Senior Program Manager, Maternal Health

Program Overview

The Women's & Newborn Health (WNH) Cluster at CHAI aims to reduce unintended pregnancies, maternal and neonatal deaths, and stillbirths by ensuring all individuals are able and empowered to access information, products, and services that meet their sexual, reproductive, maternal, and newborn health (SRMNH) needs.

We pursue global and country-focused market-shaping opportunities for SRMNH products to create an enabling environment for the introduction and scale-up of quality-assured products and services in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). At the global level, we work to ensure that a diversified supplier base can meet demand for key products and ensure commodities are affordable and of high quality. We also coordinate donors and partners around global product strategies. At the country level, CHAI works with governments to steward SRMNH markets and address market imbalances contributing to unequal access to health commodities and services. We support governments to develop national SRMNH scale-up plans with clear targets; use data to coordinate partner resources against the plan and achieve targets; strengthen national forecasting and quantification; address supply chain bottlenecks; strengthen health worker capacity building; and strengthen performance management for the health system.

The WNH Cluster supports the application of global learning and best practices. The team provides thought-partnership and technical assistance to programs implemented by in-country teams who lead CHAI’s valued relationships with partner governments and who possess critical knowledge of local context and operating conditions.  Underlying our approach is a commitment to achieving sustainable, transformational change at scale by working in a way that strengthens health systems and government capabilities to improve SRMNH outcomes.

Position Overview

Globally, an estimated 712 women die each day from complications of pregnancy and childbirth and 6,300 newborns die each day with the large majority of these deaths occurring in LMICs. A key reason for these preventable deaths is the lack of diagnostics to identify complex pregnancies and the lack of healthcare worker capacity to manage them accordingly. CHAI is leading an ambitious effort to close this gap by revolutionizing care for pregnant women and paving the way to artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled healthcare in LMICs. This initiative involves supporting governments to expand access to AI-enabled point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) and other digitally enabled innovations that broaden capacity for risk assessment and clinical decision-making in the antenatal and intrapartum period. The Senior Program Manager (SPM) will support this vision by driving the introduction of innovations that are ready for deployment and creating a global ecosystem for sustaining the use of these innovations in quality maternal care.

The Senior Program Manager (SPM) will be expected to manage a complex program to ensure successful implementation of activities by all relevant teams and partners. The SPM will also be expected to proactively set global-level project goals and drive strategy development around this important technology area. The ideal candidate will have strong leadership, strategy, project management, and stakeholder engagement skills, be comfortable managing a range of strategic and operational priorities and thrive in a dynamic environment. The person in this role will also serve as an organizational lead for the relevant technology areas and should maintain an in-depth understanding of the technical difficulties that impact the sector.

This position will report to the Associate Director, Women’s and Newborn Health and manage a team of at least one country support manager in the relevant project focal countries. This position will also oversee work across CHAI's country teams, AI Team, and Market Shaping Cluster. This position will also involve frequent strategic engagement with internal and external global partners including the relevant project donor.

The individual in this role may be based in a CHAI program country in Africa or another geography that overlaps with US and Africa time zones where they have preexisting work authorization. This individual must be willing to travel frequently to project countries or elsewhere, as well as to work across time zones with a geographically dispersed team.

Key responsibilities are described below. The exact split of time between different responsibilities may vary depending on the stage of the program, and responsibilities may change over time as the program evolves.

Strategic Program Leadership (40%)

• Drive the process to develop a product access and program implementation strategy for AI POCUS in collaboration with the relevant project teams and WNH leadership
• Cultivate technical expertise on AI-enabled POCUS and maternal and newborn health as needed to function as the dedicated product access strategy lead
• Support the translation of CHAI’s market shaping and implementation strategy into practical, achievable project activities in partnership with project teams
• Leverage program data and insights to constantly monitor strategy, identify threats and opportunities, and adapt the program as needed in consultation with manager
• Drive strategic discussions and knowledge-sharing as relevant, including identifying linkages with other CHAI work and ensuring project plans are integrated with other team priorities

Project Management (40%)

• Oversee work planning deploy sound project management skills to ensure quality, timely execution of project activities across project teams, identifying and mitigating risks where needed
• Identify the need for and provide surge support across program activities as needed, including supporting assessment activities, the global platform, in-country implementation, and other activities as needed
• Manage day-to-day engagement with donors to ensure ongoing alignment
• Ensure the appropriate use of program resources, including supporting financial management and advising on resource trade-offs
• Track progress against milestones, proactively identifying and mitigating risks
• Lead the preparation of donor reports and funding approval processes
• Proactively identify opportunities for better ways of working and sharing information across the project and develop processes to support the outcomes

Stakeholder and Relationship Management (20%)

• Serve as a point of contact and for project partners (research partners, subgrantees, other CHAI teams, etc.) on POCUS and project work and cultivate a strong working relationship
• Represent CHAI in global technical working groups and coordination meetings related to AI-enabled POCUS and maternal and newborn health, elevating CHAI’s role in the sector
• Shape materials, deliverables, and key messages for senior internal and external stakeholders
• Model CHAI's values and actively contribute to team culture-building initiatives, including Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts

• Master's degree in public health, medicine, business administration, public policy, science or a related field
• Seven or more years of experience in a demanding, fast-paced environment (such as management consulting, global health or investment banking), with a record of growing responsibility
• Experience owning product access strategy development including market shaping, health system strengthening, and product introduction
• Track record of independently managing complex, multi-workstream projects through the full cycle, including planning, budgeting, execution, monitoring and close out, with minimal supervision
• Experience working with governments and health systems in LMICs, including navigating complex government processes and influencing decisions
• Experience developing and managing project budgets and grant resources, ensuring resources are aligned to program goals
• Exceptional relationship and diplomatic skills, including managing senior, politically sensitive relationships with ministries, donors and implementing partners, and resolving conflict to reach shared results
• Experience managing and developing staff, ideally including mid-level staff, and building cohesive, high-performing teams
• Ability to set and carry out a coherent program strategy amid ambiguity, juggling multiple priorities and adapting calmly to shifting timelines
• Ability to support strong analytical deliverables and use data to diagnose problems, inform strategy and track progress
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including turning complex information into clear recommendations and polished materials (PowerPoint, Word) for government, donor, and other senior audiences
• Comfortable using AI tools in daily work, understands the opportunities and threats of its use, and is interested in how AI-enabled technologies can strengthen health systems
• Self-motivated and effective in a geographically dispersed, matrixed team across time zones and cultures
• Strong work ethic, integrity, and commitment to CHAI's mission and to diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Technical knowledge of maternal and newborn health, imaging technology, medical device regulation, and related topics are strong advantages

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