Technical Lead, CMAM Avance

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to humanitarian crises worldwide, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, IRC is one of the world’s largest international humanitarian NGOs. The organization works in more than 40 countries and 29 U.S. cities to help people survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities.

Project Overview: CMAM Avance is a multi‑country initiative focused on testing, implementing, and learning from simplified and coverage‑enhancing approaches to community‑based management of acute malnutrition. The project operates in Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Niger, with potential expansion to additional contexts. The role places strong emphasis on technical quality, learning and cost‑effectiveness to inform scale‑up and broader IRC strategy.

Position Summary: The Technical Lead provides senior technical leadership and oversight across all project countries to ensure high‑quality evidence‑based implementation and learning. The role combines country‑level technical partnership, capacity strengthening, quality assurance, and global‑level technical leadership with a focus on cost‑effectiveness and learning.

Key Responsibilities

• Country‑Level Technical Support & Capacity Strengthening: Technical advisory and program performance improvement. Primary technical advisor to CMAM Avance country teams in Chad, DRC and Niger, providing continuous support on program design, adaptation and implementation. Expert guidance on operational and programmatic challenges, protocol adaptations, implementation trade‑offs and risk mitigation. Analyze program performance data and provide evidence‑based recommendations to improve quality, access, coverage and effectiveness. Support country teams in strengthening technical reporting and learning. Design and deliver advanced technical training, mentoring and coaching to build sustained capacity in evidence‑based CMAM protocols and quality standards. Develop and deploy practical technical tools, job aids, guidance documents, training packages and curricula tailored to country contexts. Promote a culture of continuous learning, accountability and technical excellence. Conduct technical support visits, supportive supervision, quality assessments, coaching sessions and joint program reviews. Work closely with Ministries of Health to ensure adherence to CMAM protocols and align with national strategies. Establish and maintain structured coordination mechanisms with country teams, including regular technical meetings and joint work planning. Facilitate cross‑country learning by documenting and sharing best practices and lessons learned.
• Technical Strategy, Evidence, and Learning: Collaborate with the Best Use of Resources team to strengthen monitoring and evaluation of cost‑effectiveness across project components. Monitor and adjust expenses with the finance analyst, building annual budgets and optimizing costs. Collaborate with MEAL specialist and country M&E leads to ensure effective use of CommCare and PowerBI nutrition data platforms. Provide technical oversight and review of project‑level reporting against the learning agenda, including key performance indicators such as coverage, admissions, recovery rates and relapse. Advise on data‑driven course correction to strengthen implementation quality and outcomes. Provide technical leadership and oversight for nutrition coverage surveys, including methodological guidance, quality assurance, data analysis and reporting. Support translation of coverage findings into practical improvements in service delivery and program strategy. Provide technical leadership for adoption of context‑appropriate, coverage‑increasing activities. Develop, test and roll out practical tools, resources, training materials and curricula. Document, analyze and synthesize lessons learned from CMAM Avancé to inform IRC Strategy 100 Phase 2 and Nutrition Innovation at Scale. Translate country‑level learning into regional insights, supporting cross‑country reflection and adaptation. Contribute to regional learning agendas by identifying best practices, bottlenecks and enabling factors for scale. Facilitate cross‑functional collaboration across nutrition, health systems, MEAL, advocacy and partnerships teams. Support prioritization for scale by assessing programmatic innovations and operational models for sustainable expansion. Produce knowledge products such as learning briefs, case studies, internal strategy notes and presentations. Engage with regional and global IRC teams to shape the operation of Nutrition Impact at Scale Phase 2 strategy. Support adaptive management processes using real‑time learning to inform course correction.

Key Working Relationships

Position reports to: Project Director CMAM Avance. Directly supervises: Coverage survey specialist / statistician. Works in partnership with country‑specific technical positions.

Job Qualifications

Education: University degree in a related field plus Master’s degree in Public Health, Public Health Nutrition or Global Nutrition is required.

Skills: Ability to work effectively on diverse teams in diverse contexts, strong technical acumen, initiative, productive remote work, acceptance of feedback, strong communication skills, high interpersonal skills, high level of English and French oral and written skills. Commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion principles.

Essential Work Experience: Minimum five years of international experience managing CMAM programs in humanitarian settings and minimum three years at the global level advising on CMAM implementation and strategy, with experience engaging donors. Expertise in community‑based management of acute malnutrition. Proven knowledge of designing and analyzing M&E systems using CommCare, nutrition coverage surveys, and cost‑effectiveness analyses. Experience with IT software such as CommCare is an advantage. Only candidates who meet the required work experience and who speak English and French fluently will be considered.

Working Environment: Up to 40% travel required, traveling to each of the five countries at least twice per year.

Language Skills: Fluency in English and French required.

Compensation: Pay Range UK: £56,500–£76,749.

Professional Standards: All IRC workers must adhere to the core values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. The organization imposes policies on safeguarding, conflicts of interest, fiscal integrity, reporting wrongdoing, and protection from retaliation. IRC is committed to create a safe environment and to take preventive and corrective measures when harm occurs.