Senior Director, Vaccines

United States
negotiable Expires in 3 months

JOB DETAIL

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to our mission of saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries. We work at the invitation of governments to support them and the private sector to create and sustain high-quality health systems.

 

CHAI was founded in 2002 in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic with the goal of dramatically reducing the price of life-saving drugs and increasing access to these medicines in the countries with the highest burden of the disease. Over the following two decades, CHAI has expanded its focus. Today, along with HIV, we work in conjunction with our partners to prevent and treat infectious diseases such as COVID-19, malaria, tuberculosis, and hepatitis. Our work has also expanded into cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and other non-communicable diseases, and we work to accelerate the rollout of lifesaving vaccines, reduce maternal and child mortality, combat chronic malnutrition, and increase access to assistive technology. We are investing in horizontal approaches to strengthen health systems through programs in human resources for health, digital health, and health financing. With each new and innovative program, our strategy is grounded in maximizing sustainable impact at scale, ensuring that governments lead the solutions, that programs are designed to scale nationally, and learnings are shared globally.

 

At CHAI, our people are our greatest asset, and none of this work would be possible without their talent, time, dedication and passion for our mission and values. We are a highly diverse team of enthusiastic individuals across 40 countries with a broad range of skillsets and life experiences. CHAI is deeply grounded in the countries we work in, with majority of our staff based in program countries. Learn more about our exciting work: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org

 

CHAI is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and is committed to providing an environment of fairness, and mutual respect where all applicants have access to equal employment opportunities. CHAI values diversity and inclusion and recognizes that our mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people with diverse experience, backgrounds, and culture.

Overview of CHAI’s Global Vaccines Program

Immunization is a powerful tool for saving lives and improving health outcomes globally. Since the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) was launched in 1974, two to three million deaths have been averted each year, globally. For every dollar invested in immunization, there is a US$16 return, making it one of the most cost effective public health interventions available.

However, despite these tremendous successes, significant gaps still remain, with 2 million children (primarily in lower-income and lower-middle income countries) dying each year from vaccine- preventable diseases, and an estimated 20 million children still under-immunized.

Improvements in coverage and equity have been slow, and more innovative approaches (products, practices, systems, and policies) need to be developed, scaled up and implemented globally. Moreover, national immunization programs face unprecedented challenges due to the introduction of costly, and more complex vaccines, and, for some countries, the impending transition from Gavi support. These challenges pose a significant threat to the sustainability of the gains in coverage and equity that have been made by national immunization programs and partners over the past four decades.

Since 2010, CHAI has worked to save lives and reduce the burden from vaccine preventable diseases by supporting access to immunization services in resource-limited settings by strengthening national immunization programs and improving availability, affordability, and diversity of supply for existing and future Gavi vaccines and cold-chain equipment. Specifically, this work includes:

· Improving affordability and supply security of immunization products

· Accelerating the uptake of new or under-utilized vaccines

· Enhancing the performance of vaccine cold chain and logistics systems to increase effective immunization coverage

· Improving the design and implementation of service delivery to reach the unreached

· Supporting successful transition from Gavi support

· Strengthening the management systems and capacity of immunization programs

CHAI’s two teams working on vaccines, the Global Vaccines Delivery (GVD) team and the Vaccines Market Team (VMT) have distinct but inherently interlinked roles in achieving this work. GVD works closely with CHAI’s country teams to support national immunization programs achieve scalable and sustainable impact. VMT applys the techniques CHAI has used to successfully improve access to HIV/AIDS and malaria treatment: improving market demand transparency for individual suppliers and working closely with these suppliers in developing sustainable commercial, costing, and pricing strategies for low- and middle-income markets.

CHAI is looking for a dynamic and effective leader for both of these teams, to shape the future of CHAI’s vaccines program and the dozens of national immunization programs, suppliers, partners, and donors we work with around the world. The new leader will oversee both teams which were previously led by separate Senior Directors. This combined leadership, we believe, will lead to improved results given the interrelated goals of both teams.

The candidate must be able to function independently and be flexible, have a deep personal commitment to producing results, and have a demonstrated ability to lead challenging and complex projects. CHAI places great value on relevant personal qualities: resourcefulness, entrepreneurialism, tenacity, independence, humility, passion for the mission, and work ethic.

This position reports to the Vice President of Child Health.

Location

Base location is flexible, with a strong preference for one of CHAI’s Vaccine Program focus countries in Africa or Asia, pursuant to CHAI country team leadership approval. Significant travel (20-40%) is expected.

Responsibilities

· Develop and support an exceptional team, enabling them to grow rapidly and deliver strong results, as individuals and as a team. The Senior Director is responsible for program and staff performance.

Steer effective collaboration across and within the teams, as well as with other relevant global CHAI teams. This includes the potential of increased integration of GVD and VMT, where strategically appropriate and feasible.
· Lead, with support from the VP, Child Health, the establishment of a vaccine team strategy, vision, and approach. Specifically, lead the team in developing innovative, transformative, and measurable strategies to further improve access to and affordability of existing and new life-saving vaccines.

· Support VMT’s engagement with vaccine and CCE manufacturers based in India, China, Korea and elsewhere, that are/have the potential to become significant, quality-assured producers of relevant vaccines or CCE for developing markets.

· With GVD and VMT management, lead relationship cultivation and management of key external partners, donors, and other organizations in the field of vaccines (e.g., Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, FCDO, Gavi, Africa CDC, UNICEF SD, WHO, CEPI, PATH, and others) and with relevant internal stakeholders.

Identify and secure funding from existing donors; actively seek and secure funding from new donors by developing compelling strategies to further improve access to existing and new life-saving vaccines and to ensure consistent availability of cold chain capacity.
Manage and track budget and financial management functions across the program.
· Represent CHAI’s vaccines work and CHAI generally externally. Advocate for CHAI’s mission, goals and priorities, to build institutional relationships.

· Represent and advocate for the vaccines program internally to CHAI’s senior leadership through program reviews, preparation of presentations and other materials.

Qualifications

· Minimum 12 years of work experience of increasing responsibility.

· Demonstrated leadership: strong management skills, people development, analytical skills, strategy development, entrepreneurialism/fundraising.

Demonstrated team management and development skills, and development/coaching of managers of people.
Proven strategic thinker with experience in designing and driving strategy, including strong problem-solving and analytical skills.
· Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, with experience working in multi-cultural environments.

Excellent communication (English required, others, particularly French a plus) skills, with the ability to work effectively in a multi-cultural and often remote environment.
· Ability to work effectively in a high-pressure, fast-paced environment.

· Entrepreneurial mindset, including ability to work independently, self-motivate, and propose and implement new initiatives.

· Strong commitment to CHAI’s mission, dedicated team player.

Preferred Qualifications:

· Experience working with government on vaccines programs, or in the vaccines or pharmaceutical industry.

· Experience living and working in L/MICs

· Familiarity with / previous exposure to actors in global health space (e.g. Gavi, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UNICEF, WHO)

· Advanced degrees in management, public health, science, or other relevant fields

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United States

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