Senior Health Systems Strengthening Program Specialist (Gombe, Jigawa) at Jhpiego - John Hopkins University

Overview

• The Senior Health Systems Strengthening Program Specialist will provide HSS, Sustainability and transitioning and program management for the Quality Improvement (QI) project. Reporting directly to the QI Program Manager, the Specialist will be responsible for health systems strengthening, sustainability, government capacity-building efforts, QI L&M component, while ensuring strong day-to-day program coordination, monitoring, and reporting.
• The role will serve as a critical bridge between technical QI priorities and operational program management, supporting government institutions through QI L&M component to plan, implement, finance, and scale QI interventions across disease programs. The Specialist will contribute to strategic government engagement, performance monitoring to transition plan, monitor and advocate for transition plan, working with Government systems and adaptive program management in alignment with Global Fund RSSH requirements and Jhpiego standards.

Responsibilities

Health Systems Strengthening, Sustainability & Scale up

• Provide national-level technical leadership and coordination for implementation of Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) strategies embedded within Quality Improvement (QI) programming, ensuring coherence and alignment across national, state, and LGA levels.
• Lead and support government institutions to institutionalize QI as a core health system function across the WHO HSS building blocks governance and leadership, health financing, health workforce, health information systems, service delivery, and medical products and commodities rather than as a standalone project approach.
• Support national and sub-national governments to embed QI within policies, strategic plans, annual operational plans, budgets, supervision systems, performance management frameworks, and accountability mechanisms, strengthening long-term system ownership and sustainability.
• Facilitate capacity strengthening of government institutions to plan, cost, finance, implement, and scale QI using domestic and blended financing mechanisms, including integration into routine government funding streams and sector budgets.
• Promote cross-program and cross-platform integration of QI, supporting alignment across disease programs and service delivery platforms to reduce fragmentation and improve system efficiency and effectiveness.
• Provide senior technical oversight to QI interventions to ensure alignment with evidence-based QI methodologies, national standards, and health sector priorities, while addressing systemic bottlenecks across HSS building blocks.
• Lead and support the design, adaptation, and rollout of blended learning curricula (in-person, virtual, and on-the-job) to build sustainable government capacity in QI, leadership, management, and health systems strengthening at national, state, and LGA levels.
• Strengthen mentorship, coaching, and supportive supervision models that reinforce continuous improvement, leadership accountability, and institutional learning across the health system.
• Ensure strong integration of data use, measurement, learning, and feedback loops within QI and HSS activities, promoting evidence-informed decision-making and adaptive system management.
• Coordinate and provide strategic oversight for the QI Leadership and Management (L&M) component, supporting government leaders to champion, govern, and scale QI initiatives. This includes development of L&M curricula and training materials, and deployment of QI at the point of care methodologies to identify and solve system-level challenges across HSS building blocks at national, state, and LGA levels, in close collaboration with State Team Leads.
• Support advocacy and strategic communications that elevate QI as a health system priority, promote visibility of results, and strengthen political, managerial, and financial commitment to sustained QI implementation.

Program Management & Coordination

• Support the QI Program Manager in coordinating national-level implementation of approved workplans, ensuring activities are delivered on time and to quality standards.
• Track and contribute to implementation progress, milestones, and deliverables, and escalate risks, delays, or performance gaps to the Program Manager.
• Support coordination across technical, M&E, finance, and grants teams to ensure seamless program execution.
• Contribute to development and review of workplans, budgets, procurement plans, and implementation schedules.
• Support preparation of technical inputs for donor reports, presentations, briefs, and learning products.
• Promote adaptive management by supporting learning reviews and use of data to inform course correction.
• Support routine monitoring of program performance indicators, outputs, and outcomes related to QI and HSS.

Government Engagement & Capacity Building

• Support routine engagement with government counterparts at national, state, and LGA levels, including across disease programs and MDAs.
• Facilitate coordination with key institutions includingNTBLCP, NPHCDA, NACA, FMoH, SMoHs, LGAs, and other relevant MDAs.
• Coordinate and support QI leadership and management strengthening activities, including leadership forums, TWGs, and planning sessions.
• Provide technical support to government counterparts on governance, leadership, and management for QI scale-up.
• Represent Jhpiego in technical meetings and coordination platforms as delegated by the Program Manager.

Reporting, Compliance & Accountability

• Prepare and submit timely, high-quality technical and programmatic reports to the QI Program Manager.
• Ensure compliance with Global Fund, government, and Jhpiego policies, procedures, and reporting requirements.
• Support grants management functions including documentation, activity tracking, and support to audits or reviews.
• Maintain accurate documentation of program activities, decisions, and learning

Required Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Public Health, Health Systems Management, Health Administration, Project Management, or a related field.
• Minimum of 7- 10 years of experience managing large, donor-funded health programs (preferably Global Fund).
• Demonstrated expertise in Quality Improvement, health systems strengthening, and sustainability/transition programming.
• Strong experience working with government counterparts at national and sub-national levels in Nigeria.
• Proven ability to manage complex programs, budgets, and multi-stakeholder partnerships.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including donor reporting and high-level government engagement.
• Excellent leadership, organizational, and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Strong report writing, budgeting, and presentation skills; proficiency in Microsoft Office and project management tools.
• 8+ years experience in management, operational and technical expertise with a preference in Global health security and public health program implementation.
• Experience working with FMOH, NTBLCP, NACA, NPHCDA, NCDC, NMEP, NASCP -related agencies and State/LGA counterparts
• Certification in project management (PMDPro, PRINCE2, etc.) desirable.
• Willingness to travel frequently within Nigeria to support state-level implementation.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Familiarity with Nigeria’s health systems and reporting structure and demonstrated ability to collaborate with government level officials to strengthen program implementation
• Excellent writing and communications skills, including demonstrated technical writing skills for publication
• Ability to work effectively with diverse international teams and willingness to learn and empower others
• Ability to work in a complex environment with multiple tasks, short deadlines and intense pressure to perform
• References will be required.
• Demonstrated ability in working and collaborating with a wide range of local and international partner organizations
• Demonstrated experience in maintaining donor relations
• Excellent skills in facilitation, team building and coordination