Senior Technical Advisor, Data Use and Decision Science (Remote - US, UK, France, DRC)

Resolve to Save Lives (RTSL) is a global health organization that partners locally and globally to create and scale solutions to the world’s deadliest health threats. Millions of people die from preventable health threats. We collaborate to close the gap between proven, life-saving solutions and the people who need them. Since 2017, we’ve worked with governments and other partners in more than 60 countries to save millions of lives. We work toward a future where people live longer, healthier lives, communities flourish, and economies thrive. This is an ambitious vision, and it inspires us and our partners to make progress every day.  

Resolve to Save Lives' Prevent Epidemics program works closely with Ministries of Health and national public health institutes in Africa to strengthen epidemic preparedness capacity, accelerate disease detection and response, and effectively use data to inform action. In addition to direct partnerships with governments, we also work with implementing partners, including the US CDC, the World Health Organization, the World Bank, and the Global Health Advocacy Incubator, to implement programs, prototype innovations, and ensure sustainability through increased national ownership, including domestic budget allocations.

Position Purpose:   

The Senior Technical Advisor, Data Use and Decision Science focuses on bridging the gap between complex epidemiological and contextual data and strategic public health action. This role will primarily support the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Collaborative Surveillance (CS) portfolio, with a significant focus on accompaniment of DRC-based staff on 1) advancing data use for the current Ebola outbreak preparedness and rapid response, and 2) generating actionable analytics and information products to strengthen real-time decision-making, integrating disease surveillance with contextual data (e.g., climate, environmental, risk, and vulnerability factors) and supporting resilient data pipelines. Additionally, this role will contribute to the facilitation of two flagship programs - Epidemic Intelligence training curriculum, and a co-design workshop - to build national counterparts' capacity for epidemic intelligence and systems thinking. The Senior Technical Advisor reports to the Principal Advisor, Data Use for Decision Science, Epidemic Intelligence. This full-time, remote position is for a fixed term of 2 years.  

Core Duties and Responsibilities:  

The Senior Technical Advisor, Data Use and Decision Science collaborates with HQ-based staff and the DRC-based teams on data analytics, innovations and delivery. Responsibilities include:  

Data Use for Decision Science  

Support the implementation of epidemic intelligence activities in DRC that inform decision-making, including development of innovative data use products (e.g., enhanced outbreak situation report, periodic epidemiological bulletins, executive dashboards) and implementation of automated production pipelines.   

Collaborate closely with DRC country office and HQ team to map existing systems, data, and decision-making needs, in order to identify implementation priorities for Collaborative Surveillance and to support the development of a future surveillance architecture.  

Provide hands-on technical accompaniment, capacity building, and knowledge transfer, including providing hands-on technical mentorship to DRC country office to ensure analytical and decision-support capabilities are sustained independently of external support.  

Training DRC country-based staff and government counterparts on the use of digital tools, such as DHIS2, Emergency Management Systems (EMS), R and R markdown for data management, analytics, GIS, and data product generation  

Supporting Collaborative Surveillance Implementation  

Support the DRC country coordinator, country office, and a multidisciplinary team to develop a country workplan and budget for Collaborative Surveillance, coordinate the implementation, and generate strategic reports for leadership and donors.  

Collaborate with global and country-level (e.g., WHO, US CDC, UNICEF) partners to streamline and align Collaborative Surveillance initiatives in DRC.   

Provide technical oversight and methodologies to evaluate the impact of the Collaborative Surveillance initiatives in DRC.  

Strategic Innovation  

Investigate and develop use cases for surveillance innovations, including wastewater surveillance, multiplex serosurveillance, genomic surveillance, and sample registration systems.  

Collaborative with multidisciplinary epidemic intelligence team to pioneer innovations in data use for decision-making, including the application of artificial intelligence, novel contextual data, and advanced analytical methods to forecast risks and outbreaks.  

Synthesize operational learnings from DRC and technical innovations into strategic dissemination products for the global public health community.

Qualifications :   

Education :    

Master’s degree or higher in a relevant field (e.g., public health, epidemiology, informatics, statistics). PhD in a relevant field is a plus.   

Experience :  

At least 12 years of experience in infectious disease surveillance and analytics, public health emergency management, or equivalent experience  

Proven track record of supporting public health operations and outbreak preparedness/response initiatives within the African region, with direct experience in supporting Ebola outbreaks and/or in the DRC preferred.  

Demonstrated experience designing, producing, and implementing end-to-end public health information products (e.g., epidemiological bulletins, outbreak situation reports) with the ability to translate complex data into decision-ready outputs and ensure sustainable handover through clear documentation and SOPs   

Demonstrated experience in designing and delivering comprehensive capacity-building training programs for public health professionals, bridging technical skills with actionable, real-world decision-making.  

Skills & abilities:  

Full professional fluency (written and spoken) in both English and French is required .  

Proven ability to technically accompany and mentor multidisciplinary in-country teams, building their capacity to lead data use projects, applying systems thinking and design thinking approach, with a strong emphasis on progressive knowledge transfer and developing local ownership of analytical workflows.  

Strong analytical and decision-making capabilities for strategy and execution, including in areas of high complexity and ambiguity.  

Proficiency in R and R Markdown/Quarto for data management, analysis, and automated information product generation; familiarity with DHIS2 is an advantage  

Excellent communication, presentation and interpersonal skills for engaging and influencing non-governmental partners, civil society organizations, donors, and multilateral agencies  

Ability to thrive in a collaborative and highly matrixed environment with experience serving many different internal and external stakeholders and demonstrating inclusiveness and active listening skills  

Comfort operating in a remote and distributed work environment, with the ability to provide high-quality technical accompaniment through virtual channels   

Cultural agility and resilience: builds trust across cultural contexts with empathy and humility; navigates complexity and ambiguity with sound judgment and a problem-solving orientation.  

  Other:  

Able to work remotely and convene in-person occasionally for team meetings  

Ability and willingness to travel up to 30%  

Compensation and Benefits:  

Resolve to Save Lives prides itself on cultivating a supportive, connected remote team doing work that matters. We do everything possible to ensure our employees are connected and set up for success.     

The starting salary range for this position in the US is $120,000 to $135,000 annually. The exact offer will be determined by various factors, such as the candidate's skills and experience relative to the requirements of the role. For applicants based outside the US, salaries are set according to national labor rates for the international NGO sector.

In addition to a competitive salary, Resolve to Save Lives provides a generous package of benefits, including:    

Health insurance for you and your dependents   

Contributions toward retirement    

Paid annual leave and sick leave, in addition to public holidays   

Two paid, week-long organization-wide breaks at mid-year and end-of-year    

Professional development and home office setup benefits   

Up-to-date computer equipment   

  RTSL believes its programs are strengthened when they are developed and supported by individuals with diverse life experiences whose understanding of social and cultural issues can help make our work and workforce more inclusive. We encourage applications from and provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, marital status, organ donor status, or status as a veteran. Resolve to Save Lives complies with all applicable US EEO laws.