Senior Program Officer – Surveillance

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PATH is a global nonprofit dedicated to achieving health equity. With more than 40 years of experience forging multisector partnerships and with expertise in science, economics, technology, advocacy, and dozens of other specialties, PATH develops and scales up innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing heath challenges. 

About the Project

India’s urban population is growing rapidly, and by 2050 it will reach 877 million - nearly two-thirds of the country’s population. The concentration of people in urban settings, coupled with environmental pressures and evolving disease patterns, demands robust surveillance systems capable of early detection and rapid response. PATH is working to strengthen urban disease surveillance and build preparedness against future disease threats in Patna and Nagpur. Under this goal, PATH will support these intervention cities with strengthened surveillance mechanisms, enhanced data reporting, and improved multisectoral coordination across human, animal, and environmental health domains.

About the Position

PATH is seeking to recruit a Senior Program Officer - Surveillance to provide national-level technical oversight on surveillance and diagnostic workflow strengthening. Based in Delhi, the SPO will work closely with the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), state-level counterparts, and city-level project teams in Patna and Nagpur to ensure alignment with IDSP/IHIP systems and national guidelines. The SPO will serve as the technical anchor for the surveillance component, guiding strategy, quality assurance, and cross-site harmonisation across both intervention cities. A critical aspect of this role is to identify lessons learnt from implementation in one city and establish a structured feedback loop to pre-empt and resolve similar bottlenecks in the other. The SPO will hold overall technical and programmatic accountability for achieving project outputs and KPIs across intervention cities, ensuring alignment with donor expectations and national priorities.

• Provide national-level technical and programmatic leadership to ensure delivery of approved activity plan outputs, timelines, and KPIs, ensuring alignment with IDSP/IHIP frameworks and national surveillance guidelines.

• Serve as the primary technical liaison with NCDC and other national-level stakeholders for surveillance and diagnostic workflow integration.

• Develop and oversee the implementation of surveillance strengthening strategies, roadmaps, and workplans for intervention cities in coordination with City Lead - Surveillance positions.

• Support diagnostic workflow strengthening, including specimen referral pathways, laboratory networking, and point-of-care testing integration within urban surveillance systems.

• Lead and oversee GIS mapping initiatives to spatially analyse disease burden, identify high-risk zones, and support evidence-based targeting of surveillance and intervention activities across project cities.

• Guide the preparation of City Action Plans for surveillance strengthening in coordination with City Lead – Surveillance positions and relevant municipal and state health authorities, ensuring alignment with national frameworks and local epidemiological priorities.

• Guide the design and deployment of standardised surveillance tools, data collection instruments, and reporting templates across intervention sites.

• Review and strengthen data quality assurance mechanisms, including data validation protocols, completeness checks, and timeliness monitoring for IHIP and allied reporting platforms.

• Strengthen laboratory-based surveillance systems by supporting the establishment of sentinel surveillance sites, improving specimen referral networks, enhancing lab-reporting linkages with IHIP/IDSP, and building capacity for pathogen detection at city and district levels.

• Support outbreak preparedness and response planning, including the development of SOPs, rapid response protocols, and after-action review frameworks.

• Design and facilitate simulation drills for outbreak preparedness, including tabletop exercises and field-based mock drills, to test and improve rapid response protocols, inter-agency coordination mechanisms, and health system readiness at national and city levels.

• Plan and facilitate upskilling and technical handholding initiatives on IHIP, surveillance operations, outbreak investigation, and data-driven decision-making for national and state-level functionaries.

• Develop technical documents, including operational guidelines, assessment reports, policy briefs, and knowledge products on surveillance strengthening and One Health integration, including the definition of cross-sectoral data sharing protocols between NCDC and national animal health and environmental bodies to operationalise the One Health approach.

• Coordinate with the Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) team at PATH to ensure coherence between surveillance activities and broader urban health programme objectives.

• Establish structured cross-site learning systems to translate implementation insights into real-time course corrections and scalable models.

• Undertake regular supportive supervision visits to intervention cities to monitor progress, identify bottlenecks, and provide corrective technical guidance.

• Lead engagement with donor and national stakeholders on progress reviews, technical reporting, and strategic alignment.

• Represent PATH in national-level technical working groups, consultations, and partner coordination forums on disease surveillance and health security.

• Perform other duties as assigned by the supervisor for the smooth functioning of the project and achievement of organisational goals.

Required Experience and Qualifications

• MBBS/ BDS/ BAMS/ BHMS/ BVSc with a master’s in public health (MPH), Epidemiology, or a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health (DPH) / Health Management. A medical degree with field epidemiology experience (e.g., FETP/EIS equivalent) will be an added advantage.

• Minimum 7-10 years of progressive experience in disease surveillance, epidemiology, or public health programme implementation, with at least 4-5 years in a supervisory or technical leadership role.

• Demonstrated experience of working with government programmes and systems, particularly IDSP/IHIP, NCDC, or equivalent national/state surveillance units.

• Familiarity with the Indian public health system, key stakeholders, and relevant government policies and strategies - particularly the National Health Mission, Ayushman Bharat, and the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme.

• Experience of working with agencies such as national/ state surveillance units, or INGOs on surveillance or outbreak response will be strongly preferred.

Functional Competencies

• Strong technical knowledge of disease surveillance systems, outbreak investigation, and diagnostic workflows.

• Proficiency in data analysis, data visualisation, and use of epidemiological tools.

• Demonstrated ability to translate complex technical and epidemiological outputs into concise, high-level policy briefs that enable decision-making by senior policymakers.

• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and Hindi, including the ability to produce high-quality technical documents, reports, and presentations.

• Direct experience of independently liaising with senior government health functionaries, national and state-level administrators, and development partners.

• Ability to provide mentoring and technical guidance to geographically dispersed teams.

• Strong coordination and stakeholder management skills across multiple sites and partner organisations.

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook).

• Ability to travel up to 30-40% of the time.