Senior Program Officer, Country Immunization Program - Measles and Campaign Effectiveness at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people- especially those with the fewest resources - have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Sue Desmond-Hellmann and co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Senior Program Officer, Country Immunization Program - Measles and Campaign Effectiveness

Job Requisition ID: B019417
Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Job type: Full time

The Foundation

• We are the largest nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world. Founded on a simple premise: people everywhere, regardless of identity or circumstances, should have the chance to live healthy, productive lives. We believe our employees should reflect the rich diversity of the global populations we aim to serve. 
• We provide an exceptional benefits package to employees and their families which include comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with no premiums, generous paid time off, paid family leave, foundation-paid retirement contribution, regional holidays, and opportunities to engage in several employee communities. As a workplace, we’re committed to creating an environment for you to thrive both personally and professionally.

The Team

• Vaccines are a core priority of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and can save millions of lives a year when delivered effectively and our country operations are critical to achieving this global vision.
• The mission of the foundation and Country Immunization Program Strategy team is to urgently reach children, adolescents, and adults -- no matter where they live -- with the vaccines they need.
• Our goal is a world free of vaccine-preventable diseases, and we do this by working with countries, development partners, and civil society organizations (CSOs) to achieve national and global immunization targets including ambitious zero dose reduction targets of 50% reduction in zero dose by 2030 and achieve zero polio and cVDPV2 and new vaccine introductions – especially HPV.
• Our goal is a world free of vaccine-preventable diseases, and we do this by working with countries, development partners, and CSOs, to make sure that vaccines and immunization are effectively prioritized and delivered.
• Robust and resilient immunization programs are critical to achieving the promise of vaccination and are a cornerstone of primary health care, and we work to ensure that there are sufficient, affordable supplies to meet demand.
• We seek to bring new perspectives to challenging problems as we focus on results that can be delivered at scale. All our work on vaccines and immunization contributes to IA2030, which is a vision and commitment by the global community to extend the full benefits of immunization to all by 2030.

We have a particular focus on:

• Achieving universal immunization coverage and equity.
• Strengthening government’s capacity to implement strong immunization program.
• Identifying and reaching zero dose communities and children who are entirely left out of immunization and other services.
• Improving the quality of existing and developing new immunization service delivery models.
• Provide opportunity for 9-month-olds needing their first measles vaccine and in the second year of life.
• Adolescent girls in school and those not in schools, eligible for the HPV vaccine.
• Priority communities who can benefit from effective and integrated campaigns.

Your Role

• The Senior Program Officer (SPO), Country Immunization Program - Measles and Campaign Effectiveness will manage a portfolio of grants, relationships and analytics focused on identify, reaching, and monitoring programs to reach unvaccinated children in Nigeria.
• Most of your time will be spent operationalizing our team strategy; designing, making, and managing grants; and working with national and states government and implementing partners. You will use strong diplomacy and communication skills to forge trusting relationships with internal and external partners.
• The post holder will be based at the foundation’s Nigeria Country Office (NCO) in Abuja, and will report to the Deputy Director, Health, and Nutrition.

What You'll Do
The role focuses on engaging government, donors, and multiple implementing partners, developing insights, piloting new delivery approaches, and supporting government at national and state level to implement strong immunization program:

• Shape and manage a newer portfolio of grants and contracts to support government of Nigeria and states’ immunization programs directly or through partners to strengthen routine immunization systems, with a focus on reaching unvaccinated children.
• Together with other SPOs/POs, work to operationalize the foundation and NCO immunization strategy, with a focus on alignment with other internal immunization sub-teams toward achieving the foundation and Nigeria Country immunization goals.
• Manage portfolio of grants and contracts focused on high impact focus areas (prioritized by the foundation), immunization systems strengthening, new vaccine introductions, new tools and technology, and health worker learning and performance management.
• Lead the Nigeria Country immunization work on measles – routine Immunization, campaigns and broader campaign effectiveness workstream.
• Work with foundation colleagues and grantees to research and do analysis, supporting strategy development, and supporting (e.g., prospecting and identifying) investment opportunities.
• Work with the Nigeria Country team and partners to develop and implement measles/rubella (MR) strategic planning, campaign, and other post coverage campaign interventions – including other vaccines preventable diseases outbreak responses.
• Work with the national and state M&E technical Working Groups to support the use of high-quality data for design and implementation of high impact, context specific interventions.
• Work with foundation internal colleagues and government partners to improve the quality and implementation of measles campaign – including but not limited to development of new strategies for measles campaign and potential introduction of new tolls and technology to support this.
• Collaborate with grantees and other partners to improve impact of work, ensure grants are meeting strategy goals, and learning is widely shared.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with collaborators from governments, NGOs and global partner organizations such as Gavi, WHO, and UNICEF. Proactively identify and pursue opportunities for co-managed and/or co-financed collaborations to achieve the foundation and Country immunization goals.
• Represent the foundation to key program-related external constituencies, as appropriate, on technical working groups related to area of expertise and responsibilities of the position.
• Help operationalize and ensure implementation of the immunization team’s overall measurement, learning and evaluation approach, with a focus on achieving targeted goals, dissemination, and scale.
• Embed diversity, equity, and inclusion principles into the implementation of day-to-day work, interactions with colleagues and investments.
• Support any additional work stream assigned to you by the Deputy Director, Health, and Nutrition, including if needed help backstop other parts of the immunization and team portfolio.

Requirements

• Master's Degree in a Health-related field (e.g. Public Health, Epidemiology, Health Care Management, Medicine).
• Minimum eight years of experience in international public health, with a focus on immunization, in senior level roles.
• Work experience in low and middle-income countries contexts would be an advantage. Experience working in Nigeria is essential.
• Knowledge of routine immunization systems - preferred experience at national and international level in areas such as immunization system strengthening, planning and implementation of immunization (and other health services) campaigns, data systems and management, worker learning and performance management, service delivery integration, and reaching unvaccinated populations.
• Experience of developing evidence-based strategic or operational plans as well as shaping and managing sustainable and scalable investments.
• Collaborative coalition builder with a track record of creating effective partnerships with a range of global health partners (country, regional and/or global level).
• Strong quantitative skills with expertise collecting and using data to drive strategy and program decisions.
• Serving as a technical resource internally and externally on impact evaluations, operational research, and modeling.
• Strong analytical, writing and verbal skills for communicating with a broad and diverse audience, including experience of communicating and translating technical analyses and results clearly and simply for a variety of purposes including programmatic decision making and strategy.
• Objectively and rigorously assessing work with a focus on continuous learning. Ability to adapt quickly based on new information, an appetite to test new ideas, and willingness to accept failure as an important step in learning.
• Ability to identify evidence-based practices and support scaling and replication of practices to other contexts.
• Demonstrated strong personal initiative and ability to be self-directed in ambiguous and dynamic situations, with a creative problem-solving approach.
• Handles complexity and ambiguity effectively: proven ability to be flexible, efficient, and tactful in a fast-paced environment.

Other Attributes:

• Comfortable in a wide range of cultural, geographic and operational situations, demonstrating culturally sensitive behavior with a diverse range of people and a deep commitment to development issues and high standards of personal integrity.
• Ability to travel up to 25% domestically and internationally.
• Must be able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship.

Application Closing Date
31st August, 2023.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Note

• Hiring Requirements: As part of our standard hiring process for new employees, employment will be contingent upon successful completion of a background check.
• Candidate Accommodations: If you require assistance due to a disability in the application or recruitment process, please submit a request here.