Programme Technical Advisor

The Programme Technical Advisor is the senior technical authority for m2m's programme model across the whole country portfolio - EKN and non-EKN alike. The role owns the technical content of the peer-led model in practice: how it is designed, adapted to context, quality-assured and made ready to implement. It sets the programmatic and clinical standards to which country programmes, implementing partners and the Innovation Hub work, and holds technical design authority over new programmes, adaptations and the integration of innovations into the standard model.

The role is deliberately portfolio-wide rather than dedicated to any single award, country or project, so that technical capability serves the organisation as a whole. The Programme Technical Advisor deputises for the Senior Lead: Technical Management on programme technical matters, represents m2m technically to governments, partners and donors, and leads a team of technical staff.

Key Performance Areas

Technical leadership, standards and model integrity

- Lead programme design and adaptation across all countries of operation, holding the peer-led model coherent as it is adapted to different epidemiological, health-system and funding contexts.
- Set, maintain and approve m2m's programmatic and clinical standards, protocols and technical guidance, in consultation with the Senior Lead: Technical Management.
- Hold technical design authority for new programmes, proposals and adaptations: review and approve the technical content of programme designs and funding proposals before submission or implementation.
- Determine which innovations and best practices - including those generated and tested by the Innovation Hub - are integrated into the standard m2m model and scaled across countries, and set the technical conditions for scale.
- Advise national governments and health-system counterparts on integrating the model into primary health care and public health systems.

Technical assistance to partners and governments

- Lead m2m's technical assistance to implementing partners, consortium partners and government counterparts - a distinct discipline from direct service delivery.
- Assess partner technical capability, design and oversee capacity-strengthening plans that close identified gaps, and account for capacity-strengthening results where these are award or donor obligations.
- Represent m2m technically in national and regional technical working groups, donor technical reviews and partner forums.

Quality assurance, evidence and implementation readiness

- Own m2m's quality improvement framework: set its standards and indicators, assure its consistent application across countries and partners, interpret portfolio-level results and direct corrective action.
- Set the criteria for implementation readiness and certify readiness before a country, partner or new programme goes live; escalate to the Senior Lead: Technical Management where readiness criteria are not met.
- Work with the Strategic Information Advisor to ensure programme evidence informs refinement of the model, and set the technical standard for training and learning content with the Learning Experience Designer.

Technical team leadership and capability building

- Line-manage the Programme Specialist and the Programme Officer: Innovation Hub - setting objectives, directing their technical work and developing their capability.
- Build the technical capability of country programme teams so that routine country support is delivered through the technical team and country technical leads rather than escalated to this role.
- Contribute as a member of the Technical Management Unit's leadership to programme strategy, technical priorities and resourcing decisions.

Qualifications, Experience and Competencies

Must Have

- Education. Master's degree in Public Health, Medicine, Nursing, Social Sciences or a related discipline, or an equivalent postgraduate qualification.
- Experience. At least seven years' progressive experience in health programme technical roles, including a minimum of three years at senior technical advisory level with responsibility for programme design and adaptation across more than one country.
- Technical authority. Deep, recognised expertise in community health worker or peer-led models in HIV and maternal, newborn and child health, sufficient to set organisational standards and to be credible with government and donor technical counterparts.
- Technical assistance. Demonstrated experience providing technical assistance and capacity strengthening to implementing partners or government, as distinct from direct delivery.
- Quality systems. Practical experience designing and institutionalising a quality improvement framework across multiple sites or countries, and acting on what it shows.
- Management. Experience line-managing technical or professional staff and building technical capability in others.
- Communication. Strong technical writing and presentation skills, including authoring technical guidance, donor technical reports or proposals, and representing an organisation in technical forums.

Nice-to-Have

- Experience across several of m2m's countries of operation
- Health systems strengthening and government integration
- Working French or Portuguese
- Experience in a consortium where partners deliver alongside you
- Track record of technical publications, conference presentations or peer-reviewed technical products

Competencies:

- Strategic and systems thinking: sees the model as a whole across countries and anticipates the consequences of adaptation.
- Technical judgement and decisiveness: makes and defends standards decisions, including unwelcome ones, on the strength of evidence.
- Influence without line authority: shapes the decisions of country leadership, partners and government counterparts.
- Leading through others: develops technical staff and builds capability rather than absorbing work.
- Rigour and evidence orientation: insists on data quality and uses evidence to direct action.
- Clear written and verbal communication for senior technical and non-technical audiences.

Reporting & Team Structure

- Reports to: Senior Lead: Technical Management
- Collaborates with: Senior Lead: Technical Management; Strategic Information Advisor; Programme Specialist and Programme Officer: Innovation Hub; Country Directors and Representatives; EKN Project Director; Learning Experience Designer: SLS; Government Relations; Business Development
- Supervises: Programme Specialist · Programme Officer: Innovation Hub

Working Conditions

- Employment Type: Full time, 1.0 FTE
- Location: Cape Town, South Africa
- Travel Requirements: Regular regional and international travel to m2m countries of operation and partner sites (estimated up to 25% of time)

Compensation and Benefits

- Competitive salary and performance-based incentives
- Comprehensive benefits (health, retirement, leave)
- Opportunities for growth, leadership, and professional development