Head of Malaria – GL F – Defined Duration until December 2028

The Head of Malaria is the Global Fund’s lead voice and authority on accelerating progress in the fight against malaria both with external audiences and within the Global Fund Secretariat.

The Head of Malaria sets the vision and strategy for how the Global Fund’s investments contribute to the elimination of malaria as a global public health threat. They leverage the Global Fund’s investment scale and model, community of partners, the Malaria Team and the broader Secretariat with unique country-level insights to shape the global malaria health agenda. They ensure the Global Fund investments are equitable, impactful, prioritized and responsive to the needs of the most affected and underserved populations. They ensure the strategy is effectively operationalized in line with Global Fund processes, supporting Global Fund Country Teams and country stakeholders with solutioning advice and practical recommendations, and in partnership with the malaria and broader health communities. They support catalytic people-centered malaria investments to maximize impact, equity, quality, integration, value for money, and sustainability, aligned with technical guidance, based on country owned plans tailored to the local context.

The Head of Malaria assertively drives the Global Fund partnerships towards the common goal of reducing malaria mortality and incidence, malaria elimination, supporting malaria endemic countries to meet the needs of populations at highest risk. In an evolving global health landscape, the Global Fund’s Head of Malaria is a key contributor to the Global Fund partnerships in many areas, including health and community systems, integration, equity and sustainability.

They drive market shaping for accelerating and sustaining malaria results, lead the introduction and scaling of technical and health product innovations, ensuring the optimal use of malaria health products and promoting integrated approaches to enhance program performance and address biological threats.

Key Responsibilities

As a senior leader in the Technical Advice and Partnerships Department Management Team, the Head of Malaria is responsible for steering the Secretariat and the Global Fund partnerships to accelerate country-level impact in the fight against HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria.

Their focus is on malaria, and they collaborate with and leverage expertise from other Global Fund domains (e.g., HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Resilient and Sustainable Systems for Health, Community, Rights and Gender, Health Finance, Supply Operations), as well as working closely with these stakeholders to drive a more holistic, cross cutting, integrated and resilient health response.

The Head of Malaria is responsible for three specific outcomes:

• Leveraging and influencing the Global Fund’s partnership landscape to accelerate key Malaria priorities, in line with the Global Fund strategy.
• Increasing the quality of Global Fund’s investments in Malaria. Ensuring cross-Secretariat collaboration, particularly with the Grant Management Division, for ensuring Malaria Program results are progressing, sustainably and with increasing self-reliance; driving program quality, innovations, health service integration, cost effectiveness and better performance through strategic and technical leadership; identifying key challenges, strategic insights, issues and opportunities and how to respond through the levers of the Global Fund model.
• Developing a motivated, highly effective Malaria Team whose expertise in guiding strategic Malaria investments, program design and effective implementation to accelerate results is consistently valued and in high demand across the Global Fund Secretariat, particularly by Global Fund Country Teams.

Several core responsibilities facilitate the Head of Malaria’s achievement of these outcomes:

• Acting as Corporate Sponsor for relationships with Key Partners such as WHO, the RBM partnership to End Malaria, the US government, the Gates Foundation, and private sector partners among others.
• Shaping and maintaining an on-going, systematic dialogue regarding investment, program, and partnership performance with other Global Fund senior managers using diplomatic influencing, and negotiation skills when necessary.:
• Providing leadership and guidance to the team of highly skilled professional staff to foster a culture of excellence, service and high performance, continuous learning and professional development; lead and oversee the planning, prioritization and execution of the team’s work program and staffing needs to ensure high quality outputs; lead the recruitment, coaching, mentoring and appraisal of staff in the team for maximum productivity and growth; manage efficient execution of the team’s budget; and nurture the wellbeing of the team.
• Effectively communicate the latest technical evidence, performance, key insights, strategic direction and related Global Fund opportunities to internal and external audiences, including the Executive Director, the Management Executive Committee, and the Global Fund Board and Committees
• Flexibly assuming responsibilities to ensure successful delivery of the outcomes above, including being an advisor to Global Fund Country Teams, in cooperation with the malaria advisors in the team.

Subject to change by the Executive Director at any time at their sole discretion.

Qualifications

Essential:

• A medical degree, a post-graduate degree or equivalent in public health, epidemiology or infectious diseases

Desirable

• Specialized post-graduate qualification in malaria

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Experience

Essential:

• Experience of working in or with the global health community, particularly technical agencies, at a senior level with focus on Malaria
• Experience driving performance and/or change in an operationally and politically complex organization including management of many stakeholders with directly competing interests
• Experience managing a large, highly diverse team in a complex organizational environment

Desirable:

• Over 15 years’ experience at international and national levels in the area of public health with a focus on Malaria. Experience can include policy-making, program design and implementation, research, or corporate leadership and/or advisory
• Demonstrated knowledge of the Global Fund and its partnership model, governance, polices and processes
• A well-recognized publications record demonstrating the ability to articulate clear appraisal of evidence base
• Experience leading policy negotiation discussions on both political and highly technical topics – ideally at an international level
• Experience of developing and leading integrated people-centered programs to fight malaria at country level.
• Experience developing and executing a team or organizational transformation to step up performance

Competencies

Languages:

An excellent knowledge of English and preferably a good working knowledge of French. Knowledge of other languages would be an asset.

Functional Competencies:

• Analytical – Level 3
• Business – Level 3
• Country-context – Level 3
• Disease-knowledge – Level 2
• Geopolitical Awareness – Level 3
• Global Public Health – Level 3
• Multicultural Understanding – Level 3
• Negotiations – Level 3
• Operational Policy – Level 3
• Project Management – Level 3

The Global Fund recruits top-tier talent for our open positions, in support of our mission to end AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as epidemics.

Explore our vacancies and apply on the Global Fund Careers recruitment system.

More information on working at the Global Fund is available on the Careers section of our main website.

Job Posting End Date

25 January 2026