Country Project Manager - Ethiopia

Job Description

Simprints is a nonprofit tech company with a mission to radically increase transparency and effectiveness in global development. We build ethical, inclusive digital ID powered by biometrics to verify that health, aid, and services truly reach people. Simprints partners with organizations like Gavi to boost immunization rates in developing countries, Ministries of Health like Ghana on pandemic response, and NGOs like BRAC to deliver maternal healthcare. Studies have shown Simprints increases impact through real-time, precision data; for example increasing maternal health visits by 38% in Bangladesh or accurate HIV tracing by 62% in Malawi. Today, we’ve worked in over 17 countries helping deliver health, aid, and finance to >2.5M people. Our goal is to transform the way the world fights poverty, ensuring that every vaccine, every dollar, and every public good reaches the people who need them most.

About the Role

We are seeking someone passionate about delivering and growing technology-based solutions in Ethiopia through a partnership approach with the Ministry of Health and implementing partners. There is an opportunity to expand and grow within the organisation, with an exciting role scope and the ability to contribute to social impact objectives.

You will ensure the delivery of three important projects, working closely with Simprints’ partners to utilise a biometric solution within an electronic community health information system (eCHIS). We are looking for someone with significant experience in digital health programmes in Ethiopia.

This role is unique in its breadth, allowing collaboration with almost every team at Simprints. You’ll work closely with Simprints colleagues to develop a deep understanding of our partner's technical requirements, work with our engineers to implement our technical solutions and analyse data with a team of data scientists.

This role will have one direct report and will report to the Chief Delivery Officer based in the UK, whilst maintaining close working relationships with the Director of Partnerships and Regional Director. The role will require intensive travel in Ethiopia; you will need to be passionate about supporting users of our technology in health clinics whilst also being able to liaise with senior stakeholders.

Location

This post is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with frequent deployments to project sites.

Salary

Ethiopia Grade 5 - £30,000 - £40,000

Your responsibilities will include:

• Manage the coordination and performance of our projects: Lead, coordinate and regularly report on the progress of our projects applying good practice in line with your experience and our evolving methodology (including but not limited to achieving the project deliverables as per contract, on time, on budget and mitigated of risks); identify and mitigate project risks; and provide appropriate, effective, and timely action, including where necessary coordinating with cross-departmental colleagues to ensure a technical solution that meets the project needs and resolve bottlenecks to meet the implementation needs

• Proactively monitor, manage and improve our service performance: Analyse our performance data to identify adoption issues, investigate any reported issues, and do everything necessary to resolve them in the short term whilst improving practices in the long term
• Supervise and support: At least bi-weekly travel to project sites to conduct or support the training and ongoing coaching of trainers, and monitor field activities
• Build and manage strong relationships: Coordinate with our key stakeholders, from government officials to users of our technology, demonstrating excellent stakeholder management and attention to detail whilst delivering our custom solution and providing detailed project input into donor reports
• Coach and develop team members: support the development and growth of project managers and project coordinators

Requirements

• Significant project management and/or product management experience, in the ICT4D space, ideally in digital health programmes in Ethiopia.
• Experience configuring or implementing data collection platforms, such as DHIS2, CommCare, ODK, OpenSRP, and/or other technology platforms commonly used in global development. You are knowledgeable about, have designed, or implemented workflows common among front-line health workers in development programs (e.g. health care, aid distribution, research, education).
• Understanding of technical concepts. You can understand the technical elements of desktop, mobile, and cloud software services and applications at a high level with a specific emphasis on data concepts. You should also be able to create data flow diagrams and understand privacy impact assessments.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills. You are empathetic and seek to understand different perspectives, clarify ambiguous or ill-defined needs, negotiate diplomatically when competing interests exist, and influence across stakeholder groups to secure buy-in and alignment.
• Strong presentation and demo skills. We work across multiple sectors with a variety of stakeholders. Being able to tailor presentations to audiences of varying technical literacy levels for a number of different use cases and workflows is crucial. You are comfortable hosting virtual presentations as well as conducting in-person.
• Attention to detail. Global development work is complex and unpredictable. To proactively anticipate risks, assess implicit requirements on top of contractual deliverables, and successfully meet ever-changing needs, you need to translate a high-level idea into concrete, detailed action steps and documentation.
• Time management. You are organised, process-oriented, and attentive to following through on planned tasks and activities. You know how to allocate and shift resources to support team members as needed, ensuring that project deliverables are met on time and within budget.
• Permission to work: in Ethiopia
  

Ideally, you will also have

• Knowledge and experience working with agile methodologies. You have worked in an organisation using agile principles and are familiar with typical technical project management tools (ideally Jira.).
• An engineering mindset and passion for building technology solutions
• Interest in and/or experience in M&E or data analysis
• Working proficiency in other languages is welcome
  

What we value

• Integrity. You have an unwavering commitment to ‘confronting the grey’ in all work areas and encourage transparency in all your interactions.
• Intellect. You understand the importance of rigorously detailed data and have a solid ability to synthesise complex and potentially competing requirements and convert them into recommendations that drive business decisions.
• Problem-solving. You have distinctive problem-solving skills and sound business judgment. You collaborate with other team members to identify creative solutions to complex problems.
• Curiosity. You think creatively and explore and understand how different perspectives and complex data blend to create the bigger picture and context.
• Learning. You love learning new things, can think on your feet, and can pick up new tools and methods quickly.
• Grit. You have a hands-on, can-do attitude, the drive to dig deep into problems to discover pain points and features from multiple perspectives, and resilience to stay focused on a project to the end.
• Passion. If being part of a team that designs and deploys technology for global health sounds exciting, we want to meet you!

Benefits

7 Reasons to join Simprints

Life is short. We believe work should be awesome, meaningful, and fun. At Simprints, we’re taking on global development’s biggest challenges, powered by an amazing culture and incredible people. Work with us, and you will grow faster, learn more, and take on great responsibilities with the potential to make lasting change.

1. Genuine Impact. Work directly with our partners and users to deliver technology that has the potential to impact millions of lives.
2. Incredible, diverse team. Ask any “Simployee” what their favorite thing about working at Simprints is, and the answer is likely to be “the people.” Our work is at the intersection of technology and global development, and we’ve managed to build an amazing team drawn from all over the world. But don’t take our word for it—we’re an externally recognized Great Place to Work and 2022 Best Workplace for Women
3. Career Advancement. Join the team of a forward-thinking social enterprise that is making waves with some of the biggest names in our sector. Simprints Alumni have gone on to work for Google, USAID, Gavi the vaccine alliance, Save the Children, and other top players.
4. Flexible hours. More efficient late at night? Better before the sun rises? Need to squeeze in a doctor’s visit Thursday morning? That’s fine by us. We are looking for people who get the job done, not for people who clock-in and clock-out. Outside of core hours (10am to 3pm UK) it's up to you to decide when the job gets done.
5. Professional development and well-being. We promote continual learning with self-directed learning objectives, external mentors, and regular one-on-one feedback. We also put our money where our mouth is with a dedicated ‘Learning ’ budget, and access to global experts through the GLG network.
6. Unlimited paid time off. We set high standards and goals, but give people the freedom to choose when and how to recharge. Join a team that trusts you with the job.
7. 4 day work-week. We operate a 4 day work-week meaning everybody will take Fridays off. This transformative shift reflects our commitment to fostering a healthier work-life balance for our dedicated employees.

Simprints is an equal-opportunity employer. We pride ourselves in our firm commitment to improving diversity, equity, and inclusion in our workplace. We aim to attract, hire, grow, and retain the most qualified candidates regardless of race, gender, ability, religion, nationality, age, sexuality, and other differences. We encourage interested and suitable candidates who are part of underrepresented groups to apply for this position.

We are recruiting on a rolling basis for this role. With that in mind, we advise candidates to apply as soon as possible as we will be reviewing applicants on a first come, first served basis. This vacancy will be closed once a suitable candidate is identified.