Senior Manager: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) (R817A) - Closing Date: 26 December 2024

STRATEGIC RESEARCH INITIATIVES (SRI)

(CAPE TOWN)

The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) strives to improve the nation’s health and quality of life by funding and conducting relevant and leading health research. It further aims to promote equity, career development and progression.

Senior Manager: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL)

3 Year Contract Position

The BRILLIANT Consortium – a USAID funded Cooperative Agreement with the SAMRC - seeks to appoint a Senior Manager: MEL who will report to the Deputy Program Director (Administration) and will be responsible and accountable for the management of the consortium’s monitoring, evaluation and learning activity.

The BRILLIANT Consortium’s program of research is focusing on utilizing the existing capacity, scientific talent, ingenuity and investments made in community engagement to advance the HIV vaccine field in East, West and Southern Africa through supporting activities in the following five interrelated areas:

1. Partner with civil society advocates, affected communities including those affected by and people living with HIV/AIDS, policymakers, and communicators to advance sub-Saharan African-led HIV vaccine science.
2. Design and implement early-stage clinical trials of HIV vaccine immunogens.
3. Conduct laboratory analyses on samples from trials and epidemiological studies.
4. Test innovative preclinical HIV vaccine concepts, advancing the most promising candidates toward clinical trials.
5. Strengthen systems of collaborations for HIV vaccine research in East, West and Southern Africa and increase opportunities to advance the careers of promising scientists from Africa.

Responsibilities:

The Senior Manager: MEL will be responsible for overseeing the implementation and management of the consortium’s 5-year MEL plan, as well as monitoring and evaluating its progress and outcomes. The role involves ensuring that appropriate monitoring and evaluation systems and frameworks are in place to track program performance and learning and using this information to inform decision-making and improve program effectiveness. His/her role in the program will be to:

1. Collaborate with BRILLIANT program leads and consortium partners/stakeholders to regularly review the MEL objectives and develop/enhance monitoring and evaluation frameworks.
2. Implement systems to track program activities, outputs, and outcomes and generate relevant reports. This includes developing/reviewing indicators, data collection tools, and data management systems and monitoring implementation at regular intervals.
3. Ensure data quality assurance and provide training for corrective actions.
4. Prepare and present program information to internal and external stakeholders.
5. Facilitate a learning culture within the BRILLIANT program by promoting reflection, documentation, and dissemination of lessons learned and best practices.
6. Collaborate with BRILLIANT program committees, partner organizations and USAID to establish strong working relationships and promote effective communication and coordination.

Core Requirements:

1. A 4-year degree in management, business or administration.
2. Have extensive experience in the area of monitoring, evaluation and learning, especially with international funders.
3. At least 5 years of experience as a Senior Manager: MEL.
4. 3 – 5 years project management experience.

Advantageous:

1. Bachelor’s degree or higher in biomedical science or related discipline.
2. Display evidence of working productively as part of a team, and leading teams.
3. Project management qualification and project management experience.
4. Demonstrated experience working in a health research environment/project(s).
5. Preferably demonstrated experience in working across multiple consortium partners in other countries.
6. Working knowledge/background in health research.

Terms & Conditions: The SAMRC retains the right not to make an appointment. In accordance with the SAMRC’s Employment Equity Plan, preference will be given to suitably qualified candidates from the designated groups. For this reason, we require race, gender and disability status to be specified. Disabled persons are encouraged to apply. By submitting your application, SAMRC concludes that you are a competent person to consent and that you are giving consent to the SAMRC to process and further process all personal information contained in the application in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act, Act No 4 of 2013 (as amended).

A salary in the region of R1 412 191.00 per annum, cost-to-company, will be negotiated in consideration of experience and qualifications.

Closing Date: 26 December 2024

PLEASE QUOTE THE REFERENCE NUMBER (R817A) IN ALL COMMUNICATIONS. PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT YOUR SUBMISSION WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED SHOULD YOUR APPLICATION NOT BE ACCOMPANIED BY THE REQUIRED INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTATION.