Job Description

Results for Development (R4D) is seeking a highly motivated and dynamic Senior Program Officer to play an important strategic leadership role in leading the Market Shaping practice’s Nigeria-based team. The Market Shaping Practice (MSP) is dedicated to transforming access to and improving appropriate use of essential and life-saving products in a holistic and sustainable manner. We develop, iterate on and support catalytic implementation of long-lasting solutions at the global and country levels to address challenges identified by country partners and backed by rigorous analyses. We’ve applied our expertise to achieve more than a billion dollars in savings in countries and supported improved access to high-quality products in health (spanning the HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, maternal, newborn and child health markets) as well as in nutrition and education.

MSP projects include:

• Transforming markets for maternal, newborn, and child health medicines and devices
• Identifying underlying market challenges and opportunities to address severe acute malnutrition
• Co-creating advocacy and market shaping roadmaps to scale up multiple micronutrient supplements (MMS) for improved maternal nutrition and reduced risks of adverse birth outcomes.

This position is based in Abuja, Nigeria and will report to the Nigeria Country Director and the Market Shaping Practice Senior Director.

About the Market Shaping Practice:

How do we increase access to a cheap drug that could save millions of children’s lives yet remains widely unavailable in certain markets? This is among the unique and powerful questions R4D’s Market Shaping practice answers on a daily basis. Using practical and business-driven approaches -- from increasing market transparency to increase manufacturers’ engagement, to improving demand forecasting to prevent stockouts, to increasing competition to lower prices, to developing purchasing and value chain strategies, and to crafting cost-effectiveness and financing gap analyses -- our work ensures that millions of lives are saved and improved in a sustainable manner through more efficient markets essential health, nutrition and education products.

If our work ignites your imagination, we’d love to tell you more and explore how we can work together!

About the Market Shaping Practice:

How do we increase access to a cheap drug that could save millions of children’s lives yet remains widely unavailable in certain markets? This is among the unique and powerful questions R4D’s Market Shaping practice answers on a daily basis. Using practical and business-driven approaches -- from increasing market transparency to increase manufacturers’ engagement, to improving demand forecasting to prevent stockouts, to increasing competition to lower prices, to developing purchasing and value chain strategies, and to crafting cost-effectiveness and financing gap analyses -- our work ensures that millions of lives are saved and improved in a sustainable manner through more efficient markets essential health, nutrition and education products.

If our work ignites your imagination, we’d love to tell you more and explore how we can work together!

As a Market Shaping Senior Program Officer on this high-impact team, you will

• Lead internal and external partner engagement
• Provide day-to-day thought and technical leadership
• Effectively manage high-impact projects and Country Office operations

You’re a great fit if you are:

Your experience should include:

• Actively cultivate new relationships and effectively manage key ongoing relationships with partners in Nigeria, including the federal and state level – Federal and State Ministries of Health, State Primary Health Care Development Agency (SPHCDA) or equivalent, Drugs and Medical Consumables Supply Agency (DMCSA), State Committee on Food and Nutrition (SCFN), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), implementing partners, local civil society organizations, and donor agencies.
• Plan for and expertly facilitate stakeholder consultations to gain qualitative and quantitative insights, through a variety of formats including key informant interviews, working groups, or workshops.
• Independently engage and manage relationships with key external partners and stakeholders (clients, funders, sub-contractors, sub-grantees, consultants, partners, national and sub-national/state government stakeholders, procurement agencies, implementing partners, manufacturers, and others).
• Generate ideas for, and lead the commodity market analysis and development of strategic options for product introduction/scale-up via hypothesis-driven approach.
• Serve as a technical resource in R4D’s market shaping engagements; propose system and process improvements for operations of work, facilitate leadership decision- making, and implement agreed changes
• Effectively manage local team and consultants, and provide guidance to team members on all aspects of project work including leading development, implementation, and monitoring of project work plans and related planning documents
• Develop knowledge management and communication strategies to promote the dissemination and uptake of our work.
• Prepare and manage budgets and ensure sound fiscal management across project work.
• Genuinely passionate about markets-based approaches to drive sustainable impact
• A strong communicator with excellent interpersonal skills, able to vary one’s style based on the audience and distill complex concepts into clear messaging,
• Energized by managing and executing complex projects in global contexts, specifically in low- and middle-income countries
• Highly analytical, and a structured and creative problem solver
• A culturally sensitive relationship manager who is enthusiastic about supporting team members’ professional growth
• Collaborative, approachable, and invested in enabling a positive working environment
• Willing to travel domestically and internationally, per the project need.
• Master’s degree with 7+ years of work experience in relevant field (health commodities, pharmacy, public health, market dynamics, public/social policy, public administration, business or similar)
• Expertise and experience in one or more of the following: market shaping, health systems design and evaluation, pharmacy, supply chain, nutrition, knowledge management and translation
• Excellent analytic skills required. Demonstrated experience leading the development of high-quality qualitative and quantitative analysis from conceptualization to completion and leveraging that analysis to drive action by decision-makers for ultimate impact
• Public, non-profit, or private sector experience in health commodity supply, quantification, procurement, distribution, financing, or regulation highly desirable
• Experience conducting market analysis, developing product introduction/scale-up strategies, and/or expanding access to healthcare commodities is preferred.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to develop highly professional work products and present complicated analyses to technical and non-technical audiences
• Ability to think strategically, handle ambiguity and work in a fast-paced, open-structure, multicultural environment
• Collaborative, excellent interpersonal skills, and ability to engage with a wide variety of stakeholders and manage relationships/partnerships.
• Approachable management style, eager to support and mentor junior staff and peers. Able to effectively set priorities and handle competing time and resource demands for self and others