Project Director – Integrated Innovation Highway (IIH)

PATH · Addis Ababa

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PATH is a global nonprofit dedicated to achieving health equity. With more than 40 years of experience forging multisector partnerships and with expertise in science, economics, technology, advocacy, and dozens of other specialties, PATH develops and scales up innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing health challenges.

PATH combines scientific and public health expertise, implementation experience, innovation, and strong partnerships with governments, communities, civil society, and development partners. In Ethiopia, PATH works closely with the Federal Ministry of Health, Regional Health Bureaus, health facilities, communities, local organizations, and development partners to strengthen health systems and expand access to high-quality, equitable health services.

Project Overview

The Integrated Innovation Highway (IIH) is a Gates Foundation-funded project that supports the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) and Ministry of Health (MoH) to develop a government-owned platform that systematically assesses country needs, prioritizes innovations, evaluates evidence and readiness, and supports the transition and scale-up of innovations within the Ethiopian health system.

The IIH will establish an integrated approach across six innovation highways:

Medical Devices
Diagnostics
Therapeutics, Family Planning and Nutrition Products
Vaccines
Technology, including digital health, artificial intelligence (AI), and biotechnology
Bundled and Systems Innovations

Phase 1 will focus on three tracer products across two highways:

Medical Devices: AI-enabled Point-of-Care Ultrasound (AI-POCUS)
Diagnostics: Near-Point-of-Care TB PlusLife and Ebola Diagnostics

The project will work closely with the Ministry of Health, Regional Health Bureaus, public health institutes, universities, innovators, development partners, and other stakeholders to strengthen innovation governance and develop practical pathways for evaluating, transitioning, and scaling priority health innovations.

Position Summary

The Project Director will provide overall strategic, technical, and managerial leadership for the Integrated Innovation Highway project.

The Project Director will be responsible for the design, planning, implementation, coordination, monitoring, and overall performance of the project. The position will provide strategic and technical guidance to the IIH team and ensure that implementation is aligned with the Government of Ethiopia's priorities, Ministry of Health strategies, and Gates Foundation commitments.

The Project Director will serve as a key point of contact for the Ministry of Health, Regional Health Bureaus, Gates Foundation and other donors, grantees, technical partners, and other strategic stakeholders.

A central responsibility will be to build and maintain strong relationships with government and ensure that the IIH contributes to a government-owned and sustainable innovation governance and transition-to-scale mechanism, rather than creating parallel systems.

The Project Director will report to the PATH Ethiopia Country Director.

Key Responsibilities

1. Project Leadership and Management

Lead the overall design, planning, implementation, coordination, and review of the IIH project.
Develop and oversee annual workplans, implementation plans, budgets, milestones, and deliverables.
Provide strategic and technical leadership to the IIH project team.
Direct, supervise, mentor, and support project staff and direct reports.
Ensure effective coordination across all project workstreams and implementing partners.
Monitor project performance and ensure achievement of agreed results and donor commitments.
Identify implementation risks, challenges, and bottlenecks and ensure timely corrective actions.
Ensure compliance with PATH policies, donor requirements, government requirements, and project agreements.
Promote adaptive management, innovation, learning, and continuous improvement.

2. Ministry of Health and Government Engagement

Serve as a senior project-level focal point between PATH and the Ministry of Health.
Establish and maintain strong relationships with senior MoH officials and relevant directorates, particularly those working on Health Innovation, RMNCH, Quality Improvement and related health-system priorities.
Support the Ministry of Health to lead and institutionalize the IIH approach.
Facilitate strategic dialogue with MoH on health innovation priorities, evidence, evaluation, financing, transition, and scale.
Ensure that IIH activities are aligned with national health strategies, policies, priorities, and systems.
Support government-led decision-making and ownership of innovation assessment and transition processes.
Facilitate coordination between the MoH, RHBs, public health institutes, universities, professional associations, development partners, innovators, and other relevant stakeholders.

3. Regional Health Bureau Engagement

Maintain effective working relationships with participating Regional Health Bureaus.
Provide strategic oversight and guidance to regional implementation.
Ensure regional activities respond to RHB priorities and are aligned with national health-system requirements.
Support RHBs to assess innovation needs, readiness, implementation requirements, and pathways for transition and scale.
Facilitate learning and experience-sharing across participating regions.
Address strategic implementation challenges requiring senior-level engagement.

4. Innovation Governance

Provide strategic leadership for the IIH innovation governance approach.
Support development and institutionalization of government-led mechanisms for:
- Country needs assessment;
- Innovation prioritization;
- Market and landscape intelligence;
- Evidence assessment;
- Evaluation for scale;
- Transition to scale; and
- Sustainable financing and ownership.
Work closely with the Ministry of Health and relevant innovation governance structures to strengthen national capacity.
Ensure that the IIH contributes to a sustainable government-owned innovation ecosystem beyond the project period.
Support alignment of IIH with existing MoH innovation structures and processes.

5. Technical Leadership and Oversight

Provide strategic and technical oversight of the Phase 1 tracer innovations.

AI-POCUS

Provide strategic oversight of the AI-POCUS transition and scale pathway.
Ensure consideration of regulatory, clinical, workforce, quality-assurance, data, financing, referral, and health-system requirements.
Facilitate engagement with relevant government institutions, professional bodies, innovators, development partners, and other stakeholders.
Ensure evidence generated through AI-POCUS activities contributes to government decision-making on transition and scale.

TB PlusLife

Provide strategic oversight of the TB PlusLife near-point-of-care diagnostic workstream.
Engage with the Ministry of Health, National TB Program, public health institutes, RHBs, and technical partners.
Ensure consideration of diagnostic quality, connectivity, training, clinical pathways, data systems, and health-system integration.
Support evidence generation and transition-to-scale decision-making.

Ebola Diagnostics

Provide strategic oversight of Ebola diagnostic Initiatives.
Coordinate with the Ministry of Health, public health institutes, RHBs, Africa CDC and relevant technical partners.
Support feasibility assessment, operational learning, capacity strengthening, and evidence generation.
Ensure lessons learned contribute to national diagnostic preparedness and innovation systems.

6. Donor and Partner Management

Serve as the primary senior project contact for the Gates Foundation and other relevant development partners.
Maintain strong and professional donor relationships.
Lead donor engagement, project reviews, strategic discussions, and presentations.
Ensure timely and high-quality technical and programmatic reporting.
Communicate project progress, achievements, risks, challenges, adaptations, and emerging opportunities.
Represent PATH and IIH in relevant national and international forums.
Support resource mobilization and development of future opportunities related to health innovation and scale.

7. Grant Management

Lead and oversee management of IIH grants and grantee relationships.
Support selection, onboarding, performance management, and close-out of project grantees.
Ensure grantees meet agreed technical, financial, reporting, and contractual requirements.
Monitor grantee performance against agreed milestones and deliverables.
Provide strategic guidance and problem-solving support to grantees.
Coordinate with PATH Finance, Grants, Procurement, Legal, and other relevant functions.
Ensure appropriate documentation of grant performance and lessons learned.

8. Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning

Lead overall project monitoring, evaluation, research, learning, and adaptive management.
Oversee implementation of the project results framework and performance monitoring system.
Track project progress against indicators, milestones, outputs, and outcomes.
Ensure timely identification of implementation gaps and corrective actions.
Lead documentation of lessons learned, success stories, case studies, and research findings.
Promote generation and use of evidence to inform government decision-making.
Ensure project learning is shared across government, regions, partners, and relevant stakeholders.
Support development and dissemination of technical publications, policy briefs, presentations, and other knowledge products.

9. Team Leadership

Lead, supervise, mentor, and develop the IIH project team.
Establish clear roles, responsibilities, objectives, and performance expectations.
Foster a collaborative, high-performing, and accountable team.
Promote cross-functional collaboration among technical, program, grants, finance, MEAL, and regional staff.
Ensure effective communication and coordination across the project team.
Identify staff capacity-development needs and facilitate appropriate support.

10. Financial and Operational Oversight

Provide overall oversight of project financial performance.
Ensure implementation remains within approved budgets and donor requirements.
Work closely with PATH Finance and Operations teams on budgeting, forecasting, expenditure monitoring, and financial reporting.
Review budget performance and address significant variances.
Ensure appropriate allocation and use of project resources.
Oversee key project operational requirements and ensure timely delivery of project activities.

Required Qualifications and Experience

Education

Medical degree (MD or equivalent) with a Master's degree in Public Health (MPH) or a closely related field.
Obstetrics & Gynaecology - specialist clinical training in OB/GYN or a related discipline is plus
Additional training or qualification in health innovation, health systems, management, technology, or a related field is an advantage.

Professional Experience

10–15 years of progressively responsible experience in public health, health systems, health innovation, program management, or a related field.
Extensive experience leading and managing complex health programs.
Demonstrated experience managing donor-funded projects, preferably with major global health donors.
Extensive experience working with the Ethiopian Ministry of Health and Regional Health Bureaus.
Demonstrated experience in health innovation, innovation governance, technology introduction, evaluation, transition, and/or scale-up.
Demonstrated understanding or experience of AI-enabled POCUS, TB PlusLife or other near-point-of-care diagnostics, and Ebola diagnostics is highly desirable.

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