Project Director, Integrated Innovation Highway

The Project Director will provide overall strategic vision, technical leadership, and administrative management for the three-year, Integrated Innovation Highway initiative in Ethiopia.

Historically, health innovations are introduced through fragmented, disease-specific verticals that delay access and increase costs. The Integrated Innovation Highway will shift Ethiopia toward a standardized, government-owned, and institutionally anchored platform across six key innovation corridors: Diagnostics, Medical Devices, Therapeutics, Vaccines, Digital/AI Technology, and Systems Innovations.

The Project Director will work embedded within the Ministry of Health (MOH) Health System, Innovation, and Quality Lead Executive Office to operationalize this platform. To validate the system, the Project Director will oversee the rollout and testing of three inaugural tracer products: AI-enabled Point-of-Care Ultrasound (AI-POCUS), Near-Point-of-Care TB Pluslife, and Ebola Diagnostics.

1. Strategic Leadership & Government Relations

• Serve as the primary representative and technical spokesperson for the project to the Ministry of Health (MOH), and key Government and partner stakeholders.
• Support the MOH in institutionalizing the Highway framework within national and regional health governance architectures.
• Cultivate deep institutional ownership by ensuring government counterparts are directly embedded within the program's daily technical operations.
• Work with national leaders to design a long-term, sustainable financing roadmap for the Highway, integrating it into national budgets, insurance systems, and multi-donor frameworks to reduce external dependence over time.

2. Multi-Hub Operational Management

        Provide direct technical and managerial oversight into the project’s three interconnected functional hubs:

• Hub 1 (Data & Market Intelligence): Oversee efforts to integrate national health program data with global/local innovation pipelines, utilizing AI-powered tools and human-in-the-loop validation to identify and prioritize high-impact technologies.
• Hub 2 (Evaluation for Scale): Guide the creation of standardized clinical, operational, and regulatory evaluation frameworks. Ensure local validation requirements are established, especially regarding Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) and complex diagnostics.
• Hub 3 (Transition to Scale): Streamline operational pipelines to transition priority innovations into routine health service delivery (regulatory approvals, guidelines, procurement, and workforce training).

3. Tracer Product Implementation & Scale-Up

• AI-POCUS: Direct implementation research, regulatory pathway development with EFDA, and costed rollout plan for handheld, AI-enabled Point-of-Care Ultrasound, starting with obstetric applications and expanding to breast, lung, and cardiac use cases in partnership with the CEO Roundtable (CEORT).
• TB Pluslife: Oversee the validation of the Diagnostics highway using TB Pluslife as a high-volume routine diagnostic, securing inclusion in the National Essential Diagnostics List (EDL).
• Ebola Diagnostics: Lead the design of a diagnostic decentralization and emergency preparedness framework utilizing Ebola diagnostics to test system agility during crisis scenarios.

4. Consortium & Financial Management

• Manage sub-grant allocations to local partners, academic institutions, and regional teams to ensure close coordination with Regional Health Bureaus (RHBs).
• Maintain strict administrative and financial oversight of the $4.95M budget, ensuring compliance with both Gates Foundation regulations and organizational policy.

• MD, PhD, or master’s degree in public health (MPH), Health Economics, Global Health Policy, Bioengineering, or a related field.
• Minimum of 9 years of progressive, senior-level experience leading complex public health programs in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs), preferably as a Project Director, Chief of Party, or Senior Technical Advisor.
• Proven track record of working successfully with the Ethiopian Ministry of Health (MOH), EFDA, regional health bureaus, or local health system institutions.
• Experience in product introduction, market entry, regulatory navigation, or procurement systems for diagnostics, medical devices, or digital health/AI technologies.
• Solid background managing large-scale, multi-million dollar donor programs (Gates Foundation, USAID, Global Fund, etc.) including complex consortiums and sub-awards.

Required Competencies:                                                                                                                  

• High-level diplomatic and negotiation skills, with a proven ability to align diverse stakeholders (government executives, global donors, local partners, and private sector CEOs).
• Ability to transition teams away from vertical, "disease-siloed" thinking toward integrated, horizontal health systems strengthening.
• Exceptional written and verbal English communication skills. Fluency in Amharic is highly desirable.

Salary: Between 28,659 – 47,848 USD per annum. 

Jhpiego offers competitive salaries and a comprehensive employee benefits package.

Please apply at www.jobs-jhpiego.icims.com

Applicants must submit a single document for upload to include: cover letter, resume, and references.

For further information about Jhpiego, visit our website at www.jhpiego.org

Note: The successful candidate selected for this position will be subject to a pre-employment background investigation.

Jhpiego is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer

“Jhpiego, a Johns Hopkins University affiliate, is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of gender, marital status, pregnancy, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, other legally protected characteristics or any other occupationally irrelevant criteria. Jhpiego promotes Affirmative Action for minorities, women, individuals who are disabled, and veterans.

EEO is the Law

Application Deadline: July 26, 2026

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