Senior Program Officer / Senior Data Scientist

Results for Development (R4D) is a leading non-profit global development partner. We collaborate with change agents around the world — government officials, civil society leaders and social innovators — to create strong systems that support healthy, educated people. We help our partners move from knowing their goal to knowing how to reach it. We combine global expertise in health, education and nutrition with analytic rigor, practical support for decision-making and implementation and access to peer problem-solving networks. Together with our partners, we build self-sustaining systems that serve everyone and deliver lasting results. Then we share what we learn so others can achieve results for development, too. 

We have a unique and vibrant culture at R4D. Diversity, equity and inclusion are at the heart of our work environment and help advance our mission. Diversity—of ideas, identities, perspectives and backgrounds—is vital to who we are and what we do. We seek people who embrace these values and will help reinforce them. Our work culture is collaborative, creative and entrepreneurial. We operate based on trust and respect. Teams across the organization frequently collaborate on programmatic work and support each other in continuously building a better R4D.

Position title: Senior Program Officer

Practice/department/team: Health

Location: This position is based in Washington DC and reports to Rachel Neill, Program Director.

Practice/Department:

R4D’s health practice works with change agents who want to advance their health-related goals — such as achieving universal health coverage (UHC), strengthening primary health care and ending preventable child and maternal deaths — but who are unsure how best to do this. We help them design and implement reforms that draw on global experience adapted to local contexts. One approach of R4D’s health practice is to support key global institutions and countries to develop new ways of measuring the performance of primary health care systems.

One component of that effort is R4D’s new partnership with the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children, and Adolescents (GFF) on its FASTR rapid cycle analytics and data use initiative. R4D is partnering with the GFF to expand and scale FASTR across GFF partner countries, ensuring that FASTR’s tools, approaches, and lessons learned become country-oriented global public goods. You can find more about the project here:  https://r4d.org/projects/improving-health-outcomes-women-children-adolescents-fastr-rapid-cycle-data-use-initiative/

This role is a seconded position to the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children, and Adolescent (GFF) Secretariat. The candidate will be based in Washington, DC and will work from the World Bank’s HQ a minimum of four days a week.

About the GFF

The Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF) is a multi-stakeholder global partnership housed at the World Bank that is committed to ensuring all women, children and adolescents can survive and thrive. Launched in July 2015, the GFF supports 36 low and lower-middle income countries with catalytic financing and technical assistance to develop and implement prioritized national health plans to scale up access to affordable, quality care for women, children, and adolescents.

Core to the GFF agenda is a data-driven approach to enable routine monitoring of both available resources and the implementation of the prioritized reforms to accelerate progress on reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition services and outcomes, and strengthen primary health care systems toward the progressive realization of UHC. As part of the GFF support to countries to achieve these goals the GFF hosts a set of technical support activities under the Frequent Assessments & System Tools for Resilience (FASTR) initiative. FASTR provides technical support to implement rapid-cycle service delivery data collection, analysis, and interpretation to inform actions to strengthen resilient health systems. Activities include the implementation of rapid health facility and household/demand-side surveys (including household surveys and client exit interviews), support for the analysis of routine health facility and health systems data, rapid deep-dive qualitative studies, and data use and uptake support.

Position Summary:

·       Leading and continually adapting data collection, analysis, visualization, approaches that are scalable and can be replicated by country Ministries of Health who are institutionalizing rapid cycle approaches to health system measurement.

·       Creating automated data outputs and analytical workflows, including the integration of supply- and demand-side data from HMIS, facility surveys, and household/client surveys, to better inform country decision-making.

·       Providing technical support to country change agents and local partner institutions to build capacity to decentralize analysis, including advanced analytic and data visualization techniques.

·       Engage directly with partners and country stakeholders on the technical approach, interpretation of results, and integration of findings into actionable policy insights.

·       Participates fully as a member of R4D by contributing, assisting, and participating in projects, activities, and initiatives as requested by management

A successful candidate will be highly motivated, a creative problem solver; have very strong quantitative analytic skills, deep public health expertise, and direct experience managing analytical support programs in partnership with Ministries of Health and other country stakeholders. The candidate will be expected to work across R4D and the GFF and actively support the organizations’ strong partnership to implement the project.

Responsibilities:

1.      Supervise and maintain reproducible pipelines for data cleaning, quality assurance, and visualization of routine health management information systems data using open-source tools. – 25%

2.      Provide technical leadership in conceptualizing and conducting analyses that combine routine health management information system data, health facility surveys, and household/client data. – 20%

3.      Directly support country-level stakeholders, including Ministries of Health and local partners, in building capacity to independently analyze and utilize integrated health data for decision-making applying R4D’s coaching and mentoring model. – 20%

4.      Lead in the creation of compelling visualizations and data dashboards that effectively communicate findings to technical and non-technical stakeholders, aiding in evidence-based policy making. – 10%

5.      Contribute to the advancement of the FASTR research agenda, including generation of original research studies as a lead and/or co-author. – 10%

6.      Participate fully as a member of the GFF Results team by serving as a Results Monitoring Specialist for one country and contributing, assisting, and participating in other projects, activities, and initiatives requested by the GFF’s Results and Learning Team lead. – 10%

7.      Participates fully as a member of R4D by contributing, assisting and participating in projects, activities, and initiatives as requested by R4D management. –5%

Qualifications:

1.      Masters degree in public health, data science, epidemiology, biostatistics, or a related field with 7 or more years of experience is required; PhD with relevant analytical work experience preferred.

2.      Advanced knowledge in conducting quantitative research, including designing studies and statistical approaches.

3.      Advanced skills in statistical analysis software, specifically, a high level of Stata and R proficiency is required

4.      Advanced skills in data visualization software, specifically a high level of Tableau proficiency is required

5.      Proven experience leading the analysis of large-scale administrative datasets is requires; experience with cross-country and longitudinal health data sets is preferred

6.      Strong publication record, including peer-reviewed articles and technical reports, reflecting expertise in integrating and interpreting multi-source health systems data.

7.      Demonstration of meticulous attention to detail and an ability to work independently on technical and project management tasks.

8.      An understanding of the public health landscape and the ability to align data visualization efforts with the GFF's strategic goals.

9.      Excellent verbal and written communication skills to interact in English and French with both technical and non-technical stakeholders; Spanish fluency is also preferred 

$97,500 – $115,000 a year

The target base salary pay range for this US-based position is $97,500 – $115,000 per year. R4D aims to provide an equitable and consistent starting salary for all new hires based on the responsibilities and qualifications required for the position. The full salary range allows for future career and earnings growth, and hiring above the mid-point of a salary range would not be typical for a new employee.

Base salary is only one component of our total rewards package. R4D offers a generous benefits package that includes a 401K plan with up to 9% employer contribution, medical, dental and vision insurance, 25 paid vacation days, 15 days of paid sick leave, 10 paid US holidays, paid parental leave, flexible spending accounts, company-paid life insurance, short-term and long-term disability insurance, commuter benefits, free access to an onsite gym, free headspace membership, an employee assistance program and a flexible work environment. Please visit our R4D Careers page for more details. 

Results for Development is an EOE/M/F/Vet/Disabled/Affirmative Action Employer committed to fostering

and nurturing an energetic, collaborative and diverse workforce. R4D provides market-competitive salaries and comprehensive employee benefits.