Deputy Chief of Party, USAID/India, Health Systems Strengthening and Building Resilience to Future Pandemics and Climate Change Activity in India

About Palladium:

Palladium is a global company working to design, develop and deliver positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the globe; broaden access to health, water, power, and infrastructure; build enduring, sustainable, and transformative institutions and market systems to address global challenges; and conserve the natural world. We operate in over 90 countries and have a workforce of 4,000 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions, races, languages, and gender identities.  

This Proposal Opportunity:

The Health Systems Strengthening and Building Resilience to Future Pandemics and Climate Change Activity in India is a proposed 5-year project, funded by USAID that will aim to enhance India’s healthcare system by strengthening its ability to handle challenges. These challenges may likely include climate change, emerging diseases, and changes in disease patterns. The strategy will likely involve implementing an integrated primary healthcare approach, improving care coordination across levels of the health system, expanding disease surveillance efforts, effectively allocating public health resources, and encouraging private sector involvement to improve overall health outcomes.

The Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP), reporting to the COP, will be responsible for providing overarching strategic guidance in the planning, management, execution, monitoring, and quality assurance of the project. The position will also collaborate with the COP in supervising all technical aspects of the program. In the COP's absence, this role will assume the responsibilities of Acting COP for technical components, offering technical leadership in key project areas and offering guidance to technical personnel.

The Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP) is expected to drive the strategic enhancement of India's healthcare system. Responsible for orchestrating initiatives to fortify against climate change impacts, emerging diseases, and evolving health patterns, the DCOP will provide expert guidance in implementing integrated primary healthcare, optimizing care coordination, and advancing disease surveillance efforts. This pivotal position necessitates adept stakeholder engagement with government officials, international organizations, private sector partners, NGOs, and civil society groups, ensuring collaborative pursuits aligned with project objectives. Compliance with USAID regulations, coupled with innovative capacity-building strategies within the healthcare system, will define the DCOP's mandate, ultimately aiming to bolster resilience and amplify health outcomes across India. 

This is an anticipated project, and all positions are contingent upon award from USAID.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

The DCOP shall provide support to the COP with strategic leadership and oversight of the project ensuring that activities are technically sound, evidence-based, include practices that are sustainable and contextualize global best practices and learnings for the India context.
Serve as a member of the senior leadership team of the program and support the COP in oversight of project staff and activities.
Co-lead and oversee programmatic functions, i.e., development of work plans, budgets, quarterly/annual reports, and ensure effective implementation of program strategy.
Maintain effective and open communication with the COP and key members of the project team, Palladium’s senior leadership both in India and at the headquarters (Washington, DC), the USAID Mission, and other relevant stakeholders.
Work with the COP and other project staff to continuously refine the implementation process by integrating lessons learned and scaling up the best practices.
Mentor, support, supervise and manage a team of qualified staff and align their efforts in concert with project goals to ensure rapid and sustainable results.
Serve in an acting capacity in the absence of the COP.

Key Competencies Required:

A master’s degree in public health, public administration, international development, or related field. 
Minimum 5-8 years of experience in managerial and operational experience, preferably in managing large donor-funded health systems strengthening projects involving coordination with multiple implementing partners or institutions.
At least 5-7 years proven leadership in the administration of similar sized international donor- supported programs with skills in strategic planning, management, supervision, and budgeting.
Minimum 5 years of experience in developing activity work-plans, budgets, managing implementation, staff, and short-term technical assistance.
Long-standing experience in India in the areas of health systems strengthening, integrated primary healthcare approaches, emerging diseases, public health surveillance, etc.
Experience in maintaining impactful relationships with government officials and guiding technical discussions.
Knowledge of USAID contract management, policies, procedures, regulations, and reporting requirements.
Proven ability to develop and communicate a common vision among diverse partners and the ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams.
Proven record of building teams and fostering collaboration with diverse stakeholders to achieve project goals, meet project milestones, and produce quality project results.
Fluency in English and Hindi with strong oral and written communication.

Professional Expertise/Competencies Preferred:

Experience in the design, implementation, and management of donor-funded projects, preferably with USAID.
Track record of strong commitment to sharing knowledge, documenting experiences, supporting creative initiatives.
Demonstrated strategic agility, diplomacy, conflict management, team building, written and oral communication, and negotiation skills.
Strong organizational, interpersonal and management skills.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion - Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success, and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.  

Should you require any adjustments or accommodation to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or for any other circumstance, please email our team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com and we will be in touch to discuss. 

Safeguarding - We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse.  All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.