Senior Manager, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning

Position Overview

Evidence, Performance and Impact (EPI) as a technical practice area is an MSH priority focus of our program offerings, program delivery, external communications and advocacy efforts. The Senior Manager for the practice will spearhead MSH’s technical excellence in this area. They will build MSH’s internal practice in priority technical areas and will be actively engaged with the global technical community, strengthening MSH’s position as a recognized thought leader in this space.

The Senior Manager will lead GHSI‘s EPI unit. This includes: 1) providing thought leadership in EPI areas; 2) ensure that MSH staff receive regular orientation/training to the approaches and tools on EPI, and to MSH’s way of implementing them; 3) develop and actively manage communities of practice within MSH and reaching outside MSH too; 4) lead and design new projects and proposals for funding by major donors; and 5) manage and grow a team of experts in the practice area of interest. They will integrate with MSH and GHSI’s other technical units to create and implement innovative technical solutions and support throughout the project lifecycle and will draw upon MSH’s global reach and experience, interfacing with other MSH experts to coordinate technical assistance in all of our core areas of excellence and new capabilities related to the practice area. They will work to identify and lead the development and design of practice-related opportunities for MSH in partnership with governments, international organizations (World Bank, WHO etc), donors, the private sector, NGOs, academia and others.

Technical Leadership, Strategy, and Innovation (20%)

• Drive the development of MSH’s strategy for international programs in this practice area, leading new initiatives and seeking opportunities for improvement.
• Define long and short-term area priorities and plans in close collaboration with the other Practice Leaders and provide strategic and technical leadership to the practice area activities.
• Develop and implement MSH’s conceptual framework for practice area technical assistance, focusing on design, implementation and monitoring of programs, drawing upon MSH’s expertise in a range of practices, health areas and settings.
• Increase MSH presence at relevant strategic meetings/global forums.
• Lead MSH research to identify, evaluate and promote innovative approaches for achieving practice area goals, internally and externally; publish in peer-reviewed publications and other venues; represent MSH at conferences and other technical forums. Participate in relevant advocacy work as needed.
• Develop a practice network of interested MSH staff and consultants who can organize around the vision and mission and support our efforts in the practice area.
• Partner with MSH colleagues and projects to develop a strategic approach to building MSH’s project portfolio in this practice area, based on present work, our capabilities and the needs going forward.
• Interact with and support projects, technical and country teams to pioneer and apply a superior technical lens and input into all MSH activities.

Technical Assistance and Expertise (35%)

• Provide technical assistance to governments and other partners, consistent with the practice area strategy and conceptual framework (to be developed by the practice area lead).

• Provide technical oversight to practice area current and future projects and technical activities.

• Serve as resource for critical technical information on practice area topics to other experts, offices and projects within MSH.

• Document MSH’s portfolio of practice area activities, update it regularly with new experiences and disseminate results.

Leadership and Development (10%)

• Lead, motivate, and develop his/her practice team leveraging diverse competencies, identifying and promoting talent, providing and receiving candid and actionable feedback and creating the incentives needed for a high performing and energized team of professionals.
• Continuously expand and deepen the talent pipeline through leadership development, succession planning, and strategic retention of high-caliber staff.
• Manage and model healthy, collaborative intra and inter-practice working relationships. Partner with the other practice leaders to ensure all units are providing timely, quality support to their respective teams and portfolios.
• Actively promotes effective collaboration and cooperation across business units.
• Attend management meetings and contribute to strategic and business plans.
• Oversee technical staff and consultant recruitment for existing projects.

Business Development (20%)

• Use network and connections to identify and build relationships with strategic partners and funders on practice priorities.
• Develop strategic plans for growing the business portfolio for MSH in practice area.
• As a technical leader, participate in new business development efforts and act as a reviewer of proposals.
• Work in close coordination with MSH’s Business Development (BD) BD Unit reviewing bid opportunities, determining the opportunities that MSH should pursue in the practice area.
• Provide critical strategic guidance and insight into pre-positioning for practice area bids as needed.
• Work in coordination with BD Unit to track funding opportunities. Lead and/or participate in pitching ideas to donors and funders on practice area topics.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with key players among US government and non-US government donors and partners.
• Partner with MSH’s BD in scanning both the market and potential competitors.

External Representation (5%)

• Ensure strong representation of the MSH to local, regional and global partners – including funding agencies, governments, and donors -- in the practice area. Strengthen collaboration with these partners to advance MSH’s global mission.
• Establish and manage relationships with partner organizations. This will include prime and subcontractors.
• Partner and build strong relationships with thought leaders and engage new audiences in the area of practice.
• Represent MSH at industry conferences and workshops as appropriate and as funding permits.

Team Management (10%)

• Lead and manage practice area team members assigned to be supervised by this position.
• Ensure all staff performance annual reviews are completed by all practice unit members supervised by this practice area leader.
• Monitor the workflow and work volume of all direct reports to maximize efficiency and productivity of practice area staffs supervised by this practice leader.
• Review, approve, or request additional information for timesheets of direct reports.

REQUIRED MINIMUM EDUCATION: A postgraduate degree in a field of study related to the practice area.

PREFERRED EDUCATION: Health Economics, Public Health, Global Health, MD, PhD, MBA or equivalent in a relevant field of study. An advanced degree in public health or in a related field with compelling, relevant experience will be considered.

REQUIRED MINIMUM EXPERIENCE:

• A minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible experience managing the monitoring, and contributing to the design, implementation of EPI components of health-related projects in low-resource settings.
• At least eight years of experience providing technical assistance, including for large scale projects in multiple countries, with demonstrated experience in areas related to health system strengthening.
• Extensive experience in the use of mixed measurement methods required for monitoring and evaluation of public health programs, and in conducting implementation research in LMIC.
• Experience using statistical software packages such as EpiInfo, SAS, SPSS, or Stata for data analysis as well as qualitative analysis using NVivo and Dedoose; and experience in working at strengthening health information system (HIS) especially at managing and enhancing DHIS2-based information system. Additional experience with other components of HIS is an asset.
• Four or more years of experience recruiting, managing, leading, and/or developing a strong team of staff, program/project managers, and technical professionals.
• Recognized expertise and technical achievement within the practice area technical community, as demonstrated by peer-reviewed publications and/or participation in technical working groups.
• Knowledge and demonstrated experience successfully mobilizing resources for practice area programs, including significant proposal development experience with USAID in addition to other potential bilateral, multilateral, foundation, private sector, host country, and other funding sources for the practice area.

KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS:

• Proven leadership, management and organization skills are a priority along with the ability to inspire highly capable technical staff and remotely lead or support diverse teams.
• Strong ability to lead by example, with integrity, purpose, and commitment to the attainment of MSH’s goals and commitment to technical excellence.
• Skilled at creating a climate where high technical performance at all levels of the team is recognized and valued.
• Skilled at delegating appropriate responsibility, accountability and decision-making authority on relevant practice area matters.
• Proven skills in working and collaborating with donors, host country institutions, and international organizations.
• Deep knowledge and understanding of the history, issues, and trends across the practice area.
• Outstanding written and verbal communications skills. Able to blend compelling story and convincing evidence. Demonstrated proposal writing skills for practice area projects.
• Demonstrated familiarity with USAID, other donor and country level policy and strategy orientations in relation to the practice area.
• Strong written and oral communication skills, demonstrated management experience.
• Fully aligned with MSH mission and values.

COMPETENCIES:

• Collaborative leadership approach that contributes to positive team environment, and builds strong relationships with people from all backgrounds, genders, cultures and viewpoints.
• Excellent ability to build personal networks at all levels, resulting in securing new opportunities and strategic growth for the organization in relation to the practice area.
• Energetic, forward-thinking and creative with intellectual flexibility and depth and strong ethical reasoning.
• High level capacity to work in a variety of cultural settings, complex environment and fragile states.
• Proven record of aligning diverse, multi-level teams towards a shared vision.

MSH CORE JOB COMPETENCIES:

Navigating the Environment:

• Country perspective and orientation, donor responsiveness, partner collaboration and collegiality, organizational agility, political and strategic agility

Ensuring Delivery of Results:

• Functional/technical skills, client (donor and country) focus, managing through procedures, measuring work in terms of effort and progress, negotiating positions in terms of beliefs and principles, information sharing within and across the GHSI. Priority-setting supports activity requests and schedules, with necessary problem-solving and timely decision-making.

Leading with Credibility:

• Based on extensive experience with practice area topics, focusing on countries and programs. Creating an active, relevant and innovative practice network to engage all expertise around the global working at MSH.

Managing Others:

• Building effective teamwork and collegiality across and within technical practice area, dispute management through collaborative pursuit of products and objectives, managing and supporting agreed visions and purpose, demonstrated integrity and trust through transparency. Motivating others through example and productivity. Full approachability and development of direct rapport with others.

Core Personal Competencies:

• Maintain highest professional ethics and values. Style of work is based on proven principles of effective technical cooperation, integrity and trust. Ability to listen to partners and clients. High level of professional verbal and written communication.

Core MSH Competencies:

• Responsive communications within and across the practice area. Problem-solving through collaboration and collegiality. Creativity and innovation in support of organization and practice success. Generate highest quality and timeliness of work while maintaining close team relationships. Maximize effective human and financial resource utilization.

Travel requirements: Domestic and international travel up to 35%.

https://msh.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/External/job/US-VA-Arlington/Practice-Area-Lead--Performance-Monitoring--Evaluation--and-Implementation-Research_R930