Senior Leadership and Workforce Systems Advisor

Overview

The Senior Leadership & Workforce Systems Advisor provides strategic technical leadership for strengthening health workforce governance, leadership, workforce management, digital HRH systems, evidence-informed decision-making, institutional capacity, organizational development, monitoring, learning, adaptive management, and sustainable transition of HRH systems across Ethiopia under the RISE and ACSCEND HRH activities.

The project supports the Government of Ethiopia to strengthen Human Resources for Health (HRH) systems, particularly in underserved and fragile settings where shortages of competent health workers, limited institutional capacity, and weak regulatory systems continue to affect access to quality primary health care. Working through national institutions and decentralized implementation platforms, the project advances sustainable, country-led HRH reforms that improve workforce competency, performance, resilience, and health system effectiveness. 

The Advisor leads implementation of project thematic area focusing on Workforce, Leadership Management, Governance (LMG) and Regulation while ensuring close integration with workforce development interventions. Working closely with the Ministry of Health, Regional Health Bureaus, Woreda Health Offices, Primary Health Care Units (PHCUs), civil service institutions, higher education institutions, professional associations, and development partners, the Advisor strengthens the institutional systems required to plan, recruit, deploy, manage, develop, support, retain, and sustain a high-performing health workforce. 

The Advisor strengthens the institutional capacity of national and subnational HRH institutions to sustainably lead workforce governance, organizational development, leadership, digital transformation, and evidence-informed decision-making while promoting government ownership, adaptive management, organizational resilience, and long-term sustainability. The position ensures that all technical interventions reflect national priorities, international best practices, implementation science, digital innovation, and the America First Global Health Strategy (AFGHS)

 

Position contingent on MOH and donor guidance.

Responsibilities

Strategic Technical Leadership

• Lead technical implementation of project thematic area focusing on LMG while providing strategic oversight for workforce systems interventions
• Develop long-term technical strategies, implementation frameworks, standards, implementation packages, operational guidance, and supportive supervision tools.
• Ensure technical interventions align with national HRH strategies, civil service reforms, emerging evidence, and global best practices.
• Lead annual technical planning, work planning, technical prioritization, and budgeting in collaboration with project leadership.
• Promote adaptive management through routine use of implementation data, stakeholder feedback, and implementation learning to continuously improve project performance.
• Lead institutional capacity strengthening initiatives that promote government ownership, sustainability, and transition of HRH systems to national and subnational institutions.
• Provide strategic leadership for innovation, organizational learning, implementation science, and continuous quality improvement across all workforce systems interventions.

Leadership and Governance Strengthening

• Provide national technical leadership to strengthen leadership, governance, accountability, and organizational performance across the MoH, RHBs, WoHOs, PHCUs, and other supported institutions.
• Lead implementation of adaptive leadership, coaching, mentoring, succession planning, executive leadership development, leadership scorecards, governance systems, and continuous quality improvement initiatives.
• Strengthen organizational culture, accountability mechanisms, and performance management systems that improve leadership effectiveness.
• Strengthen leadership capacity for integrated primary health care management and service delivery.
• Promote learning organizations that foster innovation, teamwork, accountability, and adaptive leadership.

Workforce Management Systems

• Provide strategic technical leadership for workforce planning, workforce budgeting, labor market analysis, workforce forecasting, recruitment, deployment, retention, workforce optimization, workload management, staff wellbeing, workforce continuity planning, and performance management.
• Strengthen institutionalization of evidence-based workforce planning approaches, including the Workload Indicators of Staffing Need (WISN), across PHCUs, WoHOs, RHBs, and national institutions.
• Strengthen implementation of HR policies, procedures, workforce governance, and human resource management systems.
• Support innovative workforce strategies, including Midwifery-Led Models of Care, nurse- and midwife-led clinics, rural workforce retention strategies, and other context-appropriate workforce optimization approaches.
• Strengthen workforce performance management systems, including leadership scorecards, Balanced Scorecard approaches where appropriate, and continuous organizational performance improvement.
• Promote workforce resilience and continuity planning to strengthen delivery of quality primary health care services.

HRH Information Systems and Digital Transformation

• Lead implementation and institutionalization of woreda-based iHRIS, National Health Workforce Accounts (NHWA), workforce intelligence systems, HRH dashboards, interoperability initiatives, and digital governance platforms.
• Strengthen national and subnational HRH digital architecture, interoperability, data quality, workforce analytics, and decision-support systems.
• Promote routine use of HRH information systems for evidence-informed planning, workforce optimization, monitoring, and policy decision-making.
• Provide technical leadership for digital innovation, artificial intelligence-supported HRH decision-making, and emerging technologies that improve workforce management.

HRH Evidence, Research and Knowledge Management

• Promote evidence-informed implementation through implementation research, operational research, policy analysis, workforce analytics, and innovation.
• Strengthen HRH observatories, knowledge repositories, Communities of Practice, South-to-South learning initiatives, and innovation platforms.
• Support translation of research findings into national policy, program improvement, and workforce management practice.
• Promote organizational learning through systematic documentation and dissemination of best practices, innovations, lessons learned, policy briefs, technical reports, conference presentations, and peer-reviewed publications.
• Collaborate with national and international partners to advance innovation in HRH systems strengthening.

Monitoring, Learning and Adaptive Management

• Provide strategic leadership to strengthen Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, Learning, and Adaptation (MERLA) systems that support continuous improvement of HRH interventions.
• Lead implementation of adaptive management approaches, implementation science, Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA), quality improvement, after-action reviews, performance reviews, action tracking, and accountability mechanisms.
• Promote implementation fidelity through routine supportive supervision, technical reviews, mentoring, coaching, and learning collaboratives.
• Strengthen routine use of monitoring data to support evidence-informed decision-making and organizational learning.

Organizational Capacity and Transition

• Provide strategic leadership for organizational systems strengthening through OSCAR, organizational development, institutional capacity assessments, capacity development planning, and change management.
• Strengthen organizational capacity of national and subnational institutions to sustainably manage HRH systems and workforce reforms.
• Support institutionalization of HRH management systems through coaching, mentoring, hub-and-spoke capacity-building approaches, and technical assistance.
• Lead transition planning, technical handover, leadership transition, sustainability planning, and government ownership initiatives.
• Promote long-term institutional resilience and sustainability of HRH reforms.

Technical Quality Assurance and Subnational Team Support

• Ensure consistent technical quality across all project implementation areas through development of implementation packages, technical standards, standard operating procedures, supervision tools, quality assurance checklists, technical reviews, field monitoring, mentorship, supportive supervision, and implementation fidelity assessments.
• Conduct routine field visits to RHBs, WoHOs, PHCUs, and other supported institutions to monitor implementation quality and provide technical backstopping.
• Lead periodic technical quality audits and promote continuous quality improvement.
• Provide ongoing coaching, mentoring, troubleshooting, and implementation support to Sub-national Technical Team
• Ensure standardized implementation of workforce systems interventions across all project implementation areas.

Partnership, Coordination and Policy Engagement

• Represent the project in national and subnational technical working groups, policy dialogue forums, advisory committees, professional meetings, and conferences.
• Cultivate and maintain strong strategic partnerships with the MoH, RHBs, WoHOs, Civil Service Commission, HEIs, professional associations, development partners, local implementing partners, and other key stakeholders.
• Provide technical leadership in development and revision of national HRH policies, workforce management guidelines, governance frameworks, standards, and technical documents.
• Promote coordination, collaboration, and alignment among government institutions, development partners, and implementing organizations.
• Identify strategic partnerships and contribute technical expertise to proposal development, concept notes, and new business opportunities.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting

• Collaborate closely with Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning staff to monitor technical performance, review workforce indicators, interpret HRH analytics, and support adaptive management.
• Contribute to annual work planning, budgeting, forecasting, and implementation planning.
• Prepare high-quality quarterly and annual technical reports, policy briefs, success stories, technical presentations, and other project deliverables.
• Monitor implementation progress and ensure timely completion of technical activities and deliverables.
• Document and disseminate program achievements, innovations, lessons learned, and evidence of impact.
• Contribute to project performance reviews, donor reporting, cost-share documentation where applicable, and organizational knowledge management.
• Ensure compliance with donor requirements, organizational policies, and applicable national regulations.

Required Qualifications

• Master's degree or higher in Public Health, Health Systems, Health Policy, Human Resources for Health, or another closely related discipline
• Required: Minimum of 7 years of progressively responsible experience in human resources for health, health systems strengthening, or organizational systems strengthening.
• Demonstrated leadership in workforce planning, leadership development, health workforce governance, or organizational performance improvement.
• Strong experience in supporting workforce planning, deployment, recruitment, retention, performance management, and HRH policy implementation.
• Proven experience in implementing iHRIS, National Health Workforce Accounts (NHWA), WISN, HRH information systems, or digital health initiatives.
• Extensive experience strengthening organizational capacity, leadership systems, and institutional performance.
• Demonstrated experience providing technical assistance to the Ministry of Health, Regional Health Bureaus, Woreda Health Offices, Primary Health Care Units, Civil Service institutions, or comparable organizations.
• Experience supporting evidence-informed policy development, implementation science, adaptive management, and organizational learning.
• Experience implementing large internationally funded health programs and supervising multidisciplinary technical teams and providing technical mentorship.
• Technical Expertise

Demonstrated expertise in:

• Health workforce governance
• Leadership development
• Workforce planning and optimization
• Workforce budgeting and forecasting
• Workload Indicators of Staffing Need (WISN)
• National Health Workforce Accounts (NHWA)
• iHRIS and HRH information systems
• Digital transformation and workforce analytics
• Health informatics
• Organizational development and change management
• Workforce performance management
• Institutional capacity strengthening
• Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, Learning, and Adaptation (MERLA)
• Knowledge management
• Implementation science
• Transition and sustainability planning

Skills

• Strategic leadership and systems thinking
• Strategic planning and project management
• Organizational development and change management
• Partnership building and stakeholder engagement
• Negotiation, facilitation, and diplomacy
• Coaching, mentoring, and team development
• Analytical, critical thinking, and problem-solving
• Data analysis and evidence-informed decision-making
• Excellent technical writing and scientific communication
• Presentation and facilitation skills
• Strong interpersonal and relationship management skills
• Excellent written and spoken English and Amharic 

Salary: Between 22,966 – 30,206.70 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: September 12, 2026

 

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