Senior Program Officer, Surveillance, East and Southern Africa at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Your Role

Application Deadline: April 8, 2024.

• As the Senior Program Officer Surveillance, Africa you will lead on work related to advancing a stronger, more integrated disease surveillance ecosystem in key geographies across the continent. You will work from Nairobi or Johannesburg with constant collaboration with the Pneumonia and Pandemic Preparedness team as well as other surveillance colleagues across the Foundation.
• You are a creative, thoughtful, and curious thinker and implementer who identifies as a problem solver. We are looking for people who enjoy the challenge of working on complex and impactful problems and collaboratively creating solutions that have the potential for ground-breaking change in the lives of people around the world. The applicant must have the ability to work with flexibility, efficiency, and diplomacy in a fast-paced, challenging environment.
• You will report directly to the Deputy Director, Infectious Diseases, Africa Health team, with secondary reporting to the Deputy Director, Surveillance & Epidemiology, Pneumonia & Pandemic Preparedness team.

What You'll Do

• Develop, negotiate, implement, and manage grants that strengthen integrated disease surveillance in key countries on the continent in close collaboration with the Pneumonia and Pandemic Preparedness team; Enterics, Diagnostics, Genomics & Epidemiology team; Country Offices; and other teams to support better public health decision making during emergencies and to manage endemic disease.
• Engage key local and global partners in integrated disease surveillance, focused on building capabilities and connections for institutional strengthening centered on national public health institutes (NPHIs) with in-country health sector actors, along with actors in the global ecosystem for technical standards and research such as the WHO, bilateral and multilateral development funders and health programs, and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
• Facilitate learning, adoption, and appropriate deployment of high-impact innovative bio- and social science methods and tools (e.g. data science and analytics, wastewater/environmental approaches, serosurveillance, sample registration systems).
• Review letters of inquiry and grant proposals and provide clear, concise, and insightful written analyses and recommendations for funding.
• Consult with grantees and other partners to increase project impact and ensure grants are meeting strategy goals. This may include site visits, providing operational guidance, and convening meetings of key stakeholders.
• Develop, manage, resource, and implement a program that aligns with the Foundation’s strategy and is operationally integrated with other Foundation programs. Contribute to the design of new strategies, collaborations, and implementation plans to ensure long-term sustainability and impact.
• Engage key local and global partners in integrated disease surveillance, across innovative tools, global standards, and methods; technical assistance and institutional strengthening, namely the Ethiopia Public Health Institute, Mozambique Instituto Nacional de Saúde, Zambia National Public Health Institute, and relevant subnational agencies; and across global ecosystem actors, including, for example, the Africa CDC Lusaka regional hub.
• Inform and coordinate with the SPO, Surveillance responsible for parallel partnership with the Nigeria CDC and Senegal IRESSEF; and global actors.
• Support initiatives, participate in setting overall goals, develop strategy, and handle and implement investments.
• Contribute to managing partnerships in the ecosystem, including global collaborators, regulators, implementing organizations, and academic institutions.
• Coordinate with other donors making surveillance-related investments in foundation priority geographies to ensure investments advance common goals and standards, and seek co-funding to leverage foundation resources.
• Build highly collaborative relationships with grantees, partners, governments, and other funders to create a more harmonized integrated disease surveillance ecosystem on the continent.
• Work with regional partners to drive South-South learning on integrated disease surveillance

Your Experience

• Medical Doctorate (MD) and/or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) with at least 7 years of experience in epidemiology or public health, or equivalent experience. Master in Public Health (MPH) desirable.
• Proven understanding and technical experience in the field of infectious disease surveillance, mortality surveillance, epidemic preparedness, and outbreak response, as well as proven ability to translate research findings into highly effective programs.
• Preferred: Proven understanding and technical experience in the field of infectious disease surveillance, mortality surveillance, epidemic preparedness, and outbreak response, as well as proven ability to translate research findings into highly effective programs.
• Experience brokering relationships with global partners, including academic, research, industry, government, other donors, and grantees, to build a common vision for effective solutions to complex problems.
• Ability to collaborate effectively in a matrixed environment - manage, organize, and prioritize multiple projects and meet deadlines within a fast-paced environment with multiple and competing demands.
• Experience in working on teams with diverse cultural and professional backgrounds.
• Experience working in African countries is essential.
• Excellence in scientific writing and data analysis, written and oral communication skills, and experience synthesizing technical information toward strategic decision-making.

Other Attributes

• This role will require the ability to travel up to 30% domestically and internationally.
• Fluency in English is required. Additional proficiency in Amharic, Portuguese, or other languages commonly used in Africa – particularly Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Zambia – would be an asset.
• The preferred location for this role is Kenya. However, South Africa is also an option.