Director of Operations

Job Description

Overview

Director of Operations plays a strategic role in ensuring the successful management of GHSI’s operational resources. The Director is a key member of GHSI’s senior team and collaborates and coordinates with GHSI leaders on risk management activities and department administration.

He/she advises on financial aspects of GHSI’s operations and works collaboratively with BDI, PDG, and corporate groups (finance, HR etc.) to support strategic initiatives. The Director is responsible for overseeing the development of MSH’s consulting/small bid capacity, formulating and monitoring expenditures against the GHSI budget for review and approval by GHSI leadership, monitoring GHSI staff direct project / overhead time reporting, contribute to formulating and monitoring project budgets for adequate levels of technical support LOE from GHSI. The Director will also be responsible for supporting department staff as necessary with Costpoint training, timesheet, and expense reporting.

The Director of Operations must have good knowledge of MSH operations and strong business and organizational acumen. The successful candidate for this role will be driven by passion for achieving the operational excellence required to achieve MSH’s mission. As key advisor to Leaders of GHSI, the Director handles complex and sensitive issues that intersect clients and organizational dimensions, and helps to manage issues across the spectrum.

Specific Responsibilities

Operational Practice Standards (25%)

• Manage operational aspects of GHSI, provide direction and follow up as needed to ensure implementation of GHSI decisions and directives.
• Oversee the development of the GHSI annual work plan and budget. Work with key GHSI staff to ensure the harmonization of GHSI’s budget and work plan activities. Engage with other Group and Office colleagues to ensure that the GHSI’s annual planning process is collaborative, transparent, and integrated with MSH’s Strategic Objectives.
• Support the GHSI Leaders with annual MSH processes including annual merit and salary adjustment cycle and other corporate initiatives affecting financial management of GHSI. Liaise with project FP&A to ensure projects receive sufficient support for successful project financial management.

Strategic Planning (25%)

• Assist GHSI leaders in defining strategic and operational goals, monitor progress against these goals and develop accomplishments updates and reports vis-a-vis these goals.

Cross-Cutting Initiative Management and Matrix Integration (25%)

• Ensure organizational alignment through key focal points in GHSI’s functional and technical, and when such alignment is absent, recommending a mitigating approach.
• Continuously engage with GHSI leaders to understand and identify critical implications for MSH’s strategic work.
• Facilitate the integration required across often disparate stakeholders who may need further clarity, alignment and involvement to directly impact the desired goals – tact, diplomacy, and persistence are essential qualities in executing this dimension of the role.
• Partner with senior MSH leaders in organizational initiatives, projects, communications or investigations related to MSH values, culture, talent management, staff development, and matrixed management.

Special Projects (25%)

• Act as manager for special projects within GHSI, including change management and strategic initiatives.
• Represent the VP/Sr Directors on MSH change management initiatives as needed.
• Manage resource needs for special research analysis activities, which may include supervision of small pool of staff available to technical and project staff for research and analysis.

Qualifications and Experience

Education:

Required:

• Postgraduate degree required; Postgraduate degree can be substituted by 10 or more years of progressive, relevant experience.

Experience:

Required:

• At least 8 years of progressively responsible experience with related experience in operational and financial management of USG and/or other donor funded projects with significant international activities and presence.

Preferred:

• Experience in international public health program financial management highly preferred.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Demonstrated managerial and supervisory experience; demonstrated success in working collaboratively with program, finance and operations staff toward the achievement of organizational objectives.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with demonstrated ability to lead teams, to support and train a diverse cadre of staff, and to maintain a very high level of quality of work within a dynamic environment.
• Experience in policy and strategy formulation and execution; strong project management skills with demonstrated experience in managing operations, projects, and staff.
• Experience with USAID Rules & Regulations (experience with other donors a plus).
• Excellent technology skills including extensive experience with spreadsheet, financial analysis, database, dashboard, and word processing tools and applications.
• Fluent English required; working knowledge of other languages highly desirable.

Competencies:

• Proven record of aligning diverse, multi-level teams with organization mission and vision.
• Track record of strong commitment to sharing knowledge, documenting experiences, supporting creative initiatives, and sharing credit.
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with senior-level colleagues.
• Demonstrated strategic agility, diplomacy, conflict management, team building, written and oral communication, and negotiation skills.
• Is aware of and adheres to MSH’s procurement integrity standards and the MSH code of ethics in all activities

Physical Demands:

• Ability to travel internationally as needed (up to 10% time)
• Keyboard use, pulling drawers, lifting papers <10lbs., etc.

About the Organization

Management Sciences for Health, an international nonprofit organization, is dedicated to closing the gap between what is known and what is done about public health problems. MSH saves lives and improves health by helping public and private organizations throughout the world to effectively manage people, medicines, money, and information. Working from more than 30 country offices and our US headquarters, our staff from 65 nations is highly regarded for its technical expertise, integrity, and commitment to making a lasting difference in health.

Management Sciences for Health (MSH) is a nonprofit international health organization composed of more than 2,000 people from 73 nations. Their mission is to save lives and improve the health of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people by closing the gap between knowledge and action in public health. Together with their partners, they are helping managers and leaders in developing countries to create stronger management systems that improve health services for the greatest health impact.

EXPERTISE

MSH takes an integrated approach to building high-impact sustainable programs that address critical challenges in leadership, health systems management, human resources, and medicines. Simply put, they support stronger health systems for greater health impact.

Their expertise in these areas falls into the broad categories of management functions—for example, leadership and governance or pharmaceutical management—and health areas like tuberculosis or maternal, newborn, and child health. They apply their expertise by

• Partnering with governments, local organizations, and communities in developing nations to build their own capacity for long-term health impact;
• Providing global leadership in critical areas of health management and health care delivery;
• Bringing the best of MSH from around the globe to the people we serve, working as One MSH with a focus on lasting health system improvements.

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Leadership, Governance, & Management

They work with in-country partners to build stronger health systems to improve:

• the management and leadership of priority health programs, health organizations, and multisectoral partnerships such as The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, developing a critical mass of managers at all levels of the health system who can lead and inspire teams to achieve results;
  
• the management systems of health organizations in the public and private sector, transferring practical approaches and skills to ensure that management structures contribute to sustainable organizational success;
  
• the governance and management of health organizations and multisectoral partnerships, facilitating change and transferring knowledge to enable organizations to administer their resources efficiently and scale up their services.

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Health Service Delivery

MSH combines extensive public health expertise, proven service delivery approaches, and evidence-based interventions in five critical areas:

• HIV & AIDS
• Tuberculosis
• Maternal, newborn, and child health
• Family planning and reproductive health
• Other communicable diseases, including malaria and pandemic and avian influenza

Human Resources for Health

MSH helps governments develop multisectoral strategies and policies to plan and manage their health workforces. We use a comprehensive approach that addresses all the facets of human resources for health needed to achieve an adequate supply of well-trained and motivated health workers. MSH offers capabilities in leadership, human resource management, education, partnerships, policy, and finance to achieve these goals.

Pharmaceutical Management

Vital to our success is a participatory approach to project design and implementation, which cultivates broad-based support from all stakeholders. We also build and improve infrastructure and local capacity to effectively purchase, store, deliver, and use quality essential medicines.

Health Care Financing

MSH helps governments and NGOs assess their current financial situation and systems, understand service costs, and develop initiatives to use existing funds more effectively and generate additional revenue—all with the goal of supporting a nation’s health priorities.

Health Information

MSH has developed proven methods for rapidly strengthening the analysis and use of existing health data—normally at the province, district, and facility levels—without revising existing recording and reporting requirements. With an emphasis on learning through action, district teams undertake assessments of health services, identify gaps in performance, and design solutions to support better decision-making and, therefore, better management of improved services.

MSH has worked closely with the Health Metrics Network of the WHO to develop a comprehensive approach for enhancing the performance of health information systems and data by employing a practical, strategic planning process that can be carried out by national working groups.