluid and challenging to manage.

The visual timeline above outlines the typical progression from the initial HR screen through the final extensive case study. You should use this to pace your preparation, ensuring you have enough stamina for the 4-to-6-hour case study, which is often the deciding factor in the hiring process. Note that depending on whether you are applying for a headquarters position (e.g., in Switzerland or New Delhi) or a field mission (e.g., Aleppo), the exact focus on travel readiness and security protocols may vary.

Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

To succeed, you must understand exactly how the hiring team at Médecins Sans Frontières evaluates your competencies across different dimensions.

Motivation and Cultural Fit

Working for an international medical NGO is fundamentally different from the private sector. The HR and initial screening rounds are heavily weighted toward understanding your core drivers. Interviewers want to ensure you have realistic expectations about the pace of work, the potential for bureaucratic delays, and the physical realities of the job.

Be ready to go over:

• Core motivations – Why MSF specifically, and why now in your career?
• Comfort with travel and deployment – Your readiness to spend significant time in field locations, often with limited amenities.
• Managing unrealistic expectations – How you handle situations where organizational timelines slip or resources are suddenly diverted to an emergency.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Tell us about a time you had to deliver a project when the original timeline was completely disregarded by stakeholders."
• "How do you maintain your motivation and your team's morale in an environment where resources are constantly constrained?"

Technical and Department-Specific Expertise

The technical interview will be highly specific to the department you are joining (e.g., WASH, construction, medical equipment, or IT infrastructure). However, the underlying theme is always "appropriate technology." MSF does not want the most cutting-edge solution; they want the most reliable, maintainable, and context-appropriate solution.

Be ready to go over:

• Resource-constrained design – Adapting engineering standards to environments lacking stable power, internet, or supply chains.
• Maintenance and lifecycle management – Planning for the long-term sustainability of infrastructure when you are no longer there to oversee it.
• Vendor and supply chain integration – Working with local contractors and navigating complex procurement rules.
• Advanced concepts (less common) –
  • Off-grid power systems and solar integration.
  • Cold-chain logistics for medical supplies.
  • Rapid infrastructure deployment in emergency response settings.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Walk me through how you would design a water distribution system for a clinic where the local power grid is only active for four hours a day."
• "How do you ensure quality control when working with local contractors who may not be familiar with international engineering standards?"

Leadership, Mentorship, and Capacity Building

At MSF, an Engineering Manager is a teacher as much as they are a builder. A significant portion of your competency-based interview will focus on your ability to train national staff and build local capacity. This is critical for the sustainability of MSF’s projects.

Be ready to go over:

• Training methodologies – How you design and conduct technical trainings for individuals who may have varying levels of formal education.
• Cross-cultural communication – Navigating language barriers and cultural differences in a leadership context.
• Conflict resolution – Managing disputes within diverse, high-stress teams.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Describe your approach to conducting technical trainings. How do you measure if the training was actually effective?"
• "Tell me about a time you had to lead a team composed of people from vastly different cultural and professional backgrounds."

The Case Study Assessment

The case study is the most rigorous part of the MSF interview process, often lasting between 4 to 6 hours. It is designed to simulate a real-world field scenario where you must digest a large amount of information, make critical engineering decisions, and present a coherent project plan.

Be ready to go over:

• Information synthesis – Quickly identifying the most critical constraints in a multi-page briefing document.
• Prioritization – Deciding what must be built immediately to save lives versus what can wait.
• Budgeting and resource allocation – Creating a realistic plan with limited funds and personnel.

Key Responsibilities

As an Engineering Manager at Médecins Sans Frontières, your daily reality will be dynamic, requiring you to constantly shift between high-level project management and hands-on problem-solving. Your primary responsibility is to ensure that all engineering and infrastructure projects meet the operational needs of the medical teams. This involves assessing field needs, designing technical solutions, and overseeing the entire lifecycle of project implementation.

You will spend a significant amount of time collaborating with cross-functional teams, including medical coordinators, logisticians, and financial officers. You must translate complex technical requirements into language that medical and operational leads understand, ensuring that your engineering plans align perfectly with the broader humanitarian strategy.

A major part of your day-to-day work involves team management and capacity building. You will be actively designing training programs, mentoring local technicians, and ensuring that safety and quality protocols are strictly followed. Additionally, depending on your base location, you must be prepared for frequent travel to project sites to conduct technical assessments, audit ongoing work, and troubleshoot critical infrastructure failures on the ground.

Role Requirements & Qualifications

To be a competitive candidate for the Engineering Manager role at Médecins Sans Frontières, you must present a profile that balances hard technical skills with exceptional soft skills and humanitarian dedication.

• Must-have skills – A formal degree in engineering (Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Environmental, or IT, depending on the track); proven experience in project management and team leadership; strong English proficiency; demonstrated experience in conducting trainings and capacity building; a high degree of adaptability and a proven ability to work in stressful, ambiguous environments.
• Nice-to-have skills – Previous experience working with international NGOs or in developing countries; fluency in French, Arabic, or Spanish; experience with off-grid infrastructure or crisis response logistics; familiarity with MSF’s specific operational contexts.

Your technical background gets you the interview, but your proven ability to lead, adapt, and communicate across cultures is what will ultimately secure you the offer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How difficult is the 4-to-6 hour case study? The difficulty lies in the ambiguity and the sheer volume of information, rather than complex mathematics. You will be given a scenario (e.g., setting up a cholera treatment center) and asked to prioritize tasks, allocate a budget, and design an implementation plan. Success requires structured thinking and clear justification of your choices.

Q: What is the typical timeline from the first interview to an offer? The process can be lengthy, sometimes stretching over several months. This is due to the complex nature of NGO deployments, background checks, and the availability of interviewers who may be actively managing field emergencies. Patience is essential.

Q: How important is previous NGO experience? While highly beneficial, it is not strictly mandatory if you can demonstrate extreme adaptability, a strong motivation for humanitarian work, and experience working in diverse, cross-cultural environments.

Q: What makes a candidate stand out in the technical interview? Candidates who stand out do not just provide "textbook" engineering answers. They provide pragmatic, resilient solutions that account for local supply chains, lack of maintenance tools, and the urgent needs of the medical staff.

Other General Tips

• Focus on Pragmatism Over Perfection: In MSF, a "good enough" solution deployed today is often better than a perfect solution deployed next month. Highlight your ability to make safe, pragmatic compromises when necessary.
• Emphasize Your Role as a Teacher: Continually bring your answers back to capacity building. Show that your ultimate goal is to train your team so well that they no longer need you.

• Structure Your Case Study Responses: During the long assessment, use clear frameworks. Start with an executive summary of the problem, list your assumptions, outline your immediate priorities, and then detail your long-term plan.
• Ask Operational Questions: When given the chance to ask questions, focus on the realities of the field. Ask about the relationship between the engineering and medical teams, or how the specific department handles supply chain bottlenecks.

Summary & Next Steps

Securing an Engineering Manager position at Médecins Sans Frontières is a challenging but incredibly rewarding endeavor. You are applying for a role where your technical decisions will directly impact the delivery of critical healthcare to vulnerable populations. The interview process is intentionally rigorous, designed to ensure you have the resilience, the technical pragmatism, and the leadership skills to thrive in unpredictable environments.

The compensation data above provides a baseline for understanding the financial structure of the role. Keep in mind that working for an NGO like MSF often involves a different compensation philosophy than the private sector, with a strong emphasis on comprehensive benefits, field allowances, and the intrinsic reward of humanitarian impact.

To succeed, focus your preparation on demonstrating your adaptability. Practice structuring your thoughts for the extensive case study, reflect deeply on your methods for training and mentoring others, and clearly articulate your passion for MSF's mission. You have the engineering foundation; now it is time to show how you can apply it to save lives. Keep refining your approach, leverage additional resources and insights on Dataford, and step into your interviews with confidence and purpose.