Senior Regional Manager, Health Systems Strengthening - Asia-Pacific Region

Overview

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to our mission of saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries. We work at the invitation of governments to support them and the private sector to create and sustain high-quality health systems.

 

CHAI was founded in 2002 in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, with the goal of dramatically reducing the price of life-saving drugs and increasing access to these medicines in the countries with the highest burden of the disease. Over the following two decades, CHAI has expanded its focus. Today, along with HIV, we work in conjunction with our partners to prevent and treat infectious diseases such as COVID-19, malaria, tuberculosis, and hepatitis. Our work has also expanded into cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and other non-communicable diseases, and we work to accelerate the rollout of lifesaving vaccines, reduce maternal and child mortality, combat chronic malnutrition, and increase access to assistive technology. We are investing in horizontal approaches to strengthen health systems through programs in human resources for health, digital health, and health financing. With each new and innovative program, our strategy is grounded in maximizing sustainable impact at scale, ensuring that governments lead the solutions, that programs are designed to scale nationally, and learnings are shared globally.

 

At CHAI, our people are our greatest asset, and none of this work would be possible without their talent, time, dedication, and passion for our mission and values. We are a highly diverse team of enthusiastic individuals across 40 countries with a broad range of skill sets and life experiences. CHAI is deeply grounded in the countries we work in, with the majority of our staff based in program countries. Learn more about our exciting work: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org

 

CHAI is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and is committed to providing an environment of fairness, and mutual respect where all applicants have access to equal employment opportunities. CHAI values diversity and inclusion, and recognizes that our mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people with diverse experience, backgrounds, and culture.

 

Program Overview

CHAI’s Health Systems Strengthening group works with governments to build stronger, more resilient, and more equitable health systems, ensuring that everyone, especially the most vulnerable, can access high-quality primary health care. We support Ministries of Health and Finance to increase and optimize health spending, strengthen national systems (e.g., workforce, digital infrastructure, supply chains), and implement cross-cutting reforms that drive long-term improvements in service delivery and health outcomes. This includes work to improve the efficiency, equity, and impact of health financing systems—from resource mobilization and budgeting to strategic purchasing and public financial management. This work often plays a key role in supporting and enabling teams across CHAI including Infectious Diseases, Non-Communicable Diseases and Assistive Technologies, Maternal and Newborn Health and Child Health.

 

Governments today face growing pressure to do more with less. Economic constraints, inflation, and rising health needs are straining budgets, while donor funding — including foreign assistance from major bilateral partners — is stagnating or declining in many countries. These challenges are creating serious gaps in service coverage and threatening hard-won gains in health.

 

In this context, CHAI HSS team is supporting governments to rethink how resources are mobilized, allocated, and managed. This includes working with Ministries of Health and Finance to raise new resources for health and optimize available funding for greater value for money, as well as to strengthen the national systems that fund and deliver care. This work spans efforts to expand and optimize the health workforce — ensuring the right skill mix and equitable distribution of providers — as well as strengthening integrated supply chains and designing national digital systems that improve how services are planned, tracked, and delivered across all levels of care. In the wake of recent USG cuts, this support is more important than ever. CHAI is working alongside governments to quantify and address urgent gaps while paving the way for government adoption of often fragmented systems and longer-term reforms towards sustainability.

 

By working side-by-side with government institutions — often embedded within ministries — CHAI helps countries take practical steps to strengthen their health systems and sustainably expand access to essential services.

 

Position Overview

CHAI is launching a high-priority initiative to support governments in responding to the growing pressures of shrinking aid budgets, including recent USG funding reductions and broader global transitions in donor support. This initiative will embed nimble technical teams within Ministries of Health and other relevant Ministries to provide strategic, systems-focused support—helping governments navigate immediate funding challenges while advancing long-term health system reform, integration, and sustainability.

 

To support this effort, CHAI’s Health System Strengthening team is seeking a Program Manager with strong analytical and communication skills and experience in strengthening primary health care systems as based in the SEAP region. The Program Manager will work across a portfolio of high-priority CHAI countries in the SEAP region and work with CHAI country teams to help governments respond to the changing aid landscape. They will also develop innovative financing and service delivery strategies, and implement core health system reforms. This is a challenging, fast-paced, and rewarding position offering a unique opportunity to help turn an aid funding crisis into a platform for lasting, systemic change — working with governments to reimagine more resilient, efficient, and country-led health systems.

 

The Program Manager will report to an Associate Director in the Global Health System Strengthening team and work closely with the rest of the team, country teams and governments, external partners, and various global teams including Women, Newborn and Child Health, Malaria, and HIV programs, among many others. Focus countries supported include, but are not limited to Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. This position has flexibility to be based in one of CHAI program countries, with a preference for Laos. This role requires up to 50% travel within the SEAP region.

 

The ideal candidate will be a strategic thinker with strong communication skills and cultural sensitivity, able to engage effectively with senior government and global stakeholders. They will bring sharp analytical and project management skills, with the ability to translate complex data into clear, actionable insights and to guide highly technical workstreams. Highly self-motivated and adaptable, the candidate will thrive in fast-paced environments, juggling multiple priorities and contributing across a range of tasks—from high-level policy support to operational problem-solving.

Responsibilities

Strategic and Technical Advisory

• Deliver senior-level technical assistance to CHAI country teams and government counterparts across core areas of health financing and health systems strengthening.
• Provide strategic leadership for CHAI’s health systems strengthening (HSS) efforts in a set of priority countries, support governments to navigate donor transitions, close critical financing gaps, and develop long-term strategies for sustainable and resilient health systems.
• Guide the design and implementation of cross-cutting system reforms, including sustainable financing models, workforce absorption and optimization, service or systems integration, and the development of efficient and equitable service delivery models-grounded in robust analysis and contextualized evidence.
• Lead and contribute to high-impact analytical work to inform policy design and investment decisions, including detailed gap analyses, commodities quantification and forecasting, costing, cost-effectiveness and fiscal space analyses, and efficiency assessments and system optimization studies
• Strengthen the use of data and analytics in strategic planning and decision-making across the CHAI team and government counterparts, building shared ownership of results and insights.

Donor and Partner Engagement 

• Engage with donors funding HSS work, including foreign aid cuts transition planning to coordinate on program design, implementation, and reporting, with a focus on aligning funding and technical priorities to government priorities and on showing the impact of our work.
• Represent CHAI in strategic dialogues with global and regional partners, advocating for systems-focused investments and policy that enable governments to scale and sustain essential health services.
• Build and maintain strategic partnerships with technical and implementing agencies on relevant health systems strengthening topics and sharing of best practices.

Knowledge Management

• Capture and synthesize lessons from CHAI’s HSS work across countries to inform internal strategy contribute to knowledge sharing efforts, and strengthen CHAI’s technical approach.
• Lead development of knowledge products, including case studies, impact narratives, and technical briefs that demonstrate impact for internal learning and external advocacy with donors and partners. Where possible, these should include quantitative estimates of both realized and potential (counterfactual) impact with narratives that clearly articulate the value add of CHAI support.
• Facilitate cross-country exchange on methods and findings, fostering a culture of evidence use and collaborative problem-solving across CHAI and its partners.

Other responsibilities as requested by manager.

Qualifications

• Degree in health economics, public health, public policy, or a related field
• At least 6–8 years of experience in health systems strengthening, health financing, or a related field, ideally within low- and middle-income countries. Experience in Asia Pacific region is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated success partnering with government institutions to shape health policy, strategy, and operational plans, particularly in areas such as health financing, service delivery, workforce, digital systems or supply chain.
• Proven experience engaging with bilateral and multilateral donors or global health financing mechanisms (e.g., USG, Global Fund, Gavi, World Bank), including coordinating on program design, implementation, and progress reporting aligned with country priorities.
• Strong leadership and project management skills, with a track record of leading complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives from design through execution.
• Exceptional analytical and problem-solving skills, with a proven ability to design and conduct complex quantitative and qualitative analyses, such as costing, fiscal space assessments, efficiency analyses, or scenario modeling, and to translate findings into actionable recommendations for policy and systems reform.
• Passion for mentoring and capacity strengthening, with experience coaching junior and mid-level staff and building institutional capabilities.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to synthesize technical content for diverse audiences and contribute to high-quality technical documents such as strategic plans, policy briefs, and guidelines.
• Strategic thinker with the ability to navigate ambiguity, adapt to evolving priorities, and operate effectively in fast-paced, multicultural, and limited-structure environments.
• Self-motivated and entrepreneurial, with a strong sense of ownership, initiative, and drive to deliver results.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and other relevant tools for analysis and presentation.
• Professional fluency in English, both written and spoken.

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