Senior Director, Strategic Information/Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (SI/MEL), Health Programs

JOB SUMMARY:

The Senior Director, Strategic Information/Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (SI/MEL), Health Programs is a strategic leader within FHI 360, responsible for the technical leadership and strategic direction of strategic information, monitoring, evaluation, analytics, data systems, and learning (SI/MEL) across the Health Programs (HP) portfolio within the Programs and Research Group (PRG). The Senior Director also provides scientific and technical leadership in epidemiology, surveillance, health informatics, and data use. This role provides technical and operational oversight to a division comprised of multiple project SI/MEL teams, fosters innovation, and ensures the delivery of high-quality, timely, and actionable data aligned with organizational objectives and funder requirements. The Senior Director establishes and continually refines SI/MEL frameworks, approaches, tools, and activities; identifies specialized partnership needs; and engages qualified partners to ensure technical performance. Working across FHI 360 Health Programs projects and country portfolios, the Senior Director strengthens the integration of surveillance, MEL, data management, analytics, and digital health systems, in close collaboration with project SI/MEL leadership teams to ensure coherence, technical alignment, and mutual learning across initiatives. The Senior Director leads one integrated SI/MEL team that serves all Health Programs projects, so that each country has a single SI/MEL point of contact across awards, with shared standards, harmonized indicators, and staffing and level of effort planned across the portfolio. The Senior Director collaborates with internal and external stakeholders to gather and share evidence, lessons learned, and best practices to drive continuous improvement and organizational impact. The Senior Director serves as a recognized technical leader and thought partner in strategic information, surveillance, epidemiology, and health informatics. They also contribute technical leadership to new business development and represent FHI 360 as a thought leader in strategic information, health informatics, and data-driven program improvement. Engagement with country and field teams is exercised primarily through project SI/MEL leadership; direct, hands-on support to field teams is expected on bilateral awards and is provided to global projects at the request of project leadership. Their decisions are guided by organizational strategy and have significant short- and long-term impacts on public health and development outcomes.

RESPONSIBILITIES / DUTIES:

Complexity & Problem Solving:

• Navigates complex and technically demanding SI/MEL challenges inherent in project implementation, requiring innovative approaches and deep analytical skills.
• Offers strategic direction and innovative SI/MEL solutions for portfolio-specific challenges.
• Analyzes project performance against indicator targets, data quality assessments, and portfolio-level trends, and identifies areas for improvement.
• Recommends actionable solutions to enhance effectiveness and efficiency.
• Fosters innovation and shares best practices to drive organizational impact.
• Contributes to achieving sustainable development goals.
• Resolves methodological and measurement problems that cross awards (conflicting indicator definitions, non-comparable denominators, data quality gaps, and evaluation design trade-offs) and sets the technical standard to be applied across the portfolio.
• Strengthens institutional data governance, interoperability, and integration of information systems, including DHIS2, EMRs, LMIS, and custom databases.
• Ensures project data systems meet funder reporting standards (e.g., DATIM, DHIS2, MER indicators) and support programmatic decision-making at all levels.
• Provides technical leadership in the design, implementation, and utilization of surveillance systems and public health evaluations.
• Leads efforts to strengthen the collection, analysis, interpretation, visualization, and use of health data across country portfolios.
• Guides methodological approaches for surveillance and program evaluation.
• Identifies opportunities to leverage routine health information systems, EMRs, surveillance platforms, and real-world data to improve program performance and public health outcomes.
• Serves as a senior resource on epidemiologic methods, disease surveillance, measurement approaches, and data quality across the portfolio.

Discretion & Impact:

• Exercises discretion over SI/MEL technical and methodological matters with direct impact on project outcomes and organizational success.
• Makes decisions on resource allocation, risk management, and stakeholder engagement.
• Influences portfolio performance and reputation.
• Decisions contribute to achieving organizational objectives and driving positive change.
• Impacts both short- and long-term public health outcomes.
• Sets and enforces portfolio-wide SI/MEL technical standards; erroneous methodological or reporting decisions may result in inaccurate performance reporting to funders, audit findings, or critical delays in schedules.
• Provides strategic insights that directly inform organizational strategy and programmatic priorities.

Collaboration & Interaction:

• Engages with internal and external stakeholders to gather and share evidence, lessons learned, and best practices.
• Fosters partnerships with project teams, funders, and implementing partners.
• Facilitates communication and knowledge exchange to enhance project outcomes.
• Communication style is characterized by transparency, collaboration, and teamwork.
• Works cross-functionally to achieve common goals and drive organizational impact.
• Establishes and maintains relationships across FHI 360, including with all Groups and Enterprise Support colleagues.
• Serves as senior technical advisor to project leadership, to the SI/MEL Directors and Advisors assigned to FHI 360’s global health projects, and to headquarters management.
• Provides high-level technical guidance on surveillance and data use for epidemic control, global health security, and cross-cutting health programs (HIV, TB, RMNCH, malaria, polio, AMR, etc.).
• Supports proposal development by providing SI/MEL technical input, writing relevant sections, and contributing to results frameworks; promotes knowledge management and learning by synthesizing lessons learned, disseminating best practices, and contributing to technical briefs and conferences.
• Builds capacity of FHI 360 technical teams and local partners in data management, visualization, and use of evidence for decision-making.

• Cultivates strategic partnerships with ministries of health, U.S. Government agencies, multilateral and global health partners, academic institutions, foundations, and implementing partners.
• Represents FHI 360 in technical working groups, conferences, funder engagements, and global technical forums.
• Fosters collaboration between SI/MEL, surveillance, health informatics, digital health, and program teams to maximize data use and organizational learning.

Management & Supervision:

• Oversees SI/MEL implementation across the projects within their division.
• Provides leadership and guidance to project teams.
• Sets strategic direction, manages budgets, and ensures programmatic quality.
• Focuses on fostering a culture of excellence and accountability.
• Manages project staff and shapes the portfolio structure for optimal efficiency and effectiveness.
• Leads a team of seasoned technical experts, handling supervision, performance management, and professional development.
• Leads one integrated SI/MEL team across Health Programs projects: assigns country backstops across awards, plans and monitors level of effort and workload across funding sources, manages transitions as countries move between awards, and ensures continuity of support to country teams.
• Builds a cross-trained team able to support any technical area (including HIV, TB, malaria, maternal and child health, polio, and global health security) and any award, through structured onboarding, training, and mentoring.
• Embraces other duties as assigned, contributing to the team’s multifaceted and evolving responsibilities.
• Provides matrixed, dotted-line technical oversight of the SI/MEL Directors of FHI 360’s global health projects, who continue to report administratively to their respective project leadership; sets technical performance expectations for these roles and contributes to their performance reviews in coordination with their line managers.
• Delineates portfolio- and project-level roles: project SI/MEL Directors remain accountable for award-specific deliverables (work plans, PMPs, indicator definitions, funder reporting, and project data systems) while this position is accountable for cross-portfolio technical standards, methodological quality assurance, staffing and capacity, and the harmonization and comparability of SI/MEL approaches across awards.
• Ensures that Health Programs projects are appropriately staffed and technically supported for SI/MEL: advises on SI/MEL staffing structures and levels of effort, participates in the recruitment and selection of senior SI/MEL positions, orients and onboards new SI/MEL staff, and mobilizes surge or specialist technical support when project needs exceed available capacity.
• Where the position is costed to a bilateral award, or where a global project requests this support, assumes direct responsibility for the SI/MEL activities of that project, including contributing to the finalization and submission of project work plans, performance monitoring plans (PMPs), and quarterly, annual, and other reports. This is not a standing expectation across the portfolio.

• Provides technical mentorship and professional development support to senior SI/MEL, surveillance, epidemiology, and health informatics professionals across the Health Programs portfolio.
• Strengthens organizational capabilities through communities of practice, technical training, and knowledge-sharing initiatives.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Knowledge & Skills:

• Comprehensive knowledge of the design and management of large-scale global health surveillance, strategic information, and health systems strengthening initiatives.
• Expertise in program implementation methodologies.
• Proficient in organizational leadership practices.
• Demonstrates expertise in strategic planning, risk management, and stakeholder engagement.
• Proven track record of driving innovation and achieving impactful outcomes within their division.
• Contributes to new business, including technical design and SI/MEL sections of proposals, across U.S. Government, foundation, and other funders.
• Demonstrated expertise in strategic information, MEL, surveillance, and data analytics in large, complex public health or development programs.
• Demonstrated experience leading SI/MEL across several awards at the same time, including harmonizing indicators and data systems and managing staff in a matrixed structure.
• Strong technical command of quantitative and qualitative methods, data visualization, and the use of digital tools (DHIS2, Power BI, Tableau).
• Knowledge of global health and development programming, particularly in global health security, HIV, TB, malaria, polio and other infectious diseases, maternal and child health, and health systems strengthening.
• Excellent oral and written communication and analytical skills in English.

• Advanced knowledge of epidemiology, surveillance systems, health informatics, and monitoring and evaluation.
• Demonstrated expertise in strategic information systems, health informatics, data governance, interoperability, and data-use frameworks. 

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree or its International Equivalent in Public Health, Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Health Informatics, Global Health, Medicine, or a related field. 
• Minimum of 15 years of relevant experience in strategic information, monitoring and evaluation, surveillance, epidemiology, or health information systems in global health programs; or 12 years and a master’s degree; or 9 years and a PhD; or equivalent combination of relevant education and experience to perform job responsibilities effectively.
• Minimum 8 years of experience leading and managing SI/MEL or other technical teams, including staff based in several countries.
• Proven experience leading and managing complex, strategic portfolios of programs/projects on a national or international scale.
• Experience leading teams in complex settings, managing financial and human resources.
• Significant experience with large U.S. Government-funded or other global health awards, in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or similar settings.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s or doctoral degree (e.g., MPH, MSc, PhD, DrPH, MD) with formal training in epidemiology or biostatistics.
• Track record of presenting SI/MEL, surveillance, or epidemiology work in technical forums or reports.
• Experience building or leading a cross-project SI/MEL or surveillance team.
• Professional proficiency in French or another language used across FHI 360’s country portfolio.

*We welcome candidates with other relevant certifications or their international equivalents.

This job posting summarizes the main duties of the job. It neither prescribes nor restricts the exact tasks that may be assigned to carry out these duties. This document should not be construed in any way to represent a contract of employment. Management reserves the right to review and revise this document at any time.

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