Emergency Health Manager

The Emergency Support Department (ESD) is part of the operations department and plays a key role in responding to humanitarian emergencies. The ESD conducts exploratory assessments, initiates and manages large scale or complex interventions to support people in precarious situations. The ESD provides support to existing country programs and the wider organisation to promote and improve emergency preparedness and response capacity.  The ESD consists of a headquarter based Emergency Desk (E Desk) of managers and an Operational Support Team (OST) of advisors and officers, and an Emergency Team of approximately 24 country programme based medical and non-medical profiles.

MSF-OCA ESD is looking for an:

Emergency Health Manager 
Based in Amsterdam (NL)
Starting April 2026

The overall objective of the position is the design, strategy development and overall management and leadership of public health and medical programming in emergencies. The Emergency Health Manager is responsible for safeguarding and enhancing OCA’s organizational emergency response and preparedness capacity. The postholder initiates reflection, learning and development of relevant medical and public health topics especially related to emergency response and preparedness.

Position within the organisation

• Reports hierarchically to the Head of the ESD

• Works in tandem with the Heads of Emergency Support Department (HoESD) and Emergency Managers for countries management  

• Collaborates closely with the other Emergency Health Manager. Collaborates closely with other OST members (logistics, WatSan, HR, finance, advocacy, comms, MSSOs etc)

• Functionally manages the Medical Coordinators for each country

• Functionally manages medical Emergency Team members

• Collaborates closely and functions with(in) the PHD 

• Functionally co-operates with the Medical Director (& Deputies), Health Program Managers, Health Advisors, as well as Operational Managers, Heads of Missions, Medical coordinators, other portfolio OSTs, support departments (eg, supply/APU, HR, etc)

Job overview

• You work in tandem with the Emergency Manager and HoESD to lead emergency response programmes (either within an existing country program as a stand-alone intervention or by managing the full country programming including any pre-existing non-emergency projects). 

• You assume the operational management responsibilities of a country or emergency program, on occasions, if/when required.  

• You define emergency intervention strategies, set priorities, monitor activities, provide strategic guidance and maintain strategic oversight.

• You lead country specific Medical Support Teams and other teams of relevant medical advisors to coordinate input to emergency response programs.

• You collaborate with and provide specific guidance to OST members on emergency response and public health topics (in tandem with the HoESD or Emergency Manager). You leadOSTs when required.

• You ensure that emergency response programmes  address core humanitarian and health needs, in line with the OCA strategic plan and priorities. You safeguard MSF’s values, principles and policies.

• You contribute to building and maintaining and capacity in the organization to ensure the ability to execute timely and effective emergency responses.

• You develop and utilize systems to actively monitor and analyze potential emergency interventions globally, including situations of political unrest, conflict, natural disasters, displacement, food insecurity, outbreaks, etc.

• You collaborate with other MSF sections and external actors for the coordination of emergency response interventions.

• You collaborate with external actors to further objectives in emergency response programs and initiatives. 

• You actively participate in health and other platforms within the MSF movement to share successes, challenges and dilemmas to leverage institutional knowledge and contribute to innovations in support of emergency programming.

• You are expected to visit emergency programmes on short notice as required and demonstrate high flexibility.  You are expected, in certain periods, to work long and irregular hours.

Main accountabilities

• Design, set-up and management of medical and public health (and sometimes operational) strategies for the countries or programs under the E Desk – including control cycle documents, country strategies and ad hoc proposals. 

• Mentoring medical coordinators, Emergency Team members and other health related staff.

• Leadership of Medical Support Teams (groups of specialist and advisors) to ensure coordinated support to health programmes 

• Monitoring and analysis of emergencies globally including political unrest, conflict, natural disasters, displacement, food insecurity, outbreaks, etc.

• Contribution to a timely launch of emergency responses (and/or support) in accordance with the needs and complexity of situation

• Contribution to emergency response strategies/policies within the organization as well as sharing of successes and challenges in organizational forums

• Ensure quality of emergency response including defining medical-operational strategies, advocacy and communication strategies, developing policies, and ensuring compliance with values, principles and policies of MSF OCA

• Oversight of quality assurance, patient safety objectives, conformance with medical ethical policies and standards in emergency programmes.

• Oversight of medical budget lines for countries under ESD management

• Work between departments (ESD, PHD, Operations, logistics, OSCAR) to make improvements to the organization's capability to prepare and respond to emergencies, including development and facilitation of training modules. 

• Innovation, research and advocacy initiatives to improve (health) programming in emergencies

• Contribution to the strategies, policies and medical protocols of the organization, especially those related to emergencies and emergency responses

• Responsible for ensuring that the medical component of OCA’s central emergency preparedness plan and central emergency stocks strategy is developed and maintained. 

• Support to MSF-NL/OCA fundraising and communication activities as required

Your Profile

Required

• Registered medical/paramedical/public health professional. BSc / MSc in a PhD related domain

• Broad knowledge of medical and public health management, clinical governance, health information systems, medical ethical frameworks, medical supply management, security management, policy formulation, financial and human resource management, humanitarian response, emergency response, operations management

• Specific response experience – outbreaks, conflict, natural disasters, displacement, malnutrition

• 8+ years' experience in humanitarian aid, plus senior management experience

• Proven ability to provide strong leadership, strategy and vision in program management

• Proven analytical skills in health programming

• Excellent communication and negotiation skills (oral and written)

• Capable of coaching and managing people and programs at a distance (i.e. phone, email)

• Knowledge and experience in the humanitarian world; commitment and passion for the goals and work of MSF

• Knowledge of MSF policies and procedures

• Demonstrated involvement in management of several emergency responses

• Ability to provide direct emergency support to field programs for up to 4 weeks at a time at short notice (i.e. 48hrs). Up to 40% of the time may be in the field. Willingness to travel to unstable and conflict settings

• Willingness to work irregular and long hours

• Based in Amsterdam, working from the MSF Amsterdam office. Remote working for short periods possible

• Flexible attitude, stress resistant; problem solving attitude and “can-do” mentality

• Fluency in English

• Either you are already based in The Netherlands or are willing to re-locate to The Netherlands

Preferred

• Knowledge and experience in the field of epidemiology, and/or a relevant clinical specialty (e.g. tropical medicine, emergency medicine, infectious diseases, pediatrics)

• Experience with MSF in an operational leadership role (head of mission/country manager, project coordinator)

• French (and/or Arabic, and/or Spanish) 

We Offer

This is a permanent position; The employment always starts off with a one-year contract with the intention to renew based on performance. 

• Salary grade 19 with a gross monthly salary between 5,922 and 8,153 eurosthe exact salary will depend on your relevant years of professional experience (based upon a 40-hour working week)

• Other benefits include:      

• 30 holidays      

• A premium free pension where MSF covers 100% of the monthly pension contribution

• 8% holiday allowance      

• A discounted contribution to collective healthcare if you choose to do so 

• Travel allowance for commuting to the office 

Application