About the position
Background:
- The Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (Wits RHI) is a renowned African-led research institute that seeks solutions to Africa’s health challenges
- It is located within the University of the Witwatersrand and addresses some of the greatest public health concerns affecting our region, including HIV and its related problems, sexual and reproductive health, and vaccinology
Main purpose of the job:
- To provide strategic and technical leadership in the design, implementation, and governance of the National Health Learning System (NHLS), ensuring evidence generation, knowledge translation, and continuous improvement across the HIV, TB and MCWH programs
- To provide strategic leadership for strengthening of the integration of research activities across HIV, TB, and MCWH programmes, ensuring that evidence generation, translation, and application inform national policy, service delivery, and health outcomes
- Under the direction of the Deputy Director General: HIV, TB & MCWH at the National Department of Health (NDOH), lead the aligning of research priorities, facilitating evidence generation, and ensuring translation into policy and programme frameworks to strengthen integrated service delivery and governance
Location:
Key performance areas:
- Develop and implement the national vision for a Health Learning System for HIV, TB, and MCWH
- Routine HIV, TB and MCWH intelligence reports to inform evidence based decision making
- Align national research priorities with programme frameworks and global commitments (UNITIAD, UNAIDS, WHO, Global Fund, IA2030)
- Facilitate operational research, implementation science, and innovation pilots across HIV, TB, and MCWH
- Support HIV, TB, and MCWH National, Provincial and District teams in research design, ethics compliance, and dissemination
- Establish monitoring dashboards and repositories to track research outputs, uptake, and impact
- Translate findings into policy briefs, guidelines, and programme frameworks
- Act as the primary technical point of contact to fulfill and manage information requests coming from international donors, academic institutions, and independent research bodies
- Develop a Stakeholder engagement plan, and based on the plan, convene multi sectoral Stakeholders (academia, civil society, workplace health, interfaith networks) to co create research agendas ensuring data transparency and legitimacy in governance processes, including chairing the national technical advisory groups and expert committees
- Represent Branch: HIV, TB and MCWH in national health forums, research syndicates, and technical working groups to foster collaborative public health studies
- Where appropriate, act as a point of contact for Research and Learning for the branch: HIV, TB and MCWH, partner organisations, donors, and internal stakeholders where appropriate
- Communicate with key Wits RHI and NDOH staff around inputs and outputs regarding relevant work programmes
- Communicate with local, regional, and international Collaborators and Stakeholders as directed by NDOH and/or Wits RHI
- Report to both Wits RHI and NDOH monthly on key achievements, challenges, and any anecdotal success stories
- Provide feedback to internal and external Stakeholders
- Take ownership and accountability for tasks and demonstrates effective self-management
- Follow through to ensure that quality and productivity standards of own work are consistently and accurately maintained
- Maintain a positive attitude and respond openly to feedback
- Take ownership for driving own career development by participating in ongoing training and development activities such as conferences, workshops etc
- Communicate proactively, frequently and clearly with other colleagues
Required minimum education and training:
- Master’s Degree in Public Health, Epidemiology, Health Systems, or related field
- PhD in Health Policy, Implementation Science, or Biomedical Sciences (preferred)
Required minimum work experience:
- Minimum 10 - 15 years’ experience in health research coordination, preferably within HIV, TB, and MCWH programmes
- Proven track record in implementation science, operational research, and evidence translation
- Experience in multi sectoral stakeholder engagement (government, academia, civil society, workplace health)
- Advanced expertise in health systems learning and knowledge management
- Expertise in Epidemiology and burden-of-disease analysis
- Proven ability to design and operationalise learning systems at national scale
- Familiarity with global health frameworks (UNAIDS Fast Track, WHO End TB Strategy, IA2030)
- Informatics & Systems: Mastery of electronic data capture systems (e.g., REDCap, OpenClinica) and research management tools
- Data Science Capabilities: Strong proficiency in statistical programming languages (e.g., R, Python, STATA, or SAS) and data visualization software
- Regulatory Expertise: Thorough knowledge of good clinical practice (GCP), research ethics, and national health legislation
Desirable additional education, work experience and personal abilities:
- A recognised Public Health Leader
- Formal training in Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E), Digital Health Platforms, Organisational Learning Systems, Research Ethics, and / or Knowledge Management (advantageous)
- Demonstrated history of influencing positive change with external stakeholder, developing and maintaining relationships at all levels of Wits RHI, DOH and partner organizations
- Positive, energetic team leader with an ability to adapt to complex situations, manage stress, and deliver goals pro-actively
- Strong skills in policy alignment, technical writing, and governance reporting
- A systems thinker capable of integrating epidemiology, economics, implementation science, and technology
- Passionate about improving health outcomes through evidence
- Comfortable working across government, academia, and development partners
- Able to inspire multidisciplinary teams and drive large-scale transformation
- Organized with a thorough and accurate approach to work and attention to detail
TO APPLY:
- Only if you meet the minimum job requirements and experience as mentioned above, you may submit a detailed updated CV and a cover letter (maximum one page) that clearly states which vacancy you are applying for
- Please Apply Online and complete your registration via our website to enable and protect you as a candidate, and to accept the new POPIA terms and conditions
- This will then create your permanent profile with which you can apply for all jobs as advertised by AJ PERSONNEL
- However, you may remove your profile from AJ PERSONNEL when you are no longer in the job market
- Please take note that the applicants who do not adhere to the above criteria will not be considered for the respective position
- Wits Health Consortium will only respond to shortlisted candidates
- Candidates who have not been contacted within two weeks of the closing date can consider their applications to be unsuccessful
- Closing date: 08 October 2026
- Note: No CV will be accepted after the closing date
Please note:
- WHC, in accordance with its Employment Equity goals and plan, will give preference to suitable applicants from designated groups as defined in the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 and subsequent amendments thereto
- AJ Personnel is only responsible for advertising and the response handling on behalf of their client Wits Health Consortium
- AJ Personnel does not have any salary or other information regarding the position
Desired Skills:
- Technical Lead
- Research
- RedCap
- GCP Certificate
- Masters
- PhD
- Public Health
