Associate Director, Operations, Outbreak Response

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for an Associate Director, Operations, Outbreak Response based in the United States.

This leadership role provides operational direction for complex Ebola outbreak response activities across multiple countries and rapidly evolving environments.

You will help ensure field operations are implemented efficiently, safely, compliantly, and with strong coordination across teams and partners.

The position combines emergency operations, resource planning, procurement, staffing, budgeting, risk management, and donor responsiveness.

You will work closely with country teams, technical experts, government counterparts, donors, implementing partners, and senior leadership.

The role offers an opportunity to strengthen outbreak preparedness and response systems while supporting critical global health security initiatives.

Success requires sound judgment, adaptability, strong relationship-building, and the ability to translate operational challenges into practical solutions.

This is a U.S.-based remote position with significant international travel, expected to exceed 25%.

Accountabilities

• Provide operational leadership across Ebola response activities in multiple countries, ensuring coherent implementation, appropriate growth, policy compliance, and alignment with donor and government requirements.
• Coordinate response activation, surge staffing, consultants, travel, procurement, budget tracking, issue escalation, and follow-up on time-sensitive operational priorities.
• Strengthen the ability of project and response teams to manage emergency operations, field coordination, surge support, documentation, compliance, and operational requirements in high-tempo environments.
• Coordinate with headquarters, country teams, incident management teams, program management teams, technical leads, and other stakeholders on emergency response management, security, duty of care, knowledge management, budgeting, and operational risk.
• Conduct and support field monitoring visits to assess implementation quality, donor compliance, operational readiness, safety, and the timely resolution of bottlenecks.
• Partner with Finance and program teams to strengthen budget management, expense control, contractual documentation, financial processes, and project budget-cycle understanding.
• Support monthly operational reviews, ensure action items are tracked, and provide management guidance to project managers and officers.
• Identify operational gaps, surge requirements, funding opportunities, and opportunities for additional outbreak response, recovery, and preparedness programming.
• Support resource mobilization and business development activities, including operational contributions to proposals and emergency programming opportunities.
• Coordinate operational inputs for donor communications, situational updates, decision briefs, after-action reviews, advocacy materials, and response briefings.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with implementing partners, government stakeholders, donors, technical teams, and internal functions.
• Serve as a focal point for outbreak-related communication between headquarters, country teams, regional stakeholders, and technical response leadership.
• Capture and disseminate lessons learned and best practices to strengthen both current response activities and future preparedness efforts.
• Create a high-performing supervisory environment focused on accountability, learning, productivity, collaboration, and openness during emergency operations.
• Represent the organization professionally with partners, government counterparts, and donors while maintaining a strong understanding of country contexts and stakeholder priorities.
• Perform additional responsibilities as required to support successful outbreak response operations.

Requirements

• Education: Bachelor’s degree or international equivalent in business administration, project management, communication, social marketing, economic development, education, health, nutrition, research, technology, youth development, or a related field.
• Experience: At least 10 years of relevant professional experience, including 3+ years in a management capacity, across areas such as business administration, project management, transformation, change management, strategy consulting, or internal corporate strategy.
• Demonstrated experience supporting outbreak response, humanitarian emergencies, or public health crisis operations, particularly in complex and rapidly changing environments.
• Proven experience coordinating cross-functional teams, implementing partners, stakeholders, and project teams across multiple locations.
• Experience managing sector-specific or multi-sector projects and overseeing operational implementation.
• Experience working in insecure or challenging operating environments.
• Previous experience working within an international NGO or comparable global organization.
• Strong understanding of global health security, infectious disease emergency response, donor-funded programming, and international development operations.
• Knowledge of funding mechanisms, contracting processes, donor planning systems, compliance requirements, and reporting practices used in emergency response environments.
• Familiarity with business development and resource mobilization, including proposal development for emergency response, recovery, preparedness, and global health security programs.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with technical specialists, senior leadership, donors, partners, and government stakeholders.
• Strong cultural awareness and an understanding of the political, ethical, and operational considerations involved in international work.
• Demonstrated ability to make practical, timely decisions when faced with unforeseen and rapidly evolving operational challenges.
• Strong organizational, prioritization, problem-solving, risk management, and stakeholder coordination skills.
• Ability to work effectively across headquarters and country teams while managing multiple priorities and maintaining operational continuity.
• Fluency in French is considered an advantage.
• Project management certification is preferred.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office 365, SharePoint, Teams, Zoom, Skype, mobile technology, and standard business systems.
• Ability and willingness to travel internationally more than 25% of the time and occasionally spend extended periods in the field.

Benefits

• Salary: U.S.-based hiring range of $110,000-$130,000 USD annually, with final compensation determined based on experience, education, skills, internal equity, market considerations, and applicable requirements.
• Retirement: Employer contribution of 7% of monthly base pay to a money purchase pension plan.
• Paid vacation: 18 days per year for full-time U.S.-based employees.
• Sick leave: 12 paid sick days per year for full-time employees.
• Paid holidays: 11 holidays per year.
• Competitive benefits package designed to support employee health, professional development, and work-life balance.
• Remote U.S.-based work environment with extensive international exposure and opportunities to contribute to high-impact global health initiatives.
• Opportunities to work alongside multidisciplinary teams focused on emergency response, global health security, preparedness, and humanitarian programming.
• Professional development opportunities and a workplace culture centered on learning, collaboration, accountability, and positive impact.
• Comprehensive safeguarding and employee support practices designed to promote a safe, respectful, and inclusive work environment.