Senior Technical Advisor

ThinkWell has a growing project portfolio in the Philippines and is currently seeking a Senior Technical Advisor for a new United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)-funded initiative. The goal of this project is to improve the financing and accessibility of comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services by integrating them into the comprehensive outpatient benefits package. This fixed-term position is specific to the UNFPA program but may potentially extend to other projects in the future.

The Senior Technical Advisor (STA) reports to the Country Director, serves as a subject matter expert in a specific program-related technical area, and provides strategic advice to country and global leadership. The STA provides high-level technical advice and strategic guidance to internal project teams and external partners (including DOH and PhilHealth).

The STA is a recognized leader in their technical area (health financing and policy,) and leverages that expertise to support program design and execution.  The STA provides technical leadership and management, is responsible for ensuring high-quality technical project execution across multiple portfolios.

To support these strategies, several activities related to the health system, financing and policy will be carried out. The STA position will report to the Country Director. This position will be based in Manila, Philippines.

What you’ll do

Technical Leadership

• ·Provides high level strategic guidance for technical assistance to ensure high-quality program results and execution across projects especially in the area of health financing, health policy and health systems. In the Philippines, the Senior Technical Advisor typically engages senior, national-level ministers and principal secretaries across their sectors.
•  Contribute to work planning, coordinate across external partners, and lead their engagement in collaborative projects
• Develop monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning tools, indicators, and plans
• Communicate with other ThinkWell technical advisors globally to build, share, exchange, and disseminate technical knowledge

• Recruit, support, and mentor outstanding team members in the area of technical specialty; dotted line management responsibility for technical team members
• Manage periodic reviews of technical program progress and redesign or modify areas of work if needed 
• Oversee the production of high-quality outputs and communications products, including providing technical review, ensuring proper branding, and adhering to timelines.
• Maintain quality control, technical and editorial of deliverables

Team and Program Management

• Provides guidance to the country team's day-to-day work, ensuring that tasks are allocated efficiently across team members, individual workloads are appropriate, and high-quality deliverables are produced on time.

• Work with the Country Director to manage the expectations of government partners, funders, and other stakeholders, ensuring that the project’s support aligns with our capacity and priorities.
•  Support the Country Director to proactively grow team members by focusing on their professional development and capacity building and to create a positive, respectful country team operating culture and environment
• Support the Country Director by ensuring the team follows ThinkWell's financial and operational requirements. Ensure the team delivers timely, accurate, and comprehensive reports to fulfill government obligations and other statutory requirements.
• Collaborate with the CD to effectively monitor the program budget. Work closely with the Program Implementation Unit and Finance teams to regularly review and track the budget for project activities and forecast upcoming expenses.
• Supervise a multidisciplinary project implementation team in the Philippines, proactively growing team member by focusing on their professional development and capacity building in coordination with the CD and other STA.
• Support ensure compliance with donor-specific terms and conditions on programmatic requirements

Organizational Leadership and Development

• Represent ThinkWell in work location, actively engage key stakeholders, cultivate new business partnerships and concepts
• Collaborate with Design Lab to collect and pursue new business information and contacts
• Publish papers, articles and blogs.  Present at conferences/participate in technical working groups on ThinkWell project-related technical innovations, priorities, and results.  Build ThinkWell reputation as a thought leader in the field. 
• Consult and coordinate with key stakeholders within government, donors, and other entities to build ThinkWell program division and reputation
• Play a firm-wide leadership role, participate in company initiatives and teams to build intellectual and human capital in technical areas of specialization

We are:

ThinkWell core values are our fundamental organizational guiding principles.  They define our corporate culture, influence our behavior at work, and help us achieve our mission.  Our values are:

Think big

Influence the conversation

Empower others

Be Exceptional

Always question

Relate authentically

Evolve by learning

you are:

ThinkWell core competencies are foundational skills that align with our values and must be modeled and demonstrated in order to thrive at the firm.

An entrepreneurial, results-oriented ‘do-er’ with a willingness to take risk, think big and fearlessly challenge conventional wisdom.

A change maker who makes independent judgement with an open mind, influences the conversation, and is open to disrupting conventional business as usual.

Strong orientation to empower others and create an enabling, learning environment so that others can take initiative, assume responsibility and be accountable.

A collaborative worker with a cooperative spirit who engages constructively with colleagues from different cultures, orientations, and operating lenses (political, technical, funder, business partner, etc) and is able to maintain positive relations in a virtual world.

Principally motivated by a growth mindset, meaning the pursuit of knowledge, experience, and self-improvement.  You always question, evolve by learning and embrace change.

Authentic, honest, direct, self-aware and open to giving and receiving feedback.   

Requirements

1.    BA/BS and 10+ yrs exp or graduate degree and 8+ years of exp;

2.    Substantive, relevant work experience in the specific area of technical expertise. (e.g., ministries of health and finance experience, health financing or health policy expertise, health systems strengthening, etc.) Adept at communicating technical information to non-technical audiences.

3. Experience in a management consulting firm, bilateral or multilateral development agency, and/or international NGO, preferably in a low or middle income countries.

4.    Strong background in managing and implementing USAID-funded technical asssitance projects

5.    Extensive experience in communicating with and creating products for U.S. audiences, especially USAID;

6. Extensive experience with project monitoring and evaluation in the area of technical specialization.   

7. Demonstrated interest and ability in growing staff, mentoring and coaching junior professionals;

8. A senior leader, able to rally staff around ThinkWell’s mission and priorities;

9. A thoughtful systems thinker with grounded, pragmatic understanding of the complexities of our work;

10. Recognized as a leader in the area of technical specialty; strong international, professional network in the field 

11. Demonstrated ability to engage effectively with external strategic partners, donors, and stakeholders;

12. New business development, proposal writing and fundraising experience;

13. Full English fluency, second language a plus;

14. Outstanding cross-cultural communication skills, including the ability to relate respectfully with staff at all levels, ages, genders, nationalities and orientations as well as across work areas;

15. Ability and willingness to travel up to 25%.