Senior Director and Head of Health

Lead the IRC’s largest health programming portfolio, providing strategic leadership for a $200 million program across 35 countries. Shape global health standards, represent IRC externally, and drive innovation and impact in health programming for crisis-affected populations.

Responsibilities

• Define and communicate a strategic vision for IRC’s health portfolio.
• Serve as IRC’s principal technical authority and thought leader in global health.
• Advise IRC President and CEO on health-related strategic forums.
• Partner to identify and scale high impact health interventions.
• Advance evidence-based practice through research and innovation.
• Anticipate and respond to shifts in humanitarian and development landscape.
• Represent IRC at highest levels with donors, governments, and policy makers.
• Develop policy positions on global health issues and support health policy solutions.
• Lead strategic fundraising and manage high-value partnerships.
• Champion IRC’s advocacy priorities for systemic health change.
• Act as a visible and values-driven member of senior management and leadership groups.
• Drive organizational change within Health Technical Unit and TechEx.
• Cultivate a high-performance, inclusive culture valuing innovation and accountability.
• Lead change and transition processes with transparency and empathy.
• Ensure strategic alignment and disciplined management of health resources.
• Collaborate to ensure integrated, outcome-driven, evidence-based program models.
• Align health programming with strategic vision and scale effective delivery approaches.
• Partner with Finance and Awards to improve efficiency and impact measurement.
• Strengthen internal systems for agility, accountability and continuous improvement.
• Attract, recruit, develop and retain top technical talent.
• Foster a learning culture encouraging innovation and collaboration.
• Mentor and empower emerging leaders within Health network and IRC.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in Public Health, Epidemiology, Health Policy or a related field.
• MD or PhD is strongly preferred.
• Minimum 15 years of progressively responsible senior leadership experience in global health, humanitarian health programming or related technical fields.
• Substantial experience in humanitarian and post-crisis settings.
• Demonstrated success in strategic leadership, external representation and fundraising from bilateral, multilateral and private donors.
• Deep and broad connections across the global health, humanitarian and development spaces.
• Proven record of driving change, leading complex global teams and navigating matrixed organizations.
• Deep understanding of the global health landscape, including major donors, networks, normative bodies and policy platforms.
• Public recognition among global actors, media, funders, NGOs and forums as a global public health professional and an authoritative voice.
• Exceptional strategic thinker and influencer, able to translate vision into action.
• Exceptional communicator and public speaker, adept at representing an organization in global fora and with senior-level stakeholders.
• Demonstrated fundraising and partnership-building acumen.
• Skilled in change management, leadership development and organizational design.
• Deep commitment to the IRC’s mission and values, with a strong sense of integrity, humility and collaboration.
• Excellent spoken and written English required.
• Proficiency in French preferred.

Skills

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Health Policy
• Global Health Leadership
• Humanitarian Programming
• Post-crisis Health Response
• Strategic Leadership
• External Representation
• Fundraising from Donors
• Donor Relations
• Global Health Networks
• Policy Advocacy
• Change Management
• Leadership Development
• Organizational Design
• Public Speaking
• Partnership Building
• Health Programme Management
• Crisis Health Programming

Languages

English, French