Senior Vice President, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Programs

Job Description

Hours: Regular Full-time; Minimum 40 hours/week Location: US – Maryland – Chevy Chase – Corporate HQ Salary: Commensurate with required experience and qualifications Reports to: Executive Vice President – Technical Programs Position Level: [Senior Vice President] Division Overview: The Technical Programs Division is composed of two geographic teams - one for Asia/MENA and another for Africa/LAC, the Center for Innovation and Solutions Development (CISD), and a knowledge management unit (KM). CISD, KM, and the regional teams interact with each other to harvest best practices, develop innovative tools and approaches, and support business development and project implementation. Roles and Responsibilities: Role The Senior Vice President of Africa/LAC Regional Programs (SVP Africa/LAC) will lead the development and implementation of long- and short-term strategic growth vision for the region, consistent with the overall company’s strategic plan and reflected in the region’s annual business plan. To this end, he/she will ensure successful business development efforts and excellence in the regional portfolio of projects’ delivery. The SVP Africa/LAC will work collaboratively with URC’s Center for Innovation and Solutions Development to draw on the organization’s wide expertise and resources in business development and technical areas (HIV/AIDS; Tuberculosis; Malaria and Zika; Global Health Security; Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition; Orphaned, Vulnerable Children and Families; and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene using its prominence in and proven years of success garnered through the use of methodologies and approaches for Quality Improvement; Health Systems Strengthening and Health Services Delivery; Implementation Science, Social and Behavior Change; Research, and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning). The SVP Africa/LAC will report directly to the Executive Vice President – Technical Programs and will oversee the management of the full complement of staff assigned to the Africa/LAC regional team, including the Vice-President for Program Implementation, Regional Operations Associate Director, Portfolio Directors, Chiefs of Parties, and other members of the project implementation/technical teams based in HQ and in-country, ensuring technical deliverables achieve the highest standards and enhance the organization’s preeminent proficiency in the international development and public health arena. Responsibilities

1. Business Development

• Work with CISD, and the Business Development (BD) Department, and other HQ resources to grow a pipeline of BD opportunities consistent with URC’s strategic plan for growing global and country presence
• Ensure that capture plans include relevant political-economic analysis to demonstrate URC’s deep understanding of the country/project context, especially in light of client policy directives.
• As needed, lead and manage proposal processes, in coordination with staff and partner organizations, including leadership and management of cross-organizational teams and processes for the development and submission of complex, large-scale projects.
• As needed, participate in the capture, including serving on capture teams/visits with travel to prospective regions/countries, developing and maintaining comprehensive strategic business development plans.
• Oversee and work directly with consultants and other subject matter experts working on BD-related activities in the region
• Provide oversight for research and analysis of funding trends among key donors/clients

1. Strategic and Technical Leadership:

• Exert effective, shared leadership within the Technical Programs Division, ensuring that the Africa/LAC region is aligned with URC company goals and objectives
• Stay current on the latest contextual (political-economic), technical, programmatic, and resource trends and developments in the Africa region in anticipation of clients’ priorities.
• Proactively plan, monitor, and evaluate the Africa/LAC Region’s performance in helping to consolidate URC’s positioning and develop/implement recommendations to address vulnerabilities and weaknesses and amplify successes.
• Support URC to continually adapt to the changing development environment and leverage its experience to contributing to efforts to detect and respond to new and unforeseen challenges rapidly and effectively.

• Guide the Africa/LAC Regional Team to adopt URC’s corporate values and utilize the company’s core principles, contributing to a positive work environment for staff; ensure Regional Team staff are offered appropriate professional development opportunities.

1. Program Oversight

• Liaise with USAID/Washington and Missions, including in-country program implementation units and implementing partners, host country governments, health authorities and senior health experts, relevant organizations, and donor agencies acting in our sector with the purpose of strengthening impact, leveraging cost, and sustaining achievements.
• Travel to cooperating countries and sites to monitor and oversee project implementation and meet with the client for URC’s feedback on implementation strengths and opportunities for improvement.
• Ensure that best practices are identified, applied, and scaled in the Africa/LAC Region and shared across the company

1. Collaboration, Partnership and Positioning

• Liaise with USAID/Washington and Missions, its in-country program implementation units and implementing partners, host country governments, health authorities and senior health experts, WHO, PEPFAR, CDC, and other relevant organizations and donor agencies acting in our sector with the purpose of strengthening impact, leveraging cost, and sustaining achievements
• Represent URC at high-level events and deliver presentations at global, regional, and national congresses, forums, conferences, roundtables, training, etc. on technical approaches and achievements
• Ensure URC can adapt and keep-up, if not setting trends and leading, within the development community/industry with new, innovative, and exciting changes approaches, solutions, and methodologies.
• Develop and maintain key partnerships with other organizations, with a particular focus on working with current and potential partners that supports and advances the success and growth of the organization.
• Maintain a comprehensive understanding of scientific/clinical data and literature related to relevant competitor services, projects and other areas and effectively transfer appropriate information to key organization personnel for business-related or strategical purposes
• Develop new client relationships, especially with traditional donor organization, foundations, NGOs/PVOs, and non-traditional funders serving as an executive for fostering and enhancing existing and new client relationships forming collaborative partnerships and promotion of the organization’s services and successes.
• Actively participate in Senior Leadership Team, helping to monitor the company’s overall performance and collaborating with the team to propose and implement solutions to strengthen performance and ensure productive working relationships across all company divisions and units.

1. Other Duties

• Perform other tasks consistent with the nature of this position as assigned and needed.

Minimum Qualifications: Required Experience & Qualifications

• Master’s degree in public health (MPH) or Doctorate (PhD), or equivalent/related degree in medicine/scientific areas of study
• At least fifteen (15) years of cumulative experience working with/in international development agencies/industry, NGOs, or other implementing partners with proven success and leadership with business development and technical implementation
• At least ten (10) years of direct experience working in developing countries on the international public health and development sector related to technical capacity/service delivery in HIV/AIDS, MNCH, OVC, VMMC, PMTCT, WASH, Nutrition and Education with strong demonstrated knowledge of M/E/L, QI, SBC, HSS, Health Financing methods and approaches
• Solid knowledge and experience on USG contracts, policies and procedures
• Proven ability to lead, develop and work well with teams and/or independently and flexibility to changing work environments and conditions
• Proven record of and ability to document and interpret data and results, problem solving and communication at various levels of organization and/or partners/donors
• Ability and willingness to travel to developing countries up to 50% throughout the year is required
• Flexibility and availability with work hours and weekend is necessary
• Fluency in English is required.

Physical Demands

• This position operates in a professional office environment and routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines
• This position would require opening filing cabinets and bending or standing on a stool and may require the ability to lift files/folders/boxes, as necessary
• This position may require frequent travel up to 50% time to domestic and international locations with varying distances, duration, and modes of transport.

Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this job. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. CVs submitted for this opportunity may be retained in our database for other/future opportunities, unless we are directed otherwise. URC is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We value and seek diversity in our workforce.

About the Organization

University Research Co., LLC (URC)

Guided by a strong vision of equitable and resilient systems that respond to people’s needs and emerging threats, URC helps countries and local actors to build, implement, and sustain science-driven, scalable solutions. Established in 1965, URC offers a range of technical expertise to empower governments, communities, and service providers toward strengthening their own health and social systems and improve service quality. We aim to expand access to and improve the quality of services, addressing maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health; global health security and infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria; reproductive health and family planning; nutrition and water, sanitation, and hygiene. In our interactions with each other and our clients, we stay true to our values for transformative change by focusing on:

· Creativity: by unleashing our creativity, we enhance engagement and interaction to improve problem-solving.

· Collaboration: not only our work towards the same vision and mission instill staff with a strong sense of purpose, but also enables us to complement each other’s skills and allocate work to maximize everyone’s strengths.

· Accountability: we hold ourselves responsible for accomplishing goals, completing assignments, and making decisions.

· Diversity, equity, and inclusion: we embrace the importance of a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment, where our leadership and staff model behavior that enriches our organization, demonstrates respect for all people, and supports opportunities for all staff.

· Transparency: we understand that when employees deeply trust one another and their leaders, they will be more engaged in their roles because they will not be worried about unfair treatment.