Employment opportunities at Opian Health, Ethiopia

Role purpose

Provide overall strategic, technical and fiduciary leadership for a national digital supply-chain transformation program focused on improving last-mile visibility and availability of vaccines and RMNCH commodities. The Project Director will be accountable for results, government co-leadership, partner alignment, delivery quality, risk management and the progressive transfer of operational responsibilities to Ethiopian institutions.

Key responsibilities

• Provide overall leadership and maintain a single, outcome-oriented program strategy across assessment, architecture, product development, pilot implementation, governance, evaluation and transition.
• Serve as the principal senior representative to the Ministry of Health, program lead executive offices, EPSS, EPHI, EFDA, regional health bureaus, universities and implementation partners.
• Establish decision rights, escalation mechanisms, steering arrangements and performance-management routines that keep government counterparts in substantive leadership roles.
• Approve annual and quarterly plans, budgets, staffing, subaward scopes, major technical decisions and corrective actions.
• Ensure that product and integration choices align with national digital-health architecture, authoritative registries and existing transactional systems.
• Hold workstream leads accountable for measurable improvements in data quality, system use, stock visibility, decision latency and commodity-management performance.
• Anticipate political, institutional, technical, financial and operational risks and ensure timely mitigation and transparent communication.
• Lead sustainability, institutionalization and handover planning from the first year, including ownership, recurrent costs, hosting, source-code custody and support arrangements.
• Ensure compliance with applicable organizational policies, safeguarding, information security, privacy and ethical requirements.

Expected results

• A government-endorsed program governance and delivery model with clear decision rights and accountability.
• Integrated workplans and budgets delivered on schedule with material risks actively managed.
• A credible pilot that demonstrates routine use and operational value, not only system deployment.
• An agreed scale-up and transition pathway with progressively reduced dependence on external implementation support.

Minimum qualifications and experience

• Master’s degree or higher in public health, health systems, supply-chain management, health informatics, management, engineering or a related field.
• At least 12 years of progressively responsible experience, including at least 7 years leading complex health-system or digital-transformation programs.
• Demonstrated senior-level experience working with Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health, regional health bureaus or national health agencies.
• Experience directing multidisciplinary teams and managing substantial budgets, partners, subawards and high-stakes deliverables.
• Strong understanding of digital health, pharmaceutical or vaccine supply chains, interoperability, government institutionalization and data use.
• Excellent written and spoken English; working proficiency in Amharic is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated record of questioning accepted approaches, designing or testing better alternatives, and using evidence to refine or stop ideas without compromising safety, reliability, ethics or government ownership.

Preferred experience

• Prior leadership of a national or multi-region health supply-chain or digital-health program in Ethiopia.
• Demonstrated transition of a digital platform or operating model to government ownership.
• Evidence of resolving cross-agency governance or interoperability constraints.

Evidence that must be visible in the CV

• Name, value, duration and geographic scope of at least three comparable assignments.
• Specific role, team size, budget responsibility and institutions engaged.
• Measured results achieved and how those results were independently or routinely verified.
• Examples of government ownership, institutionalization or successful transition.

Role purpose

Translate the program strategy into disciplined day-to-day execution. The Deputy Project Director will run the integrated delivery system, coordinate technical and field teams, manage dependencies, maintain delivery standards and act for the Project Director when delegated.

Key responsibilities

• Maintain the integrated master workplan, milestone schedule, dependency map, decision log, risk register and action tracker.
• Coordinate product, supply-chain, interoperability, implementation, government-partnership, finance and evaluation teams around a single delivery cadence.
• Chair weekly delivery reviews and ensure that unresolved constraints are escalated with clear options and accountable owners.
• Oversee recruitment, onboarding, deployment and performance management of program personnel and partner teams.
• Ensure that regional and facility implementation experience is incorporated rapidly into product and policy decisions.
• Manage operational readiness for assessments, workshops, releases, field deployments, training, supervision and evaluation activities.
• Ensure complete and timely technical, operational and financial reporting, supported by verifiable evidence.
• Coordinate procurement, subaward administration, logistics, safety and project-specific compliance requirements.
• Lead continuity planning and maintain effective operations during leadership absences or periods of rapid scale-up.

Expected results

• One integrated delivery plan connecting technical releases, field readiness, governance decisions and evaluation milestones.
• Predictable delivery with early identification and resolution of cross-workstream dependencies.
• Accurate management information and timely corrective actions.
• Well-functioning teams and partners with clear roles, standards and performance expectations.

• Master’s degree in management, public health, health systems, operations, information systems or a related field.
• At least 10 years of relevant experience, including 5 years managing complex, multi-partner programs.
• Demonstrated experience managing integrated plans, budgets, procurement, field operations and performance reporting.
• Experience coordinating technical teams and public-sector stakeholders in Ethiopia.
• Strong analytical, facilitation, problem-solving and written communication skills.
• Fluency in English and Amharic.
• Demonstrated record of questioning accepted approaches, designing or testing better alternatives, and using evidence to refine or stop ideas without compromising safety, reliability, ethics or government ownership.

Preferred experience

• Formal project or program management certification.
• Experience with agile product delivery combined with government implementation cycles.
• Experience overseeing health-sector subawards or regional rollout operations.
• Evidence that must be visible in the CV
• Examples of multi-workstream programs managed, including scope, budget and team size.
• Evidence of delivery recovery, risk resolution or coordination across institutions.
• Specific systems used for work planning, risk management and performance reporting.
• Experience supervising regional implementation and partner organizations.

Role purpose

Build and sustain the government co-leadership, governance, accountability and institutional arrangements required for the program to operate within Ethiopia’s health system and continue beyond external implementation support.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and maintain a stakeholder and political-economy map covering national agencies, lead executive offices, programs, regional authorities and implementation partners.
• Establish and facilitate steering, technical working group and operational review mechanisms with documented mandates and decision rights.
• Coordinate with the Ministry of Health, EPI, RMNCH, digital-health and planning functions, EPSS, EPHI, EFDA and regional health bureaus.
• Translate technical proposals into institutionally feasible roles, policies, SOPs, accountability mechanisms and approval pathways.
• Embed government counterparts in assessment, product prioritization, architecture, implementation, evaluation and transition decisions.
• Lead capacity-transfer plans covering product ownership, system administration, data governance, support, supervision and performance management.
• Track institutional commitments, policy decisions, unresolved ownership issues and readiness for transfer.
• Coordinate sustainability and recurrent-cost planning with relevant institutions and development partners.
• Identify duplication, mandate conflicts and partner dependencies and facilitate resolution through agreed governance channels.

Expected results

• Functional governance bodies with documented decisions and consistent participation.
• Clear institutional ownership of systems, data, integrations, support and performance-review processes.
• Approved SOPs, accountability arrangements and transition milestones.
• Government counterparts able to perform progressively larger shares of operational functions.

• Master’s degree in public health, public administration, health policy, organizational development, management or a related discipline.
• At least 10 years of experience in Ethiopia’s health sector, including substantial work with national and regional government institutions.
• Demonstrated experience establishing governance mechanisms, institutionalizing reforms or transferring functions into government structures.
• Strong understanding of Ethiopia’s health-sector organization, decision processes and inter-agency relationships.
• Excellent facilitation, negotiation, political judgment and policy-writing skills.
• Fluency in English and Amharic; additional Ethiopian languages are an advantage.
• Demonstrated record of questioning accepted approaches, designing or testing better alternatives, and using evidence to refine or stop ideas without compromising safety, reliability, ethics or government ownership.

Preferred experience

• Former senior government, public-agency or nationally recognized technical leadership experience.
• Experience with digital-health governance, data governance or supply-chain institutional reform.
• Experience developing costed sustainability and capacity-transfer plans.
• Evidence that must be visible in the CV
• Government institutions and decision-making bodies directly supported.
• Governance mechanisms, policies, SOPs or reforms personally led or facilitated.
• Examples of institutional adoption or transition, including the candidate’s specific contribution.
• Senior references able to verify collaboration and results. Including scope, budget and team size.
• Evidence of delivery recovery, risk resolution or coordination across institutions.
• Specific systems used for work planning, risk management and performance reporting.
• Experience supervising regional implementation and partner organizations.