Senior Program Manager, AFGHS-IMA (Ethiopia)

The Organization:

IMA-World Health which is part of Corus International, has been present in Ethiopia since October 2025. Corus International is the parent of a family of world-class organizations working to deliver the holistic, lasting solutions needed to end extreme poverty once and for all. We are a global leader in international development, with 150 years of combined experience across our brands. Our nonprofit and for-profit subsidiaries include IMA World Health and its fundraising brand Corus World Health, Lutheran World Relief, CGA Technologies, Ground Up Investing, and Farmers Market Brands. In Vietnam, Corus operates under Lutheran World Relief. Our more than 400 employees around the globe are experts in their fields and dedicated to helping the world's most vulnerable people break the cycle of poverty and lead healthy lives.
At Corus we believe that good only grows stronger and we reflect that belief in our workplace culture. We value every employee's specialized area of expertise and nurture professional growth. We promote an engaging and supportive work environment, where employees feel enabled and driven to innovate, learn and collaborate. And because our subsidiaries often function as partners, our employees have the opportunity to work across our enterprise family.

Project Overview:

America First Global Health Strategy (AFGHA-IMA) project operates across 11 regions and 100 woredas/districts in Ethiopia and is implemented through a consortium of international and local partners. It aims to strengthen health system resilience and global health security through four integrated objectives: improving access to efficient, quality health services at facility and community levels; strengthening health information systems, supply chains, laboratory networks, and data use; enhancing national and local capacity for early outbreak detection and timely response; and enabling a sustainable transition to government ownership. The project emphasizes country-led implementation, local partnerships, government capacity strengthening, and coordinated efforts to sustain health outcomes beyond donor support.IM

Job Brief:

The Senior Program Manager (SPM) functions as a highly visible individual contributor and applies their expertise in managing the project cycle for the Department of State (Dos)-funded America First Global Health Strategy-IMA (AFGHS-IMA) project in Ethiopia. The SPM provides programmatic guidance and operational management to ensure program goals, deliverables, and donor requirements are achieved. The SPM collaborates closely with colleagues across AFGHS-IMA Ethiopia and with the Headquarters (HQ) Team to ensure project success.

Working closely with the DCOP for AFGHS-IMA Ethiopia, other members of the AFGHS-IMA Ethiopia team, and sub-awardees, and in partnership with the HQ Grants and Compliance team, Finance, AFGHS-IMA's Senior Technical Director, the MERL team, the HQ SPM, and the Director of Country Programs, the AFGHS-IMA Ethiopia SPM maintains a comprehensive understanding of country context, program design, implementation progress, and risk and results. S/he serves as a key resource for programmatic information, analysis, and decision support.

The AFGHS-IMA Ethiopia project aims to sustain and transition lifesaving maternal, newborn, and child health, HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, nutrition, and global health security programming in Ethiopia. The overarching goal of the program is to support partner countries across diverse geographic and epidemiological contexts in developing and implementing high-impact, integrated health programs that strengthen health system resilience, advance health security, and improve health outcomes of target populations.

Responsibilities:

1. Program Management

• Establish and manage project cycle best practices, ensuring compliance with AFGHS-IMA's Project Management Policies and Procedures and related sub-award, procurement, and finance and administration requirements.
• Manage project start-up processes by coordinating handover across Program Strategy, and Grants and Contracts; convening key stakeholders; and supporting project staff recruitment, including job description development and interviews, as needed.
• Monitor implementation of the Ethiopia program especially those implemented by sub awardees by tracking progress against targets and deliverables, identifying and addressing risks and challenges, and ensuring that technical and financial reporting requirements are met. Serve as the primary point of contact for prime and sub-award contracts and grant agreements, unless otherwise assigned.
• Apply expert knowledge of donor rules and regulations to ensure compliance throughout project start up, implementation, and close-out activities, including procurement, budget modifications, and award amendments.
• Support new award/project development, approval, implementation, and close-out deadlines and flow process in accordance with AFGHS-IMA's Project Management Policies and Procedures and relevant donor requirements.
• Collaborate with country staff and AFGHS-IMA's Headquarter Finance and Grants and Compliance teams to oversee grant funds and sub-awards, contract, and financial performance. Review budget variances, financial reports, and project spending; monitor spending plans, and work with project teams to ensure effective resource utilization, compliance, and timely corrective action, as needed.
• Liaise with AFGHS-IMA's HQ Grants and Compliance team and the Senior Grants and Finance Manager in Ethiopia to provide information or carry out follow-up actions related to sub-recipient management (contracting, reporting, and monitoring).
• Monitor implementation of the country level programs across districts implemented by sub-awardees under his support, backstopping and participating in regular work planning, reviewing progress toward project targets and deliverables, monitoring expenses vs. budgets, identifying issues that need to be addressed, and implementing adjustments needed.
• Synthesize and share biweekly, monthly and Quarterly reports and share with AFGHS_IMA Ethiopia

2. Data Management, Documentation, and Reporting

• Manage project communications with AFGHS-IMA through implementation for coordination and reporting purposes.
• Manage the Ethiopia team and all sub-awardees to prepare high-quality, timely technical and programmatic reports, including bi-weekly reports, quarterly and semiannual reports, newsletters, websites and press releases, for internal audiences as well as donors and Corus constituents.
• Ensure data integrity and completeness by maintaining project documentation in electronic databases, including SharePoint.

Supervisory:

This position has no direct reports.

Education & Experience:

• Master's with at least seven years' experience managing and implementing international development programs. or equivalent combination of education and experience;
• Experience working with colleagues in a multicultural, multi-linguistic environment.
• Experience in Managing Implementing Partners and Field-Level Operations in Conflict-Affected and Fragile Settings in Ethiopia
• Experience supporting health programs, including global maternal, child, and newborn health, vaccination, Nutrition and/or WASH programs, in developing and/or fragile contexts preferred.
• Experience working with US-based and international partners (NGO/FBO/CBOs, universities and other technical institutions).
• Experience successfully managing diverse groups of partners with varying capacities and experience.
• Experience living and/or working in developing countries preferred.
• Experience managing large-scale, multi-country programs a plus.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Strong working knowledge of USG (preferably DoS) and other international donor funding mechanisms (including grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements) required.
• Strong knowledge of international development, including humanitarian standards and best practices in health.
• Demonstrated ability to manage the coordination of/collaborate on program implementation across multiple teams (between departments, between Headquarters and country offices, etc.).
• Experience managing contracts and sub-grants, particularly those funded by the U.S. Government/DoS, preferred.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills to communicate effectively and credibly in English, both verbally and in writing.
• Demonstrated ability to solve complex technical, managerial, or operational problems in a timely and successful manner.
• Critical thinker with a can-do approach to problem solving and demonstrated effective interpersonal skills.
• Ability to meet short deadlines with quality deliverables.
• Demonstrated ability to adapt to fast-paced environments and work with multinational staff.
• Demonstrated versatility and integrity as well as leadership, mentorship, management, organizational, and decision-making skills.
• Proficiency in Office 365 applications including Word, Excel, SharePoint, and PowerPoint. Experience with Salesforce a plus.
• Ability to work effectively both independently and as part of a team.
• Ability to influence teams where you might have responsibility but not ultimate authority.
• Ability to communicate tactfully and develop positive relationships across teams within the project as well as with external groups (donors, partners).

Physical and Mental Requirements:

• The physical requirements that may be needed to execute responsibilities may include bending, standing, and walking, etc.
• The mental requirements that are essential to satisfactorily executing the responsibilities outlined in this job description include, but are not limited to: learning new tasks, comprehending, and retaining information, completing tasks independently, effectively communicating verbally and in writing, demonstrating proficiency in using computer software to perform assigned tasks.

Other Duties:

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive list of activities, duties or responsibilities for the position. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice. All positions are required to perform any additional tasks assigned by the supervisor. Global positions that are bound by contracts will not be changed without notice and approval.

Working Conditions, Travel and Environment:

• Corus has a hybrid work policy, allowing work to be done remotely; two days per week (Tuesday and Wednesday) in the office are required. The employee must be available to work outside normal office hours or weekends as required.
• This position must be able to travel as required for standard domestic and international business purposes. While performing the duties of this job in different locations, the employee may be exposed to precarious settings under high-security risks and/or very basic living conditions and outside weather conditions, as well as to infectious diseases.
• If applicable, must have authorization to work in the country of assignment.

As a member of the Corus Family, each employee is expected to:

• Foster a work environment where everyone feels valued and included.
• Support employees' evaluation and promotion processes based on skills and performance.
• Promote a safe, secure, and respectful environment for all members of Corus family, stakeholders in general, and particularly for the communities we serve.
• Follow Corus Code of Conduct helping to prevent any type of abuse including workplace harassment, sexual abuse and exploitation, and trafficking in persons.
• Adhere to the Organizational Core Values.