Job Description

ABOUT VILLAGEREACH

VillageReach transforms health care delivery to reach everyone. We are driven by a vision of a world where each person has the health care needed to thrive. VillageReach’s goal is to reduce inequities in access to quality primary health care for 350 million people by 2030. We work with governments, the private sector, partners and communities to build responsive primary health care systems that deliver health products, information and services to the most under-reached. As a locally driven and globally connected organization, VillageReach has offices in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Cote d'Ivoire, Mozambique and the United States.

SUMMARY

VillageReach continues to grow its impact and scope in Tanzania (both mainland and Zanzibar). The Senior Program Manager in Tanzania will be the Country Lead on the ground driving forward quality programs and business development. This position is vital to the success of the Lab Sample Transport & Community Surveillance work in Tanzania through the Takeda Corporate Social Responsibility investment. The position holder will ensure the program’s goals and objectives are achieved, and deliverables are submitted to the Global Program Manager with high quality and in a timely manner. The Senior Program Manager will work closely with our partner, CIHEB Tanzania, and the Government, assisting with trainings and technical assistance. This position will also lead work on Community Insights to Action in the country, building on a previous feedback loops assessment of the national Afya Call Center.

Pending funding, the Senior Program Manager would lead on-the-ground implementation of a 24-month VillageReach pilot in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania that tests whether decentralizing Afya Call Center feedback on antenatal care (ANC) to district and facility teams combined with public accountability can drive faster, more responsive government action and improve ANC service experience, trust, and adherence. Additionally, he/she will work closely with the Ministry of Health and the Call Center staff to oversee activities, the 5-year operational plan follow-up, and National Telehealth Community of Practice. This position would drive Business Development in Tanzania across multiple areas: responsive Primary Health Care, community health, supply chain, immunization, outbreak response, telehealth, women’s health, and other areas as they arise. This position is currently funded for 6 months but would be extended if resources are secured.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following. Other duties, responsibilities, and activities may change or be assigned at any time.

a) Integrated Laboratory Transport Systems to Stop Outbreaks – Takeda CSR Program (50%)

• Support the implementation of community surveillance and laboratory sample transport activities in collaboration with partner CIHEB Tanzania and with the global program management team;
• As needed, coordinate across other Takeda country teams to bring best practices and lessons learned to Tanzania;
• In collaboration with CIHEB, plan and organize training sessions on biosafety and biosecurity for health personnel and other stakeholders involved in sample transport;
• Support the updating of standard operating procedures for sample transport and training at all levels covering all outbreak-prone diseases;
• Ensure capacity building of community health workers in surveillance activities and active case detection for outbreak-prone diseases;
• Ensure training of community leaders in crisis communication during outbreaks;
• In collaboration with the M&E Manager, support monthly and quarterly surveillance data review meetings at national and provincial levels;
• Assist in preparing the annual program progress report and submit it on time;
• Participate in regular Takeda program meetings with CIHEB and global program management team;
• Support and co-author blogs on Tanzania lab sample transport progress with Communications team;
• Work with the Senior Director of Global Programs and CIHEB Lead on developing and executing a viable sustainability plan for the Takeda project as it comes to an end in the country, to ensure the impact and gains are continued.

b) Implementation support and coordination- Afya Call Center, Feedback loops, Zanzibar Call Centre, & Telehealth Community of Practice: (25%)

• In collaboration with the leads on the Community Insights to Action, act as a liaison to the Ministry of Health, to build on previous work on feedback mechanisms to improve health system response. Additional work may be needed pending funding. This includes:
• Government stakeholder coordination: Serve as the primary liaison to the Ministry of Health (RMNCH Directorate), PMO-RALG, and Regional and Council Health Management Teams, coordinating co-design, routine review meetings, and joint oversight to ensure the intervention is embedded within existing government structures and workflows.
• Facility- and district-level implementation: Coordinate day-to-day pilot activities across participating health facilities and District ANC Response Units, including support for feedback review cycles, quarterly co-design workshops, and public accountability mechanisms, working closely with facility staff, focal persons, and community stakeholders.
• In collaboration with the Global Telehealth Senior Program Officer, continue with plans based on the Afya Call Center 5-year operational plan.
• In collaboration with the Global Telehealth Community of Practice Senior Program Officer and the Tanzania National Telehealth Community of Practice secretariat, conduct on the ground coordination with the Ministry of Health and partners to support the Tanzania Community of Practice activities.
• Support other hotline related opportunities in both Mainland and Zanzibar as they arise.

c) Tanzania Country Leadership, Management, & Business Development: (25%)

• Drive in country business development to grow Tanzania’s country program portfolio and impact, including maintaining a list of all potential partners and opportunities and updating salesforce regularly.
• Provide contextual guidance and inputs on concept notes and proposals as they arise.
• Provide overall country leadership to ensure work in Tanzania is meeting deliverables at high quality.
• Lead quarterly reviews for Tanzania.
• Act as the main focal point, Country Lead, in Tanzania with the Ministry of Health and other Tanzania based partners.
• Serve as the on the ground focal point for NGO registration and compliance.
• Participate in as a Tanzania Board member.

Competencies

VillageReach has ten (10) Organizational Competencies that describe how we work together and get things done, grouped into three strategic areas: Achieving Great Results, Setting Direction, and Bringing Others With You. For a full description, please download our Organizational Competency document.

Achieving Great Results:

1. Risk Taking and Innovation

· Key Behaviors: Comfort with ambiguity, curiosity, adaptability, unconstrained and undeterred creativity, resourcefulness.

1. Business Judgment

· Key Behaviors: Getting to root causes, understanding the environment, navigating complexity and ambiguity, and entrepreneurial energy.

1. Building Strong Teams

· Key Behaviors: Trust in Subject Matter Experts (SME’s); radical candor to resolve conflict, hold each other accountable as colleagues, focused on results, commitment to mission.

Setting Direction:

1. Compelling Communication

· Key Behaviors: Clear and evidence-based communication, audience adaptability, curious listener.

1. Resilient Self-Leadership

· Key Behaviors: Self-aware, plan how one shows up, emotionally intelligent, use one’s own agency, and take accountability.

1. Stewardship and Personal Alignment

· Key Behaviors: Take ownership, display ethical conduct, be effective at resource management, align personal objectives with organizational goals and mission, focus on continuous improvement and sustainability.

Bringing Others with You:

1. Influencing Leadership

· Key Behaviors: Cultivate trust, influence to make change, navigate the matrix structure.

1. Radical Partnership

· Key Behaviors: Share information and credit, address conflict, increase impact through collaboration, and political and contextual awareness.

1. Cultivates a Growth Mindset

· Key Behaviors: Seek out diverse input, demonstrate flexibility in thinking and curiosity, embrace challenges, demonstrate persistence, seek learning opportunities.

1. Cultural Intelligence and Inclusion

· Key Behaviors: Continuous learning and allyship across cultural lines, challenge prejudice and bias, modeled in one’s own behavior.

Requirements

REQUIREMENTS

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

This position does not currently have supervisory responsibilities but is expected to coordinate team members across teams and geographies.

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health in any of the areas VillageReach works (Lab systems strengthening, Information Systems/Digital Health, Monitoring and Evaluation, Primary Health Care, Women’s Health, Supply Chain, Data Analytics, Health Systems Strengthening, Private Sector Engagement) or other related field (Master’s preferred).
• At least 6 years’ experience in program management.
• Strong managerial skills, attention to detail, and track record of delivering on time in high quality.
• Strong relationships with the government and other partners.
• Demonstrated ability to exercise independent thought leadership and effectively communicate it to external audiences in oral and written formats.
• Strong familiarity with the Tanzanian national health system.
• Prior experience with laboratory systems strengthening preferred.
• Prior experience liaising with the Ministry of Health, PORALG, and other players in the Tanzania health system.
• Familiarity with antenatal care (ANC) service delivery and Tanzania's health system structures strongly preferred.
• Experience with monitoring and evaluation (M&E), including supporting data collection, quality assurance, and learning processes, is an advantage.
• Previous experience in the following areas (any or all) is preferred: responsive Primary Health Care, community health, supply chain, immunization, outbreak response, telehealth, and/or women’s health.
• Familiarity with the Zanzibar national health system is an added advantage.

Other Qualifications:

• Communication and stakeholder engagement: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to build trusted relationships across national, regional, district, and facility levels and to represent the project credibly with senior government leadership.
• Established cultural competency in partnering with racial, cultural and linguistically diverse groups.
• Demonstrated understanding of challenges with working in rural, underserved and low-income context; experience living in and/or working in a low-income country a plus.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel) and comfortable in a fast-paced technical environment.

Environment and Physical Demands:

This position will be located in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and may be 100% percent virtual. The Senior Program Manager may have physical workshops, meetings with partners, etc. as needed but there is not a set office, though the manager will be in the CIHEB offices at least once a month. Due to the time zone differences between our USA office and our Country Offices and location of other global staff, US based staff are expected to be available for early morning meetings starting at 6am PST/PDT. In addition, our Regional Africa-based staff and Country office staff are expected to be available for late afternoon/evening meetings up to 7pm East African Time.

Up to 90% of time will be spent working on a computer. This position does not have any physical requirements that require any weight to be lifted.

COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY & INCLUSION:

VillageReach is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer committed to workforce diversity. We believe that diverse, equitably weighted perspectives foster an organizational capacity to create novel solutions that improve health in the most under-reached and hard-to-reach areas. To align our values, innovations and impact, VillageReach is committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse global workforce.

APPLICATION INFORMATION:

This is a hire starting 28 September 2026 and therefore resumes will be reviewed on a rolling basis until 10 September 2026. The successful candidate will be offered an initial six-month contract. Extension of the contract may be considered based on organizational funding and sustained strong performance against role expectations.

To apply, please submit your resume and a cover letter to our online portal: http://www.villagereach.org/join-us/. In your cover letter, please address (1) Why you are interested in this position, (2) What is one reason you think you’d be a good fit for this position and, (3) what is one strength you would bring to this position?

Hiring Process:

The hiring process will include the following steps:

• Review submitted applications
• Conduct 20-30 minute screening interviews for shortlisted candidates
• Conduct skills and value-based interviews for 3-5 candidates.
• May request that top candidates submit a practical assessment (designed to take no more than two hours to complete). Sometimes the assignment will occur before the interview.
• Conduct final interview if necessary
• Request references 
• Make offer 
• Conduct background check

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted, but candidates who proceed to step 2 will be notified if they are not chosen for step 3.

Safeguarding:

VillageReach is committed to promoting the welfare of children, young people, adults, and beneficiaries with whom it engages. We expect everyone working with us to share this commitment through our code of conduct. All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which may include criminal records. VillageReach participates in the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme and, in line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By applying, the job applicant confirms his/her understanding of these recruitment procedures.

Benefits

Compensation & Benefits:

VillageReach has an established compensation structure that is based on the relevant market and internally transparent. The range for this position is minimum $77,600 to midpoint $103,400. We hire people into the established range based on one’s experience and education and considering internal equity. We do not inquire about salary history. Please refer to our compensation overview on our website for more information and for more information on employee benefits.