Senior Program Manager, Africa - The United States Pharmacopeia

The  Senior Program Manager, Africa will provide direct support to the Promoting the Quality of Medicines Plus (PQM+) program, a cooperative agreement between USP and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), in African countries (including francophone and anglophone countries) to promote access to and supply of quality-assured pharmaceutical products and achieve the PQM+ goal towards sustainably strengthening medical product quality assurance systems. The Senior Program Manager, Africa is responsible for providing strategic management and technical leadership in PQM+ assigned countries to achieve program and country goals and ensure that activities are based and informed by country needs and priorities. The Senior Program Manager may be physically located in the Kenya, Nigeria or Ghana field office and will provide management oversight to assigned countries in Africa.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Provides management and technical leadership to African countries through the support of the Deputy Program Director and the technical team under the Technical Director; ensures strategic, programmatic and contractual integrity of PQM+ projects in assigned countries.
• Supervises program managers that support countries in the region.

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• Develops work plans, assigns budget in the work plans, and oversees the implementation of programmatic activities at country levels in order to meet PQM+ programmatic objectives for the region.
• Collaborates with the in-county teams and HQ staff to ensure the documentation of the program activities, highlighting technical and programmatic innovations, strengths, results and impact at local and international forums, technical briefs, in peer review journals etc.
• Leads and participates in assessment teams to evaluate and provide recommendations on medicines quality assurance and quality control capabilities in countries as requested.
• Develops strong relationship with USAID missions in the assigned countries and with other partners in the region.
• Works closely with technical team, country program team, and to identify opportunities for innovation, harmonize approaches, and maintain high quality standards in activity implementation.
• S/he will also collaborate with other international and local partners that work in countries to jointly achieve the public health program goals. Designs programs and create business opportunities for program growth and sustainability.
• Represents USP at local and international conferences and meetings and provide technical guidance to donor and partners as required.
• Articulates PQM+’s objectives and mission to various stakeholders to promote the mission of the PQM+ program.
• Provides critical input into the monitoring and evaluations of assigned programs and requires strong communication and coordination with field staff, support departments within PQM+ and USP HQ.
• Proactively develops trusted relationships with USAID missions in assigned countries, including through regular visits and ongoing communication
• Coordinates with partners implementing PQM+ activities in the assigned countries.
• Provides leadership to ensure that PQM+ work plan implementation and operational activities are following USP and USAID policies, procedures and practices; recommends improvements to processes and controls to improve compliance and mitigate risks
• Proactively raises any risks to USP PQM+ leadership team, helping to identify resolution, and developing strategies to mitigate future issues.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in pharmaceutical sciences, public health, or related field required
• 8 years of progressive experience in managing public health programs in low- and middle-income countries particularly in the West Africa region; an equivalent combination of experience and education may be substituted.

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• 5 years’ experience leading USAID-funded or other donor funded global health program implementation and project management
• 3 years managing people or teams
• Experience working with high-level officials in funding agencies, international organizations, private foundations, ministries of health.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in pharmaceutical sciences, public health, or related field required
• 10 years of progressive experience in managing public health programs in low- and middle-income countries particularly in the West Africa region; an equivalent combination of experience and education may be substituted.
• Experience working with international non-governmental organizations and national diseases programs strongly preferred in low- and middle-income countries, particularly those in Africa
• Extensive understanding of how medicine regulatory systems function in low- and middle-income countries
• Demonstrated experience working with and familiarity with USAID required.
• Strong communication skills and fluent in English language.
• Fluency in French preferred
• Results driven with demonstrated successful outcomes
• Must possess ability to handle multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment
• Ability to travel both domestically and internationally at least 30% of the time.
• Significant experience as a team player and commitment to bringing about change through a partnership approach