Senior Programme Assistant, Vaccine Programmes

Group Company: GAVI

Position title: Senior Programme Assistant, Vaccine Programmes

Position type: Temporary (until 31.12.2025)

Location: Gavi Alliance HQ, Geneva, Switzerland 

Purpose of the position: Provide strategic and administrative support to programme managers in the Vaccine Programmes team to develop, implement and monitor Gavi’s VP grants and investments.   

Department: Vaccine Programmes

Reports to: Head, Strategic Coordination

Career step level: 2

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a
public-private partnership committed to saving children’s lives and protecting
people’s health by increasing equitable use of vaccines in lower-income
countries. The Vaccine Alliance brings together implementing country and donor
governments, the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine
industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation and other private sector partners. Gavi uses innovative finance
mechanisms, including co-financing by recipient countries, to secure
sustainable funding and adequate supply of quality vaccines. Since 2000, Gavi
has contributed to the immunisation of more than one billion children and the
prevention of more than 15 million future deaths.

This is a position in the Vaccine
Programmes (VP) team in Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The VP team is responsible
for developing programme design and guidance for new vaccine introductions (routine
immunisation and/or campaigns), ensuring Gavi’s vaccine portfolio optimisation,
coordinating support across global Alliance partners, designing and
implementing diagnostic capacity strengthening, and serving as the vaccine
point of expertise within the Secretariat for equitable and efficient
implementation of vaccine-preventable disease control activities, including
outbreak detection and response, contributing to reaching zero-dose and under
immunised communities.

Senior Programme Assistants (SPA)
play an important role in Gavi’s mission. The hands-on work is critical to
ensuring that all administrative aspects of the portfolio are effectively
managed, including the development and implementation of Gavi’s grants and
investments, as relevant to Vaccine Programmes. The work is fast paced,
demanding, and rewarding. 

THE ROLE

The Gavi secretariat is seeking an experienced and
skilled person with a background in end-to-end grant and budget management,
including monitoring, familiarity with SAP, and project management. The role
will also self-drive and require strong interpersonal skills to facilitate
effective and timely engagement with relevant Gavi Secretariat teams and
partners, as needed, to facilitate processes and approvals and to monitor the
same.   

The primary function of this position is
to provide strategic and administrative support to programme managers in the
Vaccine Programmes team to develop, implement and monitor Gavi’s VP grants and
investments. 

Specifics responsibilities include:

• Support the Gavi
  country grant approval cycle for pre-identified workstreams in the VP portfolio,
  by mapping milestones, coordinating input and identifying opportunities for the
  optimal utilization of grants and investments;
• Support development
  and implementation of relevant grants and service agreements, including conducting
  required SAP processes, in coordination with other Gavi Secretariat teams, as
  relevant;
• Ensure monitoring of
  these grants, and follow up, in coordination with other Gavi Secretariat teams,
  as relevant;
• Ensure grant and
  service agreements closure processes and timelines are followed, including
  timely communication to grant recipients / suppliers and updates in SAP/
  relevant monitoring systems;
• End-to end
  administrative responsibility for setting up monitoring and review meetings
  with partners/ grant recipients and ensuring relevant documentation and
  dissemination of discussions, as agreed, with stakeholders;
• Knowledge management:
  ensure housekeeping guidance is respected within the VP team and available
  technology platforms are used effectively and consistently;
• Coordinate with
  relevant colleagues in Gavi Secretariat to ensure cross-learning and process
  improvements for enhanced administrative performance.

Note: The essential functions
listed in this section are not exhaustive of the job responsibilities; other
duties may be assigned consistently with the department needs.

QUALIFICATIONS

ACADEMIC

• Completion of at least two years of
  university education. Training in secretarial/administrative field highly
  desirable.

WORK EXPERIENCE

• Minimum of
  3 years in secretarial/administrative field showing of progressively
  responsible work;
• Proven
  ability to quickly adapt to a complex administrative and organisational
  environment;
• Experience
  working in multiple countries/international environment an asset;
• Experience
  working with SAP an advantage.

SKILLS/COMPETENCIES

Problem
solving:

• Ability to
  proactively make decisions and operate independently as well as judgement to
  know when to seek guidance.

Planning
and organizing:

• Ability to multitask, tracking and managing many active priorities in parallel; judgement to prioritise between multiple important tasks but not drop other tasks.
• Highly organised and structured, good planner with a high level of attention to detail.

Portfolio support:

• Excellent
  administrative capabilities to support management of different portfolios;
• Work
  effectively with others, structure work to meet deadlines, including effective
  prioritisation;
• Ability to
  track and follow-up on tasks ensuring completion.

Effective
communicator:

• Delivers clear, concise and coherent messages -verbally and orally – adapted to intended audience.

Strong interpersonal
skills:

• Models positive team behaviors that foster teamwork and trust, both internally and externally;
• Ability to work in a high-pressure environment with tight timelines;
• Conflict management;
• Multi-cultural sensitivity;
• Team player.

Digital skills and information management:

• Know-how
  in record keeping (e.g. proper handling of records and systems to preserve
  institutional memory, including correspondence logs, office filing and
  reference systems, etc.);
• Knowledge
  of Salesforce and/or SAP and SAC an advantage.

Financial management and budgeting:

• Know-how
  in budget administration and accounting, resource allocation and planning at a
  divisional level is an advantage.

Note:
short-listed candidates may be asked to complete a timed test to demonstrate
their data management, analysis, and communication skills.

LANGUAGES 

• Written
  and spoken fluency in English.
• Fluency
  in French other languages of Gavi-supported countries an asset

CONTACTS

• All Gavi Secretariat teams
• Gavi Alliance partners, including
  UNICEF, WHO, FIND, academic institutions, expanded partners.
• Gavi donors

Please note that as a vaccine organisation and in order to provide duty
of care towards its employees, Gavi is requiring its new employees to confirm
that they are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as a condition for pursuing
employment with us. You can find out more by visiting this link. 

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In support of Gavi’s commitment to diversity, equality
and inclusion, we hire globally and welcome applications regardless of age,
disability, ethnicity, national origin, family status, sex, gender identity or
expression, physical characteristics, race, religion, spirituality or sexual
orientation. Gavi has zero tolerance towards sexual harassment, sexual
exploitation and abuse as well as any form of discrimination or harassment.
Everyone at Gavi is expected to conduct themselves with integrity and respect
towards each other. Gavi is committed to creating a work environment that is
safe and professional, therefore all selected candidates will undergo rigorous
reference checks. Read more here.

Gavi brings together the public and
private sectors to save lives and protect people’s health by increasing
equitable and sustainable use of vaccines against 18 infectious diseases. You
will be joining an organisation at the centre of the international COVID-19
response, at the most critical time in global health in a lifetime. You will
work in a culturally diverse environment with over 70 nationalities. You will
collaborate with partners such as WHO, UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, the World Bank – and from business, civil society and government.
And you will work in the first global health organisation to receive equal
gender salary certification. Your unique experience, skills and talents can
help us achieve our vision of leaving no one behind without the life-saving
power of vaccines.