Senior Advisor, Child Health

Role Overview

This position serves as a trusted technical advisor to country offices, ensuring that health systems strengthening programmes are designed and executed with high fidelity to donor requirements and organisational standards. Day-to-day work involves reviewing programme performance, guiding capacity-building efforts, and leading the development of partnership strategies with local actors—all while deploying to priority countries for emergency response up to 40% of the time. The role directly strengthens Save the Children’s ability to deliver sustainable, equitable health interventions by translating global best practice into locally relevant action.

Key Responsibilities

• Deliver expert technical support to country teams on health systems strengthening, focusing on specialised sub-thematic areas to improve programme quality and compliance.
• Conduct systematic reviews of active awards to verify adherence to donor stipulations and internal policies, recommending corrective actions where gaps are identified.
• Collaborate with country colleagues to craft high-quality proposals and strategic plans, ensuring alignment with Save the Children’s mission and incorporating donor-specific technical knowledge.
• Design and oversee the quality assurance of training and capacity-building initiatives for national and local partners, fostering sustainable health systems strengthening capacities.
• Lead the strategic development and coordination of partnerships with local authorities, peer agencies, and community actors to advance shared health systems goals.
• Actively participate in internal and external working groups to capture lessons learned, adapt best practices, and embed continuous improvement across programmes.
• Manage global or multi-country projects that create and refine programme guidance, tools, and evidence for health systems strengthening work.
• Deploy to priority countries as required (up to 40% time) to provide in-person technical guidance during emergency responses or programme scale-up.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Technical Expertise: Deep understanding of child health principles and practices, with demonstrated experience in designing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating related programmes. Commitment to staying current with sector trends and evidence.
• Analytical & Problem-Solving: Ability to scrutinise complex data and programme performance metrics, translating findings into clear, actionable improvements.
• Capacity Building & Mentoring: Substantial experience in training, coaching, and strengthening skills of staff and local partners on sector-specific and broader technical approaches.
• Proposal & Strategic Plan Development: Proven track record of writing successful, donor-funded proposals and developing strategic plans that meet funder expectations.
• Compliance & Quality Assurance: Strong experience reviewing awards for compliance with donor requirements and organisational policies, with a focus on identifying and driving improvements.
• Communication & Interpersonal Skills: Excellent negotiation, influencing, and coaching abilities; proven capacity to build and maintain effective relationships across diverse teams and stakeholders.
• High-Pressure Environment: Willingness and ability to travel independently and work effectively in challenging contexts, often on short notice, up to 40% of the time.
• Education: An advanced degree in Public Health, Global Health, Health Policy & Management, International Development, or a related field. Extensive relevant professional experience may be considered in lieu of a formal degree.