Director, Technical Services - Laboratory

The Organization:

Corus International is the parent of a family of world-class organizations working to deliver the holistic, lasting solutions needed to end extreme poverty once and for all. We are a global leader in international development, with 150 years of combined experience across our brands. Our nonprofit and for-profit subsidiaries include IMA World Health and its fundraising brand Corus World Health, Lutheran World Relief, CGA Technologies, Ground Up Investing, and Farmers Market Brands. Our more than 400 employees around the globe are experts in their fields and dedicated to helping the world's most vulnerable people break the cycle of poverty and lead healthy lives.
At Corus we believe that good only grows stronger and we reflect that belief in our workplace culture. We value every employee's specialized area of expertise and nurture professional growth. We promote an engaging and supportive work environment, where employees feel enabled and driven to innovate, learn and collaborate. And because our subsidiaries often function as partners, our employees have the opportunity to work across our enterprise family.

The Role:

The Director, Technical Services - Laboratory will provide strategic and technical leadership to strengthen laboratory systems and diagnostic services supporting infectious disease prevention, detection, surveillance, and response under a U.S. Government (USG)-funded health program, primarily in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and other African countries.

The Director will support country teams and collaborate closely with Ministries of Health (MoH), the National Public Health Institute (INSP), the National Laboratory Directorate, provincial health authorities, and implementing partners to strengthen laboratory capacity for priority infectious diseases, including Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), Mpox, HIV, tuberculosis (TB), malaria, vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs), and other emerging public health threats.

The Director will provide technical assistance in laboratory network strengthening, quality management systems, biosafety and biosecurity, specimen referral systems, outbreak preparedness and response, workforce development, and laboratory information systems. This work will be conducted in alignment with national policies, international standards, and Global Health Security priorities.

The Director will also represent Corus International and the project in regional and global forums, share learning and best practices, and disseminate relevant technical guidance to country teams.

Key Responsibilities:

Technical Leadership

• Provide strategic and technical leadership for laboratory functions supporting EVD, Mpox, HIV, TB, malaria, vaccine-preventable diseases, and other emerging infectious diseases.
• Support country teams and provide technical guidance in the development of annual workplans related to strengthening laboratory systems.
• Support Ministries of Health in implementing national laboratory strategic plans, policies, standards, and operational guidelines.
• Advise on laboratory system improvements, including referral networks, specimen transport systems, and diagnostic services.
• Strengthen laboratory preparedness and response capacity for disease outbreaks and public health emergencies.
• Provide technical assistance to ensure laboratory interventions align with the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), International Health Regulations (IHR 2005), and USG best practices and priorities.

Laboratory Systems Strengthening

• Provide technical assistance to strengthen integrated national and provincial laboratory networks.
• Improve specimen collection, transportation, referral, testing, reporting, and quality assurance systems.
• Support the development or adoption of tools and methodologies to conduct laboratory assessments and develop corrective action plans.
• Provide technical support for the implementation of laboratory quality management systems (QMS), accreditation pathways, including ISO 15189 and SLIPTA, and continuous quality improvement initiatives.
• Strengthen biosafety, biosecurity, infection prevention and control (IPC), and waste management practices.

Capacity Building

• Work with country teams to identify capacity-building needs and develop plans to address gaps and strengthen the institutional capacity of Ministry of Health staff at the national and subnational levels, as well as laboratory partners.
• Develop and deliver laboratory training programs, supportive supervision activities, and competency assessments.
• Develop tools and systems for mentoring laboratory personnel at the national, provincial, and facility levels.
• Promote continuous professional development, technical learning, and knowledge sharing.

Disease Surveillance and Outbreak Response

• Provide technical assistance in developing standard operating procedures and manuals for laboratory confirmation and surveillance of epidemic-prone diseases.
• Provide technical assistance during outbreak investigations and emergency responses, including those involving Ebola, Mpox, cholera, measles, yellow fever, and other priority diseases.
• Strengthen the integration of laboratory services within surveillance systems, including Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) and event-based surveillance.
• Support laboratory surge-capacity planning and emergency preparedness.
• Promote compliance with biosafety and biosecurity standards.
• Conduct risk assessments and support the implementation of appropriate mitigation measures.
• Provide technical assistance regarding the measures and resources needed to ensure proper waste management and infection prevention practices.

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning

• Support the development and monitoring of laboratory performance indicators.
• Support data quality assessments and the effective use of laboratory information systems.
• Analyze laboratory data to improve program performance and inform decision-making.
• Contribute to donor reports, technical documents, success stories, scientific publications, and presentations.
• Document lessons learned and best practices to support the continued strengthening of national laboratory systems.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Collaborate with Ministries of Health, National Public Health Institutes, donors, government counterparts, and implementing partners.
• Participate in regional and global technical working groups, coordination meetings, and professional forums.
• Represent Corus International and the project in international and regional laboratory and public health forums.
• Build and maintain productive relationships with technical partners and key stakeholders.

Required Qualifications:

Education

• Master's degree in Medical Laboratory Sciences, Microbiology, Infectious Diseases, Molecular Biology, Clinical Pathology, or a related field.
• Medical Doctor (MD), PhD, or equivalent advanced qualification is preferred.

Experience

• Minimum of eight years of progressively responsible professional experience supporting national laboratory systems, infectious disease programs, or public health laboratory services.
• Demonstrated experience supporting Ministries of Health in fragile, conflict-affected, humanitarian, or emergency settings, preferably in the Democratic Republic of Congo or Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Experience working on USG-funded programs, including programs funded by the U.S. Department of State, USAID, CDC, PEPFAR, PMI, or similar donor-funded initiatives.
• Experience participating in international technical forums and working groups.
• Proven experience supporting laboratory components of HIV, TB, malaria, vaccine-preventable diseases, Ebola, Mpox, and other outbreak-response programs.
• Experience supporting outbreak preparedness and response is preferred.
• Experience with laboratory quality management systems, accreditation, biosafety, biosecurity, and laboratory network strengthening.
• Experience providing technical assistance, mentoring, and capacity building to government counterparts and implementing partners.
• Demonstrated experience providing strategic leadership and technical direction across multiple countries, projects, or technical workstreams is preferred.

Technical Skills

• Strong knowledge of laboratory diagnostics, quality assurance, quality management systems, and accreditation standards.
• Familiarity with laboratory programs related to Ebola Virus Disease, Mpox, HIV, TB, malaria, vaccine-preventable diseases, and other emerging infectious diseases.
• Strong knowledge of biosafety and biosecurity principles.
• Experience with laboratory information systems, data analysis, and the use of data for programmatic decision-making.
• Strong technical writing, report-writing, communication, and presentation skills.
• Ability to communicate complex technical information effectively to government officials, donors, technical specialists, and nontechnical audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with multicultural and multidisciplinary teams.

Language Requirements

• Professional fluency in French.
• Professional fluency in English.

Travel

Ability and willingness to travel to Corus International-supported countries in Africa