Join the Rice360 Institute for Global Health Technologies (Rice360) as Rice 360 Tanzania Country Director: Apply Now!! (remote position)

Position Summary

The Rice360 Institute for Global Health Technologies (Rice360), a multi-disciplinary institute at Rice University, is a leader in global health technology education, research, and implementation, with a distinctive focus on experiential and problem-based learning. Rice360 develops highly effective, low-cost healthcare solutions addressing critical healthcare needs in underserved communities and educates a cadre of future leaders to continue to innovate and implement solutions. Rice360 works closely with partners in underserved communities throughout the world, including low- and middle-income countries and the United States.

Rice360 is a member of the Newborn Essential Solutions and Technologies (NEST360) alliance. The NEST360 alliance is working with African governments to provide and sustain quality newborn care in hospitals and reduce neonatal mortality by transforming newborn care through the implementation of the NEST360 country program model. This includes installing a bundle of rugged devices, educating clinicians to use devices and biomedical engineers to maintain them, and implementing locally-owned data dashboards to drive uptake and quality. 

Rice360 is currently seeking a qualified candidate for the position of Rice360 Tanzania country director. Under the direct supervision of the Rice360 NEST implementation director and the guidance of faculty co-directors, Dr. Rebecca Richards-Kortum and Dr. Maria Oden, the Tanzania country director is responsible for the Rice360 program’s strategic leadership and direction in Tanzania. S/he oversees the programmatic and operational management in-country and serves as the primary representative of Rice360 in-country. S/he will take a leading role in developing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating the country’s program strategies and ensure that all activities are in line with the Rice University and Rice360 mission, policies, principles and operating practices.

The Rice360 country director will have extensive interaction with external stakeholders, including hospital and university collaborators, non-governmental organizations, private industry partners, and government agencies. Moreover, as Rice360 country director, s/he serves as the country liaison for the NEST360 program in Tanzania. As Rice360’s NEST360 country liaison, s/he will work in tandem with the NEST Tanzania country lead and in-country partners to ensure the successful execution of the NEST360 program in Tanzania, as well as regularly communicate and coordinate with Rice360’s NEST Implementation Director, NEST Project Manager, and other Rice360 leadership regarding NEST360 in Tanzania.

The ideal candidate has an extensive working knowledge of health systems and public health in the developing world, experience with program management in collaboration with ministries of health, experience working in a multi-cultural environment and is willing and able to travel internationally, particularly across sub-Saharan Africa.

This is a full-time position (M-F 8 am –5pm, with occasional early morning, evening, or weekend work required to accommodate time zone differences for important meetings with teams in the US, UK, and across sub-Saharan Africa), based in Tanzania.

Salary Range: $70,000 – $75,000/year

Requirements

• Education:
  • Bachelor’s Degree in public health, social sciences or related discipline
  • Experience may not be substituted for the education requirement
• Experience:
  • Two years of related experience in
    • the implementation, management, and scale-up of public health programs in a low-resource setting
    • monitoring and evaluation of health systems quality improvement projects
  • Education may not be substituted for the experience requirement
• Skills: 
  • Superior verbal and written communication skills
  • Excellent collaborative, judgement, leadership, negotiation, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills with attention to detail and willingness to take initiative
  • High proficiency and comprehensive knowledge of project management including the proven ability to predict and evaluate potential risks and to create solutions before they arise
  • Ability to work in a team environment, actively participate, motivate and follow through, as needed
  • Excellent organizational skills to plan and schedule
  • High comfort level making independent decisions

Essential Functions

• Manages the daily activities, including project development, data collection and data analysis
• Responsible for budget management and financial forecasting and oversight of both
• Procures materials and supplies, as needed
• Assists with the dissemination of research findings and maintain systems for tracking project-related presentations, publications, and other outputs
• Creates, oversees, (and supervises others in) maintaining and communicating with research respondents across multiple projects
• Serves as an initial point person for research respondent correspondence and communication
• Oversees and contributes to the day-to-day activities of the project and research office functions
• Performs all other duties as assigned

Additional Functions / Information

• Serves as Rice360 primary in-country contact for all matters relating to its activities in Tanzania, including being the primary liaison between Rice360 and NEST360 key stakeholders and partners for Tanzania.
• Builds and maintains relationships with external stakeholders in Tanzania, including academic collaborators, hospitals and healthcare providers, private industry partners, and nongovernmental and governmental officials and agencies. 
• Establishes and fosters excellent working collaborations and facilitates regular communication with key stakeholders and project partners in Tanzania, notably the Ifakara Health Institute, Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology, and the Ministry of Health.
• Maintains regular communication with the Rice360 headquarters and other key partners as appropriate, including the Rice360 NEST Implementation Director, NEST Project Manager, and other Rice360 leadership regarding NEST360 in Tanzania
• Provides leadership in the development and implementation of Rice360 research projects in Tanzania, notably providing strategic leadership on NEST360 Tanzania implementation and operations, and serving as the link between research project leadership and the country implementation teams.
• Works in tandem with in-country partners to ensure successful execution of activities in Tanzania, notably for NEST360 overseeing health facility assessments, process tracking of key health systems strengthening activities such as clinical and biomedical engineering training, working closely with the country program manager/coordinator to manage teams including setting goals and assessing performance, etc.
• Provides oversight for rigorous monitoring and evaluation activities and facilitates the documenting and dissemination of project learnings of Rice360 research project in Tanzania, notably for NEST360.
• Ensures implementation is on track for Rice360 research projects in Tanzania, notably NEST360, including regularly assessing progress against targets, identifying operational bottlenecks or risks, and working with country and global leadership to strengthen programs as necessary.
• Provides timely progress and financial reports on research project in Tanzania as required by Rice360, partner institutions and donors
• Coordinate allocation and utilization of Rice360 research project resourcesin Tanzania including budgeting

Preferences

• Education: Doctoral degree in public health, social sciences, or related discipline
• Experience:
  • Six (6) years progressively challenging work experience in donor funded projects in Tanzania
  • Experience in managing maternal and child health programs in collaboration or through the ministry of health
• Skills:
  • International Public Health Program Management
    • Extensive working knowledge of health systems and public health in the developing world
    • Experience in developing standard operating procedures and guidelines across multi-country programs
    • Proven ability to create, monitor and adhere to work plans and budgets
  • Multi-Institution/Country/Function Program Competency
    • Ability to productively engage and influence cross-functional teams
    • Demonstrated resilience, diplomacy, influence, relationship building, and problem-solving skills in a variety of situations
    • Experience working in a multi-cultural environment
    • Ability to work in a complex and high-paced environment
  • Clinical Research Management:
    • Knowledge of information management, knowledge management and publication management
  • Measurement & Evaluation:
    • Experience designing and implementing monitoring and evaluation systems

Rice University HR | Benefits: https://knowledgecafe.rice.edu/benefits   

Rice Mission and Values: Mission and Values | Rice University

Rice University is an Equal Opportunity Employer with a commitment to diversity at all levels and considers for employment qualified applicants without regard to race, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, genetic information, disability or protected veteran status.

Faculty and staff are expected (but not required) to have completed a full vaccination series for COVID-19 (currently defined as a full course COVID-19 Vaccine (typically two shots of a WHO-approved COVID-19 Vaccine or one J&J) and a COVID-19 booster. Rice does not require documentation for COVID-19 vaccination at this time for faculty and staff. More information can be found here: https://coronavirus.rice.edu/policies. 

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HOW TO APPLY

Special Instructions to Applicants: All interested applicants must attach a cover letter and a resume in the Supporting Documents section of the application in a PDF format. Please note that the applicant tracking system does not convert attachments in Word format successfully. 

To apply please, click here

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