Vice President, Global Operations at Vital Strategies

Vital Strategies is a US-based international public health organization working in more than 70 countries to strengthen public health systems and address leading causes of morbidity and mortality.
Resolve to Save Lives is an initiative of Vital Strategies with a mission to prevent 100 million deaths from heart disease and to make the world safer from epidemics. We are led by Dr Tom Frieden, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Resolve to Save Lives is transitioning to an independent public health organization to maximize its global impact with speed, simplicity, and scale. Read more about our work at resolvetosavelives.org.

We believe our 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 people of all racial, economic, social, cultural, sexual orientation, and gender expressions to apply.

The Role:

Resolve to Save Lives seeks qualified candidates for the position of Vice President of Global Operations. Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, the VP of Global Operations will be responsible for planning and overseeing operations in all locations of Resolve’s activities. The VP of Global Operations will build critical resource management processes to support the implementation of program goals while ensuring compliance with Resolve policies and procedures, donor requirements, and global best practices. They are responsible for ensuring the establishment of Resolve to Save Lives country offices with a focus on high-quality support services at each location and compliance with local legislation. This involves supporting the COO in identifying, managing, and mitigating organizational risks including the health, safety and security of staff. This full-time position is currently remote. The incumbent will be expected to convene routinely for team meetings in NYC beginning in January 2022 and up to 30% of time may be spent traveling between locations internationally, at mutually agreed times.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Operations Management

• Lead a global, cross-functional, matrixed team to deliver against a strategy that provides for repeatable, scalable and compliant services that meet and satisfy the needs of the organization
• Provide functional oversight of Resolve’s country directors, providing direction on and tools for staff management, office administration, and risk management; convene regular cross-country meetings to promote global alignment and information exchange
• Work with country directors and central program leadership to put in place the tools, systems, and operational support for institutional planning, establishment of key metrics, and budget development and monitoring (in coordination with Finance) at the country level
• Leverage expert project management skills and field experience to effectively coordinate country office resources and systems that support Resolve’s global operations; serve as advisor to colleagues on project managing the full lifecycle of a project
• Manage global and country-specific operational assessments for work in a new country or location; engage internal and external subject matter experts, develop frameworks to deliver required compliance and governance parameters, banking and payroll standards, staffing, and operating models to facilitate program operations in-country
• Partnering with other operations units, advise COO on the selection and improvement of systems that support the strategy and growth of the organization for global relevance and applicability
• As needed, convene and/or oversee teams to support project planning, budget review, lease negotiations, and other activities to support the smooth running of country offices

Risk Management and Compliance

• Oversee key global operations functions, including travel management, safety and security, and insurance
• Support local operations management in implementing policy and processes that facilitate both regulatory and organizational compliance, and on decision making protocols; serve as a liaison and facilitator between in-country and headquarter-based staff
• Assist and support effective contract negotiations in partnership with Legal; act as contracts manager for agreements at headquarters level, as needed
• Collaborate with Finance and IT departments on strategy and best practices to optimize financial and operational integrity and compliance
• Establish and maintain relevant policies, including standard operating procedures across all support functions; liaise with local operations management to monitor in-country compliance tools and checks to support business continuity and risk management efforts
• Ensure the development of plans and related capacity strengthening efforts concerning the health, safety and security of Resolve staff

Team Structure and Management

• Determine long-term operations staffing needs; recruit and manage a small team of central operations professionals to support the transition phase and continued growth of the organization
• Mentor, develop and direct team to build an effective team dynamic; manage work allocation, training, and performance measurement goals and evaluation

Requirements:

Qualifications

• A Master’s degree in Public Administration, Business Administration, or a comparable degree from an accredited educational institution
• A Bachelor’s degree and at least 12 years of relevant managerial experience in lieu of the Master’s degree may be considered from exceptional candidates

Skills & Abilities

• Knowledge of and ability to analyze, plan for, implement and problem solve a range of compliance, governance and risk management issues
• Ability to lead capacity strengthening initiatives
• Proven ability in project management and in meeting short- and long-term deadlines
• A leader and team player, with ability to lead and be led on cross-divisional projects
• Strong ability to analyze and model business processes, develop systems and recommend solutions
• Clear, tactful and effective communicator (written and verbal) with exceptional interpersonal skills when engaging with internal and external audiences
• Demonstrates empathy, humility, and good judgement when working across cultures and geographies
• Collaborative, flexible, and resilient work style in a rapidly changing environment; energized about navigating complexity
• Self-starter with a positive attitude
• Skilled at receiving and integrating feedback
• Proficient in computer software include Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Google Workspace

Experience

• Twelve years or more as a project manager with a proven track record of accomplishments in global operations for a non-profit organization
• Experience working in low- and middle-income countries
• Experience working with a range of governmental agencies and with international grantees
• Experience supervising administrative staff as well as in-country leadership