Senior Manager, Risk

Job Description

COVAX has been developed in response to an extraordinary and unique global collaboration, with more than two-thirds of the world engaged – COVAX has the world’s largest and most diverse portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines, and as such represents the world’s best hope of bringing the acute phase of this pandemic to a swift end. Bringing together governments, global health organisations, manufacturers, scientists, private sector, civil society and philanthropy, with the aim of providing innovative and equitable access to COVID-19 diagnostics, treatments and vaccines. It is the only truly global solution to this pandemic because it is the only effort to ensure that people in all corners of the world will get access to COVID-19 vaccines once they are available, regardless of their wealth. As part of this, Gavi intends to engage with vaccine manufacturers globally for the procurement of suitable vaccines for Gavi supported countries.

Role objective: Responsible for coordinating, facilitating and monitoring the implementation of effective risk management practices, promoting a risk-aware culture, and establishing risk reporting for strategic, operational, financial and programmatic risks – with a specific focus on new risks associated with the COVAX Facility

Note that this is a short version of the role description. You can find the complete version on our career webpage.

Position title:

Senior Manager, Risk - COVAX (Temporary)

Location:

Geneva

Purpose of the position:

Responsible for coordinating, facilitating and monitoring the implementation of effective risk management practices, promoting a risk-aware culture, and establishing risk reporting for strategic, operational, financial and programmatic risks – with a specific focus on new risks associated with the COVAX Facility

Department:

Executive Office

Team:

Risk

Reports to:

Head, Risk

N° of positions supervised:

0

Career step level:

4

Duration:

12 months (with possibility of extension) – Starting ASAP

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership committed to saving children’s lives and protecting people’s health by increasing equitable use of vaccines in lower-income countries. The Vaccine Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners. Gavi uses innovative finance mechanisms, including co-financing by recipient countries, to secure sustainable funding and adequate supply of quality vaccines. Since 2000, Gavi has contributed to the immunisation of nearly 822 million children and the prevention of more than 14 million future deaths. At the Global Vaccine Summit in June 2020, world leaders pledged more than $8.8bn to ensure Gavi can immunise another 300 million children by 2025. Furthermore, through the ground-breaking COVAX Facility and the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), Gavi is working with the international community to take urgent action in accelerating a COVID-19 vaccine and ensure it becomes available to populations no matter where they live.

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Senior Risk Manager position is a full-time temporary role based in Geneva, Switzerland. It provides a great opportunity to help lead Senior Management’s strategic thinking on mission-critical risks and to work across all key areas of Gavi’s strategy and operations – and contribute to saving millions of children’s’ lives each year. Working closely with the Head of Risk as part of a small team within a dynamic organisation, the role will provide ample opportunity to take initiative and shape the future direction of Gavi’s evolving risk management approach, helping Gavi to better understand and proactively manage its key risks.

Main duties and responsibilities include:

• Maintain and continue to enhance a robust enterprise-wide risk management framework for Gavi’s strategy, operations, and country programmes, and develop and maintain a COVAX Facility risk register;
• Help to drive change across the Alliance by instilling a risk-aware culture and enable scale-up and integration of risk management practices in strategic and operational planning and decision-making;
• Assist in the preparation and facilitation of Risk Committee meetings by supporting risk owners with deep dives on top risks, including by data analysis and research, and drive strategic thinking on implications and trade-offs;
• Coordinate the integration of risk insights in team priorities, performance and budget discussions;
• Act as risk management liaison for the COVAX Facility and engage actively in COVAX Facility workstreams and discussions to identify new risks, provide constructive check and challenge, and advise on risk-related issues and questions as they arise;
• Engage actively with internal risk-related functions (e.g. Legal, Finance, Audit), external risk management advisors (e.g. investment banks, insurance industry), and other relevant stakeholders (e.g. Alliance partners) as required to ensure cross-cutting and end-to-end risk management;
• Prepare actionable and insightful risk reporting for internal reviews and reporting to Gavi Board and Committees as required;
• Assist in discussions on Gavi’s current risk management capabilities and Three Lines model, identifying potential improvement areas across teams as well as in the overall model used;

Note: The essential functions listed in this section are not exhaustive of the job responsibilities; other duties may be assigned consistently with the department needs.

QUALIFICATIONS

Academic:

• University degree in business or public administration, science or engineering, global health or development, or related fields;
• Further qualifications in enterprise, operational or financial risk management are an asset.

Work experience:

• Minimum of 8 years of professional experience in (enterprise-level) risk management, strategy, or related fields;
• Consulting experience combined with strong practical experience in applying risk management pragmatically in complex organisations and / or international development is an asset.

Skills/Competencies:

• Excellent analytical and systems thinking and demonstrated problem-solving skills;
• Ability to develop a strategic perspective and creatively think outside the box;
• Interdisciplinary mindset with a broad interest in various fields and eagerness to learn;
• Well-honed interpersonal and influencing skills across seniority levels and a thoughtful listener;
• Pragmatic hands-on management style and the ability to reduce complexity and deliver results;
• Ability to work autonomously, under pressure, demonstrating initiative and flexibility;
• Team player able to establish working relationships with many teams in a multicultural environment;
• Excellent writing skills and attention for detail;
• Competence with digital tools and ability to work quickly and accurately with them;
• Willingness to work in a fast-paced, ambiguous and constantly changing environment;
• A positive, can-do attitude and a sense of humour.

Languages:

• Written and spoken fluency in English;
• French and other languages are an asset.

Contacts:

• Collaboration with all teams in Gavi Secretariat and the Office of the COVAX Facility;
• Frequent interactions with Head of Risk and Chief of Staff;
• Regular exposure to Senior Management, including CEO and Deputy CEO;
• As required interactions with Alliance partners, COVAX Facility stakeholders and Gavi Board constituencies.

Gavi is committed to diversity within its workforce and encourages applications from all qualified candidates.

If you wish to apply, please provide a cover letter and resume through our Careers webpage and apply by clicking on “Senior Manager, Risk - COVAX (Temporary)”. Deadline for applications is 4 March 2021.

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About the Organization

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership committed to saving children's lives and protecting people's health by increasing equitable use of vaccines in lower-income countries. The Vaccine Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners. Gavi uses innovative finance mechanisms, including co-financing by recipient countries, to secure sustainable funding and adequate supply of quality vaccines. Since 2000, Gavi has contributed to the immunisation of nearly 700 million children and the prevention of more than 10 million future deaths.

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