About the Program:
Lead poisoning is a widespread but preventable crisis that affects millions—particularly children—leading to severe cognitive, developmental, and lifelong health consequences. Vital Strategies is expanding its program that addresses the issue of lead poisoning in low- and middle-income countries. We plan to build upon existing efforts and interest by collaborating with governmental agencies in more Indian states to strengthen health systems and build local expertise in lead poisoning prevention to enact sound, cost-effective policies to address exposures.
Job Purpose:
The Program Officer will play an instrumental role in providing support to the Lead Poisoning Prevention efforts in India. This position will offer coordination and technical support to the national and state-level activities, including with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MOHFW) to ensure timely, compliant, and efficient execution of the program.
This role involves coordinating with program partners, government officials, and field surveillance teams. The Program Officer will help ensure that all program activities are implemented in line with organizational policies, program requirements, approved work plans, and timelines. The ideal candidate will combine strong coordination skills with a foundational technical understanding of public health systems, surveillance, program operations and implementation, and health program management.
Duties and Responsibilities:
Program Coordination:
- Facilitate coordination and follow-up between internal teams, government stakeholders (MOHFW), consultants, partners, and vendors.
- Organize and coordinate weekly, monthly, and ad hoc meetings as required, including preparation of agenda, meeting notes, and follow-up actions.
- Work closely with country and state teams and colleagues across the organization to meet objectives.
- Provide coordination support to national and state teams in planning and executing trainings, workshops, consultations, surveillance activities, and review meetings.
Documentation Support:
- Ensure accurate maintenance of program documentation, records, trackers, and correspondence.
- Support in the preparation of reports, presentations, briefing notes, meeting materials, templates, updating dashboards, program trackers, and other program documents.
- Coordination and dissemination of activity reports, technical documents, and program materials.
- Conduct data entry when needed to support the program activities.
Program Operations and Compliance Support:
- Support the National program team in planning events, logistics, venue coordination, purchase requests, reimbursements, per diem, and procurement documentation.
- Coordinate with the Finance team to ensure timely submission and processing of financial documents.
- Assist in the tracking of program expenditures and transactions to ensure activities remain aligned with approved budgets and policies, and ensure they are completed.
- Support the team to ensure compliance with organizational procurement, finance, contracting, and travel policies.
Technical Program Support:
- Assist in the compilation of technical and programmatic information from states and partners.
- Conduct basic research and data compilation to support reporting and documentation needs.
- Coordinate with technical experts, partners, laboratories, government, and other relevant stakeholders as needed.
- Contribute to reporting, program monitoring, and documentation of achievements and implementation progress to ensure activities remain on schedule and aligned with the approved work plan.
- Support in the identification of operational bottlenecks and recommend process improvements to strengthen implementation efficiency.
- Any other tasks assigned by the Supervisor(s).
Qualifications:
Education and Degree -
Bachelor's degree required; a Master's degree in Public Health (MPH) preferred.
Experience:
Required –
Minimum of five years of overall professional experience with at least two years in project coordination, program administration, or operations.
Experience in project management frameworks to monitor work plans, maintain dashboards, and manage action items.
Experience in event planning, venue coordination, and managing end-to-end logistics for workshops or trainings.
Preferred -
- Experience working with government stakeholders or multi-regional teams (like "state and country teams") is a plus.
- Experience working collaboratively and remotely with internal and external team members to provide administrative support on time.
- Experience using platforms such as Docusign, NetSuite, or Airtable.
- Ability to draft official correspondence independently.
Skills & Abilities
- Professional oral and written proficiency in English and Hindi.
- Strong organizational and time management skills to manage program activities and documentation. Experience in record-keeping and filing systems to ensure accurate data management.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills to interact professionally with government officials, program partners, and vendors.
- Strong data entry skills and comfort navigating, organizing, and updating program trackers and data dashboards.
- Demonstrated success in event planning, venue coordination, and managing end-to-end logistics for workshops or trainings.
- Exceptional attention to detail to ensure accuracy in technical documentation, financial processing and logistical arrangements
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) and other relevant administrative tools
- Ability to collaboratively work and coordinate with cross-cultural and cross-functional internal teams and external partners in various time zones.
Working Conditions and Physical Requirements:
- Flexibility to collaborate with colleagues across time zones.
- This is a ‘Remote’ position, and the role is expected to coordinate with the relevant department under the MOHFW and with other stakeholders.
- Willingness to travel for field visits, meetings, and program activities as needed.
Additional Information:
As a two-time Great Place to Work® certified organization, Vital Strategies India is proud to foster a culture rooted in respect, collaboration, integrity, and inclusion. We welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds and do not discriminate on any basis protected by country or local laws.
We are committed to maintaining a professional environment where everyone is treated with dignity and where safeguarding is paramount — we uphold zero tolerance for sexual harassment, exploitation, or abuse, and thoroughly vet all final candidates.
The salary range for this position is INR 15,75,000 to INR 19,21,500 complemented by a strong retirement plan, flexible basket reimbursement options, comprehensive healthcare coverage, and paid leave — ensuring our people feel supported, valued, and empowered to thrive both professionally and personally.
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