Senior Technical Advisor, Country Preparedness

Job Description

Resolve to Save Lives (RTSL) is a US-based, global public health organization with a mission to prevent 100 million deaths from heart disease and to make the world safer from epidemics. Resolve to Save Lives’ Prevent Epidemics program works closely with Ministries of Health and national public health institutes in Africa to strengthen epidemic preparedness capacity, accelerate disease detection and response, and to use data effectively to inform action. In addition to direct partnership with governments, we also work with implementing partners including the World Health Organization, World Bank, US CDC, and Global Health Advocacy Incubator to implement programs, prototype new innovations, and ensure sustainability through increased national ownership, including domestic budget allocations.

Our Leadership, Governance, and Financing (LGF) team drives this work by enhancing leadership and management, fostering public health institutional strengthening to advance country-level and global health security. Our evidence-based approach emphasizes that effective epidemic response hinges on cross-sector partnerships, coordinated national and sub-national efforts, community involvement, and continuous improvement for health security. In countries such as Zambia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, we partner with national and sub-national teams through tailored staffing and partnership models. We empower institutions to adopt strategic governance and management and foster a culture of continuous learning and quality improvement as described in the Country Health Architecture framework. A key enabler is improved access to and utilization of sustainable financing for multisectoral preparedness.

Through leadership, systems thinking, and change management approaches, we ensure actors work collaboratively, leverage political will, and optimize resource use to support data-driven decision-making. Our approach helps countries define a clear vision, align the right people, processes, and tools, and implement strong governance structures. By catalyzing system development and sustaining existing gains, we help countries mobilize new resources, accelerate disbursements, and find pathways for long-term success. We also create opportunities for learning and collaboration across country teams such as our Program Management for Epidemic Preparedness (PMEP) initiative. To amplify proven strategies from country-level learning we help synthesize global technical packages developed in partnership with the World Health Organization (NAPHS toolkit, IHR Benchmarks, Early Action Review). We have created a team culture where high standards are matched by a strong foundation of psychological safety. By nurturing trust and cultural humility, encouraging constructive feedback, and supporting
risk-taking, we empower colleagues to innovate, learn, and grow.

Position Purpose:

The Senior Technical Advisor will contribute to advancing epidemic preparedness by building the capabilities of leaders, teams, and institutions in our focus countries. Working closely with both HQ and in-country teams, the advisor will help deliver high-impact training, coaching, and support to mid- and senior-level government officials. This role will be instrumental in helping these officials adopt strategic leadership, governance, and financing practices that enhance their ability to manage health security systems.

Building on the success of our Program Management for Epidemic Preparedness (PMEP) initiative, the Senior Technical Advisor will support countries to strengthen country-level capacity by refining and promoting key frameworks such as the Collaborative Surveillance, Country Health Architecture, WHO NAPHS toolkit, and the 7-1-7. By facilitating peer exchanges and fostering collaboration, the advisor will help teams navigate complex challenges, improve multi-sectoral coordination, and optimize resource use for data-driven decision-making.

The Senior Technical Advisor will also work closely with government partners and RTSL leadership to ensure strategic advocacy and engagement, driving sustained progress in epidemic preparedness. A key aspect of this role will be supporting countries in accessing, aligning, and absorbing financing to scale epidemic preparedness efforts at national and subnational levels. This position requires a deep understanding of systems thinking, change management, and the ability to support countries in mobilizing new resources, accelerating disbursements, and establishing pathways for long-term success.

This is a full-time remote role with working hours aligned to GMT or US EST time zones, depending on location. The Senior Technical Advisor reports to the Principal Advisor for the Country Preparedness and Collaboration sub-team and collaborates with a dynamic team of global and country-level experts. This role is for a fixed term of 24 months with the possibility of extension. The role requires international travel. The typical salary range for this role in the US is $125,000 – $130,000, with the final offer based on the candidate’s experience, skills, and the specific
demands of the role. Salaries are determined in line with national labor rates for the international NGO sector.

Core Duties and Responsibilities

1. Capacity Building and Technical Assistance:

• Strategic Coaching and Problem-Solving: Offer real-time coaching to mid- and senior-level government officials, fostering sound decision-making in complex situations. Use active listening, judgment and creativity to empower leaders, helping them develop practical, actionable solutions.
• Promote Strategic Governance: Facilitate the adoption of governance frameworks (e.g.,Country Health Architecture, WHO NAPHS toolkit, 7-1-7) to enhance multisectoral coordination and political alignment.
• Training Development and Delivery: Design and implement training programs that build technical (e.g., health systems, health security) and organizational (e.g., leadership, program management) capacities, utilizing frameworks such as the Program Management for Epidemic Preparedness (PMEP).
• Align Financing and Optimize Resources: Help countries access and efficiently manage and utilize financing (particularly from external sources such as the World Bank or Global Fund) by streamlining processes, generating evidence, and providing recommendations on key reforms.
• Support Assessments and Planning: Enable critical assessments (e.g., JEE, SPAR) and planning exercises (e.g., NAPHS development) to deliver measurable improvements in national and subnational preparedness, governance, and accountability systems.

2. Solutions Design and Quality Improvement:

• Lead or support change management efforts by helping countries integrate new approaches to leadership, governance and financing to enhance existing structures to ensure long-term sustainability
• Streamline Processes: Use human-centered design and quality improvement tools (e.g., bottleneck analysis, implementation tracking) to simplify and accelerate the implementation of NAPHS and IHR.
• Capture and Scale Innovations: Document lessons learned and identify opportunities to scale high-impact practices and innovations across countries.

3. Project Management:

• Align Projects with Organizational Goals: Ensure assigned projects are strategically aligned with RTSL’s epidemic preparedness objectives and integrate effectively across other Prevent Epidemics initiatives.
• Manage Resources: Manage grants and budgets and ensure the timely delivery of strategic reports to senior management and external partners.

4. Partnership Management:

• Cultivate Strategic Partnerships: Build and maintain strong relationships with relevant national and international partners (e.g., WHO, Global Fund, US CDC, World Bank) to foster effective country-driven leadership, governance, and financing for health security.
• Ensure Operational Effectiveness: Collaborate with RTSL’s operations team to maintain effective, sustainable, and efficient country-level operations aligned with program goals.

Required Qualifications:

Education: Master’s degree or higher in Public Health, Global Health, International Development, or a related field.

Experience:

• 10+ years in public health, global development, or health systems strengthening, with at least 5 years managing complex programs in low- or middle-income countries (LMICs).
• 3+ years working directly with government entities in LMICs, supporting public health programs, leadership development, governance reform, and/or health financing initiatives.
• Proven experience leading strategic assessments and planning exercises (e.g., JEE, SPAR, NAPHS) or managing large-scale public health initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to design, deliver, and evaluate training programs for mid- and senior-level government officials, with a focus on leadership, program management, and health security.
• Familiar with organizational leadership, management, governance in contexts of limited resources and political complexity.

Leadership and Management Skills:

• Leadership and Management Acumen: Demonstrates a deep understanding of leadership and organizational theory and applies it towards wicked public health challenges.
• Capacity Development: Ability to train and coach mid- to senior-level leaders, improving decision-making and addressing complex public health challenges.
• Project Management: Skilled at managing multifaceted projects, overseeing budgets to meet objectives.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Can lead both with and without formal authority, navigating ambiguity, and managing competing priorities.

Data and Quality Improvement Expertise:

• Data-Driven Insights: Leverages data to identify patterns, challenge assumptions, and drive strategic breakthroughs in public health programs.
• Agile and Participatory Problem-Solving: Uses quality improvement frameworks (e.g., Lean, Six Sigma) to experiment, iterate, and refine solutions in real-time, embedding feedback loops for continuous learning. Applies participatory approaches to develop solutions such as bottleneck analysis and implementation tracking that enhance program efficiency and impact.

Communication and Facilitation Skills:

• Engaging Diverse Audiences: Skilled in facilitating workshops and trainings for both technical and non-technical stakeholders, adapting content to meet audience needs.
• Strategic Communication: Can create compelling reports, proposals, and presentations for senior leadership, donors, and external partners.
• Knowledge Sharing and Learning: Effectively captures insights from country teams and translates them into actionable improvements for continuous innovation.

Cultural Competence and Adaptability:

• Cultural Agility: Demonstrates empathy, curiosity, patience and humility when engaging with diverse perspectives to build trust and foster collaboration across cultural contexts.
• Resilience: Uses emotional intelligence to navigate complexity and ambiguity with a growth mindset, applying agile problem-solving to overcome challenges.

Preferred (Not Required) Qualifications

Candidates with the following qualifications are encouraged to emphasize these in their applications.

• Credentials in management or quality improvement (e.g., MBA, PMI, Lean Six Sigma).
• Experience or knowledge of health financing issues in developing countries
• Experience or knowledge in health economics
• Proficiency in Portuguese, Arabic, French or other languages.
• Experience working in lusophone or francophone Africa.
• Hands-on experience in epidemic response and preparedness, e.g., in an Emergency Operations Center, Joint External Evaluations (JEE), or After-Action Reviews (AARs).
• Familiar with practical applications of behavioral economics or social psychology principles in management and public health
• Experience working within multilateral organizations (e.g., WHO, World Bank, Africa CDC) on large-scale health security programs.

Other

Able to work remotely during GMT or US East Coast standard work hours, periodically convene in-person for team meetings and travel up to 20% of the time at mutually agreed times.

Compensation and Benefits

Resolve to Save Lives prides itself on cultivating a supportive, connected remote team doing work that matters. We do everything possible to ensure our employees are connected and set up for success.

The typical salary range for this role in the US is $125,000 – $130,000, with the final offer based on the candidate’s experience, skills, and the specific demands of the role. Salaries are determined in line with national labor rates for the international NGO sector. 

In addition to a competitive salary, Resolve to Save Lives provides a generous package of benefits, including:

• Health insurance for you and your dependents
• Contributions toward retirement
• Paid annual leave and sick leave, in addition to public holidays
• Two paid, week-long organization-wide breaks at mid-year and end-of-year
• Professional development and home office setup benefits
• Up-to-date computer equipment

RTSL believes its programs are strengthened when they are developed and supported by individuals with diverse life experiences whose understanding of social and cultural issues can help make our work and workforce more inclusive. We encourage applications from and provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, marital status, organ donor status, or status as a veteran. Resolve to Save Lives complies with all applicable US EEO laws.

RTSL accepts and reviews applications on an ongoing basis. We are grateful for your interest in our work and for your application. Unfortunately, due to the volume of applications, we are unable to respond to every applicant. One of our talent team members will contact you if your qualifications match the role.

About the Organization

Resolve to Save Lives (RTSL) is a US-based, global public health organization with a mission to prevent 100 million deaths from heart disease and to make the world safer from epidemics. Resolve to Save Lives' Prevent Epidemics program works closely with Ministries of Health and national public health institutes in Africa to strengthen epidemic preparedness capacity, accelerate disease detection and response, and to use data effectively to inform action. In addition to direct partnership with governments, we also work with implementing partners including the World Health Organization, World Bank, US CDC, and Global Health Advocacy Incubator to implement programs, prototype new innovations, and ensure sustainability through increased national ownership, including domestic budget allocations.