Guatemala Health Security Activity: Public Health Technical Director 

 
About Palladium:  
Palladium is a global company working to design, develop, and deliver a 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 goal of the USAID-funded Health Security Activity in Guatemala is to provide tailored and targeted technical support in areas of highest need and priority to key actors and entities in Guatemala to strengthen the health system and human resource capabilities that build resilience and self-reliance to prevent, mitigate and respond to the health and economic impacts of emerging infectious disease pandemics.  

Reporting and Supervision: This full-time position will report to the Guatemala Health Security Chief of Party. This position supports other technical staff. 

Position Summary: 

Under the supervision of the Chief of Party (COP), the Public Health Technical Director (PH TD) leads technical aspects of the project in compliance with USAID and Palladium rules and regulations to achieve project objectives. They will also regularly engage with and maintain good relationships with relevant actors. The PH TD will provide support to the COP in liaising, programmatic, strategic development, and quality control duties. They shall have depth and breadth of technical expertise and experience, a solid professional reputation, interpersonal skills, and professional relationships to fulfill the activity's requirements.   

*This is a proposal position and is contingent upon award from USAID.*  

Primary Duties and responsibilities: 

The Technical Director is a key personnel position and will be responsible for ensuring the overall technical coherence and integrity in program implementation. The Technical Director leads all technical areas, ensuring that project activities are based on the most up-to-date, evidence-based interventions, standards, and guidelines.  

Responsibilities will include, but not be limited, to the following: 

Responsible for ensuring the technical integrity of all public health project interventions and activities.  

Provide overall public health related technical direction, leadership, and technical expertise for the project team in designing and delivering the project’s objectives and guiding principles.  

Oversee the design and implementation of public health interventions, including disease surveillance, outbreak response, and health system strengthening. 

Provide technical leadership in infection prevention, risk communication, and community engagement to mitigate health threats. 

Collaborate with stakeholders to align project activities with national and international health security frameworks for the advancement of global health security in Guatemala, focusing on prevention, detection and response.  

Provide technical assistance and guidance on the latest health developments, publications, and other information generation activities nationwide and globally.  

Represent the project at national and subnational stakeholder meetings and technical working groups as relevant.  

Coordinate the project’s technical work across clinical content-specific and cross-cutting areas.  

Coordinate the technical expertise of Palladium and its subcontractors which will include international and local organizations.  

Build capacity through training, mentoring, supervision, and technical exchanges that support the MOH, civil society, and local partner development.  

In collaboration with the COP, ensure that the program is delivered according to donor and government policies.  

Perform other related duties and responsibilities as assigned.  

Qualifications and key competencies required:  

The candidate must hold an advanced degree in a relevant field (e.g., medicine, public health, epidemiology, etc.)  

Minimum of 10 years of successful experience as a senior-level technical or program manager on public health global health security projects in Latin America or the Caribbean of a similar scope and size.  

Technical expertise in Global Health Security (GHS), Infectious diseases, medicine, environmental health, animal health, epidemiology, and/or USG funded projects.  

Demonstrated capacity to develop technical materials and strengthen local clinical and non-clinical capacities to improve GHS.  

Proven ability to work collaboratively with governments, various ministries, development partners including donors, the private sector, and community organizations to advance development and health objectives.  

Demonstrated experience leading and managing multi-disciplinary teams to achieve results in a fast-paced, complex, and evolving environment.  

Excellent interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to lead and work effectively in team situations.  

Strong leadership skills with a demonstrated ability to collaborate and work across teams and roles. 

Fluency in English and Spanish, with outstanding oral and written communication 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 accommodations 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.