North Star Alliance works at the crossroads of disease and mobility to ensure that highly mobile populations, especially truck drivers and their direct and indirect contacts, have access to basic health services. North Star is strengthening national health systems by expanding their reach and plugging the gaps through a network of Roadside Wellness Centres” (RWCs) located at hotspots along the most important transport corridors. North Star’s unique approach unites the transport and public health sectors in a common response to high-impact diseases. 

Learn more about North Star Alliance by visiting our website at: http://www.northstar-alliance.org

North Star Alliance (North Star) is seeking a Chief Medical Officer to guide the organisation in the development and execution of its medical strategy.

This CMO will work closely with North Star Alliance’s Executive Director as well the Regional Medical Quality Control Officers to ensure that North Star medical teams continue to deliver high quality healthcare and health services to our patients and their communities. 

We are seeking a CMO to:

• Take the leading management role in the North Star Alliance Medical Committee, consisting of the Regional Medical Quality Control Officers and other senior operations staff.
• Together with the Executive Director, review and update as required the overall medical strategy for our organisation.
• Together with the Medical Committee, define and manage policies, protocols and standard operating procedures for health promotion, prevention, testing, treatment and care activities across our networks of Roadside Wellness Centres.
• Together with the Regional Medical Quality Control Officers, monitor and evaluate the performance of the medical teams at our Roadside Wellness Centres using our internal quality control system.
• Backstop the Regional Medical Quality Control Officers, and RWC medical teams in the case of exceptional diagnostic and/or treatment issues.

• Qualified medical practitioner with significant clinical experience in under-resourced settings.
• Significant experience in health promotion and prevention activities in under-resourced settings.
• Significant experience in managing clinical activities in remote settings.
• Together with the training coordinator develop the skill set and training curriculum for medical staff.
• Broad management experience.
• Specialisation in communicable diseases or tropical medicine, specifically in HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and STI’s.
• Affinity with medical research.
• Experience in multi-cultural communications.

Desirable Skills

• A strong written and oral command of English; knowledge of French and/or Portuguese would be an advantage.
• Knowledge of health issues for mobile populations, healthcare delivery systems and models in Africa.

Required Competencies

Ethics & Values: Takes responsibility for own performance. Recognises the potential for ethical dilemmas and seeks advice to resolve them. Respects and works productively with all individuals regardless of gender, nationality and cultural background. Acts consistently with established procedures and policies.

Strategic thinker: Systematically extracts pertinent information from relevant sources. Conducts in-depth analysis on issues and problems. Identifies multiple causes of a problem and relationships among the causes, as well as potential solutions.

Initiative: Proposes new ways of accomplishing work objectives. Proactively develops effective solutions to complex problems in own area of expertise. Develops and follows through with a plan of action until desired goals are achieved.

Client Orientation: Actively seeks information and opinions of clients to understand their requests and to identify their needs and expectations. Meets deadlines for delivery of products or services to clients. Keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks. Explains the rationale for decisions/outcomes to the client. Solicits on-going feedback from clients.

Interpersonal Relations: Respects differing needs and viewpoints. Resolves personal and professional disagreements constructively. Builds effective working relationships within the unit/division/office. Demonstrates sensitivity, tact, and empathy for others.

Stamina & Stress Resistance: Maintains effective performance in demanding or uncertain situations (e.g., emergency and/or varied field situations). Maintains a work-life balance to ensure that performance is sustained over the long-term, even under stressful circumstance (e.g., a socially restrictive field environment). Recognises personal limits and reactions to stress. Uses personally effective strategies to cope with stressful situations. Maintains focus in demanding or high-pressure situations.

Behavioural Flexibility: Identifies positive impacts/benefits of forthcoming changes. Shifts focus between tasks when changes in priorities require it.

Location:  North Star Head Office, Utrecht, The Netherlands. Frequent international travel to our regional offices (Nairobi and Durban) and Roadside Wellness Centres will be required.

Terms:  The position requires fulltime availability. Initially a contract will be provided for one year.

Experience: A minimum of 10 years experience in the field is required

Salary: North Star offers a competitive salary and benefits package in line with the demands of the position.

Reports to: Executive Director

Work Permit: Applicants are required to hold the necessary permits to work in the Netherlands.

For more information, please contact us at [email protected] referencing the job title in the subject line.