Qualifications and Experience:

• Postgraduate degree in Epidemiology, Statistics or Public Health
  
• 10-12 years post qualification and 8 years working in a research role with an excellent understanding of operational research approaches
  
• Demonstrable knowledge and ability to design and implement research studies, including design of qualitative and quantitative data collection tools.
  
• Good qualitative and quantitative data analysis skills
  
• Demonstrated experience of working in a team of experts delivering specialized TA services
  
• Previous public health sector experience in sub-Saharan Africa countries
  
• Familiarity with Health Management Information Systems (HMIS) in Low and Middle Income countries e.g. DHIS2
  

Operational Research contributions (75%)

• In conjunction with other project team members develop OR protocols and lead in pre-implementation activities such as securing ethical clearance and waivers where necessary, particularly where proposed procedures are not approved in national implementation guidelines.
  
• Identify Operations Research (OR) questions that should be answered for more effective programme implementation.
  
• Coordinate day-to-day technical preparations, implementation and supervision of research activities in SMC states.
  
• Support the M&E Manager and Data Analysis Specialist in statistical analysis of operational research data and contribute to reports and publications to disseminate among partners.
  

Quality assurance of operational research (10%)

• Ensure adherence to OR protocols during implementation. Flag any necessary changes to protocol and seek approvals as appropriate either from the SCTC or the research ethics committees.
  
• Supervise SMC operational research project implementation and outputs, quality control of data collection and carry out regular project performance assessments as planned and other reports as required
  
• Working with the PD and TS, contribute to the adherence of research guidelines and embedding into research studies, standards of operational research quality
  

Capacity building and institutional strengthening (10%)

• Participate in building project capacity in operational research, mainly in the NMEP and SMEPs but also where appropriate within SMC team
  
• In liaison with the TS and SCTC, support capacity building initiatives of the project’s M&E team and contribute to the organisation’s strategic objectives
  

External Representation (5%)

• Participate in national or regional technical working groups as relevant