STA Health -Country Support (Maternity Cover) at International Rescue Committee

Job Overview / Summary:

The Senior Technical Advisor (STA) – Health (Country Support) will provide technical and managerial oversight to the team of regionally aligned Health technical Advisors (TAs), with support from a new STA. She/he is responsible for ensuring high quality health technical support to country programs working in close collaboration with STA-Health, STA- Health (Specialized Areas), STA-Sexual & Reproductive Health (SRHR), STA-Nutrition, STA-Environmental Health, STA-Emergency Health, and STA MEAL to develop technical norms and standards for country support as well as implement a plan for team capacity development. Working relations with STAs in other technical units will support cross-sector collaboration while maintaining a close working relationship with regional and country program leaders will be important. The STA – Health – Country support will also play an important role in donor engagement, advocacy, and IRC representation related to Health programming.

Major Responsibilities:

Staff management and program delivery support:

• Supervise the STA-health who will oversee the health TAs in EA, MENA and Asia. Provide necessary management and technical support to the team of Health TAs working in Great Lakes, West Africa and Latin America regions supporting their continuing professional growth and improving their performance. This involves providing appropriate and timely feedback on performance, including full implementation of the staff performance management process; supporting training/continuing technical education; and leading by example.
• If needed, provide guidance to Health TAs on technical support to specific countries, including guidance on action plans, project/program design, fund-raising, and monitoring and evaluation as well as staff capacity development. This may involve joining calls between technical advisers and country programs, supporting review of documents and project design and implementation, or join a field visit as needed.
• Collaborate with Health TU STAs from Environmental Health, Emergency Health, SRH, Health-specialized areas and Nutrition as well as the MEAL STA to ensure technical assistance is seamless and coordinated to each country and region needs. Support engagement with CPs for strategic TU-led BD opportunities, this includes supporting preparation, design and implementation and backstopping TAs as needed.

Other functions:

• Participate in and advise strategic initiatives in the health unit and participate in joint initiatives with other IRC technical units as agreed upon by the supervisor. This may include strategic leadership for TU-led projects.
• Represent the health unit and the IRC in academic fora, donor meetings, inter-agency working groups, and various global/regional fora as assigned by the supervisor.

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to:Director- Health (Country Support), Health Unit

Directly supervises:four-regionally-aligned Health Technical Advisors and one STA-Health.

Other Internal contacts: This position requires a collaborative working relationship with other health unit teams, other technical units, AMU, Private Fundraising, country programs and regional offices and departments –Deputy Directors for Programs in country offices and Deputy Regional Directors.

Job Requirements:

• Medical, nursing, or other clinical degree plus MPH or equivalent.
• At least 8 years public health experience in senior technical and management positions, including provision of remote technical support, with evidence of progressively increasing responsibilities.
• Demonstrated expertise in multiple technical areas (e.g., primary healthcare, child health, sexual and reproductive health), strategic areas (e.g., governance, health systems strengthening, cash programming in health programs and research), and program management and fund-raising (e.g., program development, proposal writing, monitoring & evaluation, and management of donor relations).
• Proven experience in strategic thinking, strategy development and implementation.
• Excellent leadership and team management experience and skills - the ability to lead a team, motivate staff and promote productivity, resolve conflict, and contributes to a pleasant work environment.
• Excellent communication skills - the ability to write professional documents, and create and deliver presentations to different audiences: project/program staff, management staff, mature professionals, policy makers, donors etc.
• Solid organizational skills - the ability to be flexible and work well under pressure, dealing with competing priorities, in a fast-paced team environment.
• Professional-level fluency in English; French proficiency will be a huge plus. Ability to travel approximately 30% of the time.