Senior Health Specialist/Senior Economist - Health Value Chains

The Senior Health Specialist/Senior Economist will provide technical leadership on health value chains, coordinating delivery and quality assurance of the program's Health Value Chains work area. The role involves developing diagnostics, tools, and evidence to support regional health teams and clients in strengthening health commodity supply chains and regional manufacturing.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the Directorate's principal technical reference and coordinator on health value chains for internal teams, regional operations, clients, and external partners.
• Develop and propose the technical strategy, operational priorities, and annual delivery plan for the health value chains work area.
• Integrate specialist inputs into coherent, clearance-ready products ensuring consistency and quality.
• Provide technical quality assurance on value-chain content produced elsewhere in the Directorate and regional operations.
• Coordinate the day-to-day work of a multidisciplinary task team on value-chain deliverables.
• Coordinate delivery of the operational toolkit including diagnostics, frameworks, and guidance tools.
• Pilot tools with country teams and revise based on feedback.
• Maintain the Repository of Knowledge as a live resource consolidating evidence and templates.
• Lead technical content of training modules and internal communities of practice on health value chains.
• Provide upstream support to embed health value-chain objectives in country programs and projects.
• Respond to regional demand for technical assistance and build a cross-regional pipeline of value-chain operations.
• Lead technical policy dialogue with government counterparts on value-chain reform.
• Build value-chain capability across regional health teams.
• Contribute to joint arrangements with IFC, WB Procurement Practice, and other partners for integrated policy reform and financing.
• Produce and curate operational toolkits, case studies, and guidance; lead learning events and anchor technical content of communities of practice.
• Maintain technical relationships with partners and represent WBG in technical fora on health value chains.
• Supply technical evidence and briefing material for senior management advice and corporate reporting.
• Deputize for the Program Manager in technical fora when requested.
• Mentor junior staff and consultants and contribute to a collaborative team environment.
• Flag emerging market, regulatory, and geopolitical developments with strategic implications.

Requirements

• Master's degree (PhD an advantage) in economics, supply chain management, public health, public policy, or a related field, combining health-sector domain knowledge with economic, market, or financing expertise.
• Minimum eight years of relevant experience in health value chains, pharmaceutical policy and markets, in the health sector.
• Demonstrated experience leading or coordinating multidisciplinary technical teams in which team members hold deeper expertise than the postholder, and producing integrated products from their combined input.
• Demonstrated depth in at least two, and working familiarity across most, of the following: pharmaceutical, vaccine, and medical-product markets and value chains, including demand, supply, procurement, and distribution; local and regional manufacturing of health products, industrial policy, and initiatives such as AIM2030; market shaping and access-to-medicines approaches, including pooled procurement, offtake and volume guarantees, and advance purchase commitments; health supply chains and logistics, including last-mile distribution, cold chain, and logistics management information systems; private capital mobilization for health value chains, including blended finance structures, guarantees, and demand-side instruments such as volume guarantees and advance purchase commitments.
• Strong analytical, operational, and communication skills.
• Ability to translate complex market, regulatory, and financing issues into clear guidance for governments, private investors, and senior management.
• Willingness and ability to travel to client countries and represent the World Bank Group at technical events.

Skills

• Health Value Chains
• Pharmaceutical Policy
• Pharmaceutical Markets
• Vaccine Markets
• Medical Product Markets
• Health Supply Chains
• Supply Chain Management
• Procurement and Distribution
• Local Health Product Manufacturing
• Industrial Policy
• Market Shaping
• Access to Medicines
• Pooled Procurement
• Offtake Guarantees
• Volume Guarantees
• Advance Purchase Commitments
• Cold Chain Management
• Logistics Information Systems
• Private Sector Capital Mobilization
• Blended Finance Structuring
• Health Economics
• Public Health Policy Development
• Engineering Team Leadership
• Diagnostic Tool Development
• Health Commodity Supply Chains

Languages

English, Spanish, French