Chief Program Officer

POSITION DETAIL

Job title: Chief Program Officer (CPO)

Organisation: Lifebox

About us: Global nonprofit making surgery and anaesthesia safer worldwide

Team: Programs

Reporting to: Global CEO

Key relationships: Leadership Team Members, Global Clinical Director, Program team reports and members; communications & development staff; Global Governance Council members, especially Program Committee; external stakeholders and partners

Location: Remote Global

Background

Lifebox is a growing and dynamic global health non-profit co-founded by Dr. Atul Gawande and dedicated to saving lives by improving the safety of surgery and anaesthesia around the world. Lifebox works to increase anaesthesia safety, reduce surgical infection rates, and strengthen operating room teamwork through tools, training, and partnerships. Since its founding in 2011, Lifebox has worked in over 116 countries and trained more than 13,000 healthcare providers. Lifebox is registered as a charity in Ethiopia, Liberia, the UK, and the US, with just over 50 staff and affiliated faculty, and an operating budget of nearly $4M supported by individual donors and foundations. To learn more, see: www.lifebox.org

Purpose of the role

To oversee the development and implementation of Lifebox’s safer surgery and anaesthesia work globally, providing overall strategic and operational leadership and management for program design, delivery, and evaluation.

POSITION DESCRIPTION

The Chief Program Officer (CPO) oversees the design and delivery of all programs and project implementation plans for Lifebox worldwide. Reporting to the Global CEO and working closely with all members of the Lifebox Leadership Team, Program and Clinical team, and the Global Governance Council. The CPO is responsible for ensuring that all aspects of Lifebox programs are managed to the highest quality standard with optimal impact, and are delivered on-budget and on time. The role requires regular international travel.

The CPO develops strategy and program proposals, including significantly contributing to grants and partnership proposal development, fosters innovation, brings new ideas, cultivates relationships with partners and donors, and represents the organisation at the highest levels globally.

The CPO leads the Program Team, consisting of program, monitoring and evaluation, research, and technology, training and innovation staff; and works very closely with the Global Clinical Director and Clinical Team in program execution. The CPO is responsible for the Program budget. The CPO is a member of the Lifebox Leadership Team and facilitates the Program Committee of the Lifebox Global Governance Council (our global board of directors). The role is responsible for the management of all program staff and budgets worldwide.

Specific roles and responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Strategy development, planning & execution

• Lead development of annual and multi-year strategic program plans and strategies for Lifebox and contribute to the overall direction of the organisation;
• Actively seek out and propose new ideas, innovations, programs and partnerships to help Lifebox achieve its current and future goals to improve surgical and anaesthesia safety globally;
• Develop, define, and implement Lifebox programs in line with agreed strategic objectives, annual plans, and arising opportunities;
• Put in place tools and systems to help achieve program success and joint work, including project planning and management tools, developing program budgets and working with finance and development on grant reporting, health information systems, and databases as needed;
• Ensure monitoring, evaluation, and research priorities and plans are developed and implemented to achieve program, communication, and training goals.

Senior leadership & team management

• Oversee management of the Program Team, including country and regional program, technical, training, and research and evaluation capacities;
• Put in place key performance indicators to drive and measure Program Team success and regularly assess and report on performance against goals and objectives, readjusting as necessary;
• Hold all Program Team staff to the highest standards and foster a spirit of mutual respect, accountability, and equal opportunity in line with organisation policies, principles, and procedures;
• Develop opportunities for mentoring and supporting team members to improve their skills and expertise, and provide leadership and representation opportunities inside the organisation and externally;
• Actively monitor security and risks for Lifebox staff and programs, and propose and put in place rules and procedures for supporting staff safety and security, working closely with the Security Lead and Head of Human Resources and other team members to ensure the policies are clear, relevant, and understood;
• Actively contribute to the Lifebox Leadership Team in developing, proposing, and implementing organisation-wide policies, procedures, and strategies;
• Develop and deliver strategies to promote sharing of learning and relevant experiences across the Program Team and Lifebox in general.
• Develop a strategy and workflow that integrates the diverse specialties including the program, clinical, communication, and other teams to ensure successful program delivery.

Fundraising & working with donors

• Ensure high quality reporting to funders according to agreed timelines and formats;
• Work closely with the Resource Development and Finance teams, CEO, CFAO and partners to develop funding opportunities for Lifebox programs, including regional or global initiatives, and develop high quality funding proposals for external donors.

Global Governance Council engagement & external representation

• Facilitate regular functioning of the Program Committee (minimum of 4 meetings annually) and any relevant Council subcommittees or working groups, working directly with Council members assigned to chair committees to ensure responsiveness to questions, requests, and preparation of meetings, proposals, and reporting;
• Represent Lifebox externally at the highest levels as required and organise representation by other team members where appropriate in order to build the organisation’s profile and network;
• Support colleagues in developing and strengthening their collaborative relationships with external parties, including funders, partners, subcontractors, relevant professional societies, and Ministries of Health;
• Contribute to the development and successful executive of Lifebox communications and advocacy objectives working closely with the Communications team and other team members as needed.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Knowledge and experience

Essential

• Extensive experience in global health, medical, development, or humanitarian program delivery and management, preferably in Low and Middle Income Countries.
• Experience living and working in low-income countries, working in a cross-cultural setting.
• Proven skills in managing teams and stakeholder relationships across geographies.
• Experience planning, monitoring and reporting on donor-funded programs.
• Knowledge of financial management and budgeting.
• Experience of monitoring and evaluation practices.

Desirable

• Experience in proposal writing.
• Experience working with, and supporting applications to, a variety of funding sources (including institutional donors and corporate donors).
• Experience of advocacy, education/training and research programs.
• Research experience in public health, epidemiology, or clinical studies.
• Experience of working with expert volunteers.
• Experience of setting up measurement & evaluation for health programs.
• A clinical background with training in public health or medicine.

Skills and abilities

Essential

• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Strong administrative, project management and organisational skills.
• Self-motivated with a proven ability to take initiative.
• Ability to prioritise competing tasks and work to deadlines.
• The numerical ability to analyse financial information, budget and monitor costs.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including well developed written, verbal and presentation skills.
• Excellent IT skills, particularly in Excel, Word and PowerPoint.
• Ability to travel internationally (estimated to be around 6-8 weeks per year).

Desirable

• Fluency in a second language in addition to English.
• Facilitation and training skills, ideally in supporting partners or colleagues overseas.