Technical Director, USAID/DRC Accelerator Activity

About Palladium: 

Palladium is a global company working to design, develop and deliver positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the globe; broaden access to health, water, power, and infrastructure; build enduring, sustainable, and transformative institutions and market systems to address global challenges; and conserve the natural world. We operate in over 90 countries and have a workforce of 3,000 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions, races, languages, and gender identities.  

Palladium Americas: 

Our Americas’ business team has brilliant and passionate colleagues working in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America as well as the Caribbean, fulfilling projects and assignments for clients from institutions, corporations, governments, and foundations based around the world. 

This Opportunity: 

Palladium is seeking a Congolese national Technical Director(s) anticipated 5-year USAID-funded project to improved health outcomes for Congolese in four provinces: Sud-Kivu, Lomami, Tanganyika, and Kasai Central. The focus of this Activity will include but is not limited to children under five, pregnant and postpartum women, youth, and especially adolescent girls, and hard to reach communities. advance and sustain DRC.

The anticipated project(s) will aim to support stronger, more resilient health systems at all levels, save lives, decrease morbidity and disability, and increase the potential of women, newborns, children, families, and communities to thrive. This project will support the DRC Ministry of Health priorities including to advance the Government of DRC’s provincial goals of
improving maternal and child health; decreasing maternal, infant, and child morbidity and
mortality; improving the nutritional status of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women,
and children under five; decreasing malaria-associated morbidity and mortality; improving
access to and use of family planning (FP) and reproductive health services, including for healthy
spacing and timing of pregnancy; and increasing uptake of key behaviors that drive improved
health outcomes. This Activity will support efforts to improve the availability of, equitable
access to, demand for, and use of quality, integrated health services.

The Technical Director is a key personnel position and will be responsible for ensuring the overall technical coherence and integrity in program implementation. The Technical Director is the chief advisor for the project in all technical areas, ensuring that project activities are based on the most up-to-date, evidence-based interventions, standards, and guidelines. The Technical Director will report to the Chief of Party and will provide direct supervision to various technical staff. The Technical Director will serve as a member of the Project Senior Management Team.

You and Your Career: 

If you are a problem-solver, collaborator, and doer, and you have expertise in primary health care, integrated health service delivery, or the technical strategy and implementation of donor-funded health projects, we are interested in hearing from you.

We are a learning organization and provide growth opportunities from the start. We pride ourselves on giving you the freedom, resources, and guidance to chart a fulfilling career! 

Reporting and Supervision: 

The Technical Director will report to the Chief of Party and supervise relevant technical staff.   

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:  

Responsible for ensuring the technical integrity of all project interventions and activities.
Provide overall technical direction, leadership, and technical expertise for the project team in designing and delivering evidence-based, high impact primary health care services in public and private health facilities.
Provide technical advice on the integration of siloed health services into established service delivery systems across service levels and the life course continuum.
Provide technical assistance and guidance on the latest health developments, publications, and other information generation activities nationwide and globally.
Represent the project at national and subnational stakeholder meetings and technical working groups as relevant to strengthen coordination between central and provincial level government.
Coordinate the project’s technical work across clinical content-specific and cross-cutting areas to improve management and function of primary healthcare services
Coordinate the technical expertise of Palladium and its subcontractors which will include international and local organizations.
Liaise with and oversee coordination with technical counterparts in the DRC Ministry of Health and other donor-funded projects at all levels of the health system.
Build capacity through training, mentoring, supervision, and technical exchanges that support the MOH, civil society, and local partner development.
In collaboration with the COP, ensure that the program is delivered according to donor and government policies.
Perform other related duties and responsibilities as assigned.

Key Competencies Required: 

Medical Doctor, Registered Nurse, or Midwife with a Master's degree in public health, social sciences or related field.
Minimum of 10 years of successful experience as a senior-level technical or program manager on integrated service delivery projects in Sub-Saharan Africa of a similar scope and size. 
Technical expertise in PHC, MNCH, FP/RH, nutrition, WASH, malaria, health systems strengthening, quality improvement and global health security.
Experience working with the central, primary and/or community health care context in DRC.
Demonstrated capacity to develop technical materials and strengthen local clinical and non-clinical capacities to improve primary health care.
Proven ability to work collaboratively with sub-national and central level governments, various ministries, development partners including donors, the private sector, and community organizations to advance development and health objectives. 
Demonstrated experience leading and managing multi-disciplinary teams to achieve results in a fast-paced, complex, and evolving environment. 
Excellent interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to lead and work effectively in team situations.
Experience writing and making professional presentations in French and English. 
Willingness to travel throughout DRC as necessary.

Professional Expertise/Competencies Preferred: 

Congolese nationals preferred
Previous work experience in DRC or West and Central Africa strongly preferred
Existing relationships with DRC stakeholders a plus

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion - We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.  

Should you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or any other circumstance, please email our team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com. 

Safeguarding - We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse.  All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.