How to Apply to MSF International

9 min read Last updated April 20, 2026 8 open positions
Blake Crosley
Blake Crosley Researched using publicly available information, hiring data, and ATS analysis.

Key Takeaways

  • MSF hires through national offices and operational centres, not through one global portal. Apply through the office that recruits in your country.
  • International Mobile Staff join a pool by specialty. Acceptance into the pool is not a job offer; matching to a first mission can take weeks to many months.
  • First assignments are typically 9 to 12 months and do not permit accompanying partners or children.
  • Pay is deliberately modest — roughly USD 2,000 to 3,500 per month for first-mission field staff — with housing, transport, insurance, and rest-and-recuperation fully covered.
  • Working French plus English is effectively required for most field roles; Spanish, Arabic, or Portuguese are strong additions.
  • Security risk is real and named. MSF has lost staff in multiple contexts, including the 2015 US airstrike on the Kunduz trauma hospital, and has withdrawn from or suspended operations in specific crises.
  • The recruitment process is honest and plain-spoken. Candour about your motivations, mental health, and limits performs better than a polished sales pitch.
  • MSF is uncorporate by design — career growth happens, but it is slower, less hierarchical, and less transactional than a private-sector path.

About MSF International

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), known in English as Doctors Without Borders, is an international humanitarian medical non-governmental organization founded in Paris on 22 December 1971 by a group of French doctors and journalists who had worked together during the Biafra famine. Fifty-plus years later, MSF operates in more than 70 countries and treats millions of patients each year in war zones, epidemics, natural disasters, and long-neglected health crises. The International Office, the body that coordinates the movement, is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. MSF received the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize. MSF is not a single employer in the way a corporation is. The movement comprises 25 offices around the world and six Operational Centres (OCs) — Paris (OCP), Brussels (OCB), Amsterdam (OCA), Geneva (OCG), Barcelona-Athens (OCBA), and hybrid Paris-Barcelona structures — each of which runs its own field projects, manages its own pool of international staff, and posts its own vacancies. National offices in countries such as the United States (MSF-USA), United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Japan, Australia, and South Africa handle fundraising, advocacy, and recruitment of international mobile staff from their regions. MSF International itself, the Geneva coordination body, posts a smaller number of movement-wide roles in communications, strategy, analysis, ethics, and operations support. The movement's identity rests on four operating principles and one practice. The principles are independence, impartiality, neutrality, and medical ethics. The practice is témoignage — the French word for bearing witness, the obligation to speak publicly when the suffering MSF teams observe is driven by policies that can be named and challenged. Independence is protected financially: roughly 98% of operational funding comes from private individual donors, and MSF refuses most government money for field operations to avoid being instrumentalized. As of 2024-2025, MSF's most visible operations include the Gaza emergency response, the ongoing war in Sudan (Darfur and Khartoum), conflict medicine in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (Nord-Kivu and Ituri), Yemen, Ukraine, Haiti, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Syria, and the Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. The International President since 2019 is Dr. Christos Christou, a Cypriot surgeon elected by the International Board. MSF is proudly uncorporate. Career progression is real but non-linear. Salaries are deliberately modest. The work is difficult, sometimes dangerous, and often operates in moral grey zones. For the right person, it is also unmatched.

Application Process

  1. 1
    Decide which lane fits you: International Mobile Staff (IMS) for field deploymen

    Decide which lane fits you: International Mobile Staff (IMS) for field deployments, or HQ/national office roles if you want an office-based career in fundraising, advocacy, communications, or operations support.

  2. 2
    Identify the correct recruiting office

    Identify the correct recruiting office. Applicants typically apply through the national office in their country of residence (MSF-USA for US applicants, MSF-UK for UK, MSF-Canada, MSF-Australia, MSF-Japan, etc.). MSF International in Geneva only recruits for a narrow set of movement-wide roles.

  3. 3
    Study the profile pages before applying

    Study the profile pages before applying. Each office publishes detailed requirements for every IMS specialty — doctor, nurse, midwife, anaesthetist, surgeon, logistician, WASH specialist, supply chain, finance coordinator, HR coordinator, project coordinator, epidemiologist, pharmacist, biomedical technician.

  4. 4
    Meet the baseline technical requirement

    Meet the baseline technical requirement. Most IMS roles demand 2 years post-qualification professional experience, and many clinical roles require specific surgical, paediatric, obstetric, or infectious-disease exposure. Logistics and coordination profiles expect management experience in complex environments.

  5. 5
    Meet the language requirement

    Meet the language requirement. Working French plus English is effectively required for the global IMS pool — MSF's operational languages are split across both, and a huge share of missions are in Francophone Africa. Spanish, Arabic, and Portuguese add significant value.

  6. 6
    Submit the application via the recruiting office's careers site

    Submit the application via the recruiting office's careers site. MSF-USA and several national offices use BambooHR-hosted job boards; MSF International uses its own portal. Upload CV, motivation letter, and country-specific mobility questionnaire.

  7. 7
    Pass the initial screening and attend an information session

    Pass the initial screening and attend an information session. Most national offices run regular online or in-person information sessions that are effectively a first filter and a reality check for applicants.

  8. 8
    Progress through the assessment stages

    Progress through the assessment stages. For IMS, this typically includes a technical interview with a specialty referent, a behavioural interview focused on motivation and resilience, reference checks, and in some offices an assessment-centre style group exercise. Psychological assessment is part of the process for field staff.

  9. 9
    Enter the pool

    Enter the pool. Successful IMS candidates are accepted into the national office's pool by specialty. Being in the pool is not a job offer. You are matched to a first assignment when a field opening fits your profile, availability, and language — the wait can be weeks or many months.

  10. 10
    Complete pre-departure briefings

    Complete pre-departure briefings. Before your first mission you complete orientation courses (Welcome Days or equivalent), security training, and operations-specific briefings. First assignments are typically 9 to 12 months and do not permit accompanying partners or children.

Resume Tips for MSF International

recommended

Lead with the specialty MSF recruits against

Lead with the specialty MSF recruits against. If you are a paediatric nurse, write paediatric nurse at the top, not generalist RN. Referents filter on specialty first and seniority second.

recommended

Quantify experience in low-resource or humanitarian settings

Quantify experience in low-resource or humanitarian settings. Time on Ebola or cholera response, surgical volume in trauma centres, time in refugee or disaster contexts, and work in MoH or district-hospital systems all signal readiness.

recommended

Make your languages honest and specific

Make your languages honest and specific. Use the CEFR scale (A2, B1, B2, C1, C2) rather than vague words like fluent. MSF will test your working French if the role requires it.

recommended

Show managerial experience for coordination roles

Show managerial experience for coordination roles. Project Coordinator, Medical Coordinator, Logistics Coordinator, HR Coordinator and Finance Coordinator pools want candidates who have led teams of 20 or more in difficult conditions.

recommended

Surface evidence of self-sufficiency: solo field deployments, rural postings, au

Surface evidence of self-sufficiency: solo field deployments, rural postings, austere-environment living, previous humanitarian missions with ICRC, UNHCR, IMC, IRC, or similar organizations.

recommended

Write a motivation letter that answers why MSF rather than why humanitarian work

Write a motivation letter that answers why MSF rather than why humanitarian work. MSF's independence, témoignage, and refusal of state operational funding are specific — a generic letter is obvious and screened out.

recommended

Explain any career gaps directly

Explain any career gaps directly. Parental leave, caregiving, career shifts, or recovery from previous deployments are fine when named clearly.

recommended

Describe flexibility on destination and length of assignment

Describe flexibility on destination and length of assignment. Willingness to go to Francophone Africa, Yemen, Afghanistan, or South Sudan materially increases your chance of being matched from the pool.

recommended

Do not exaggerate security experience

Do not exaggerate security experience. A false claim about working in a red zone is caught at interview and ends the process.

recommended

Format the CV plainly

Format the CV plainly. No photos (banned in many MSF offices), no infographics, no design flourishes. One or two pages for clinical staff, two to three for senior coordinators.

ATS System: BambooHR (national offices) / internal systems (MSF International)

Several MSF national offices — including MSF-USA — publish vacancies via BambooHR-hosted careers portals, while MSF International in Geneva and some operational centres use their own recruitment platforms. There is no single global MSF applicant tracking system; each recruiting office owns its pipeline.

  • Apply through the office that recruits for your country of residence. Applying through the wrong office is the most common self-inflicted rejection.
  • Use plain, parseable CV formatting. BambooHR parses uploaded PDFs and DOCX files; tables, columns, and images break the parse.
  • Mirror the exact job-posting language for specialty and languages. Coordinators filter on keywords like WASH, surgery, NFI, Sphere, DHIS2, Epicentre, and named MSF-standard protocols.
  • Complete every questionnaire field. Mobility, availability, and language self-assessments are weighted heavily in IMS screening.
  • Expect long silences. National office pools receive thousands of applications per cycle and responses can take months.

Interview Culture

MSF interviews are serious and direct.

For International Mobile Staff, the pipeline typically stretches over several weeks and includes a technical interview with a specialty referent (a clinician, logistician, or coordinator who has worked the same job in the field), a behavioural interview with a recruiter, reference checks, and in many offices a psychological screening or assessment-centre exercise. Expect scenario questions that test judgment in morally uncomfortable situations — triage under shortage, pressure from local authorities, managing a team member who breaks security rules, deciding when to suspend a mission. There are no clever answers; the process is looking for candour, proportion, and self-awareness. Interviewers will probe openly about your motivation, your family situation, your ability to handle isolation, and your honest tolerance for physical discomfort, intermittent communication with home, and exposure to violence and grief. Questions about past mental-health events or burnout are not disqualifying — concealment is. For HQ and national-office roles, the process is closer to standard NGO hiring: competency interviews, a written exercise or presentation, and a panel. Decisions are made by consensus rather than by a single manager. The tone throughout is plain-spoken and unglamorous; MSF actively distrusts candidates who treat humanitarian work as an adventure, a CV credential, or a calling they have not stress-tested.

What MSF International Looks For

  • Technical excellence in a specialty MSF recruits for, backed by post-qualification experience and, for clinicians, recent hands-on hours.
  • Proven ability to work in resource-limited, unstable, or austere environments — field experience with any credible humanitarian organization signals this.
  • Working French plus English, or another operational language combination that matches current missions.
  • Emotional resilience and honest self-knowledge about stress, grief, and exposure to violence.
  • Capacity to operate with limited supervision, improvise, and make safe decisions under pressure.
  • Cultural humility, active listening, and the ability to build trust quickly with national staff and communities.
  • Understanding of and alignment with MSF's principles of independence, impartiality, neutrality, medical ethics, and témoignage.
  • Willingness to accept modest compensation, family separation during the first assignment, and operational destinations chosen by MSF rather than the candidate.
  • For coordination profiles, demonstrated people management — teams of 20 or more, budget oversight, and decisions with consequences.
  • For HQ and national-office roles, a substantive track record in the function (communications, fundraising, advocacy, data, finance) and genuine familiarity with the humanitarian sector.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I apply to MSF International in Geneva, or to a national office?
Almost always to a national office. MSF-USA, MSF-UK, MSF-Canada, MSF-Australia, MSF-Japan, MSF-Germany and the other sections recruit International Mobile Staff for field missions from their regions. MSF International in Geneva only hires a small number of movement-wide roles in coordination, analysis, ethics, and operations support. If you live in a country with an MSF national office, start there.
Do I need to be a doctor to work for MSF?
No. Doctors are a small share of field staff. MSF also deploys nurses, midwives, anaesthetists, surgeons, paediatricians, pharmacists, biomedical technicians, epidemiologists, mental-health professionals, logisticians, WASH engineers, supply-chain specialists, finance and HR coordinators, and project coordinators. Non-medical roles are roughly half of the field workforce.
How long is a first mission and can my partner or family come with me?
First International Mobile Staff assignments are typically 9 to 12 months and are non-accompanied — meaning partners, spouses, and children cannot join you on site. This policy reflects the security and living conditions of most first postings. More flexible arrangements can exist for specific roles or subsequent missions, but you should plan for a first assignment as solo and long.
How much does MSF pay field staff?
For first-mission International Mobile Staff, field salaries are approximately USD 2,000 to 3,500 per month, roughly equivalent regardless of profession — a first-mission surgeon and a first-mission logistician earn similarly. MSF covers housing, in-country transport, health insurance, evacuation insurance, and periodic rest-and-recuperation. Salaries rise with experience and responsibility. HQ and national-office roles are paid at humanitarian-sector rates, which are below corporate market.
Do I need to speak French to work for MSF?
For most International Mobile Staff roles in the global pool, working French plus English is effectively required because a large share of operations run in Francophone Africa and the Middle East. Some specialty pools can place English-only candidates, but your mobility and speed of deployment are far better with French at B2/C1 or higher. Spanish, Arabic, and Portuguese are strong additional assets.
What is the pool recruitment process?
After passing technical and behavioural interviews with your recruiting office, you are accepted into its pool by specialty (for example, the surgery pool, the logistics coordinator pool). Being in the pool means you are pre-cleared and available to be matched to a field opening. Matching depends on your specialty, language, availability, and how well your profile fits a specific mission's needs. The wait from pool acceptance to first deployment ranges from a few weeks to many months.
How dangerous is MSF work, honestly?
Security risk is real and context-specific. MSF has lost staff to bombing, shooting, and kidnapping in Afghanistan (including the 2015 US airstrike on the Kunduz trauma hospital), the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, and other contexts. MSF runs dedicated security teams, strict protocols, and ongoing risk assessment. MSF has also withdrawn from or suspended missions when the risk became unacceptable. Recruiters are explicit about this during the interview process and expect candidates to be clear-eyed, not heroic.
Can I apply without prior humanitarian or overseas experience?
Yes, though it is harder. MSF does accept first-time humanitarians, especially in specialties with chronic shortages. Relevant substitutes include experience in low-resource public health systems, rural or frontier medicine, post-disaster response, military medicine in appropriate contexts, or significant work in refugee or underserved populations at home. A motivation letter that addresses the absence of field experience directly is stronger than one that ignores it.
Does MSF hire for HQ roles in offices rather than the field?
Yes. National offices and operational centres hire in communications, advocacy, fundraising, digital, data, finance, HR, legal, and operations support. These roles are based in a specific city (New York, London, Paris, Geneva, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, Berlin, Tokyo, Sydney, and others) and follow a more conventional hiring process. They are less volatile than field roles but still paid below corporate market.
How does MSF fund itself, and why does independence matter for hiring?
Roughly 98% of MSF's operational funding comes from private individual donors, and MSF generally refuses government money for field operations. This independence shapes hiring: MSF asks staff to accept modest pay and operate without political instrumentalization, and it expects applicants to understand and endorse this model. Candidates who view MSF primarily as a prestige employer or stepping stone to UN and bilateral roles are usually filtered out at interview.
What happens if I apply and don't hear back?
Silence is common. National offices receive very large application volumes, and screening by specialty and language takes time. If you have not heard back after the posted timeline, you can usually follow up once via the careers address listed on the office's site. If you are rejected from the pool, most offices allow reapplication after 12 to 24 months with a meaningfully strengthened profile.

Open Positions

MSF International currently has 8 open positions.

Check Your Resume Before Applying → View 8 open positions at MSF International

Related Resources

Similar Companies

Sources

  1. MSF International — About Us —
  2. MSF International — Work with us —
  3. MSF International — Charter and Principles —
  4. MSF-USA — Work in the Field —
  5. MSF-USA — Compensation and Benefits —
  6. MSF-UK — Working overseas —
  7. MSF Canada — Field work —
  8. MSF International Activity Report 2023 —
  9. Nobel Peace Prize 1999 — Médecins Sans Frontières —
  10. MSF — Kunduz hospital airstrike —
  11. MSF — Gaza emergency response —
  12. MSF — Sudan crisis —