Head of Product Management

JOB TITLE: Head of Product Management

REPORTING TO:  Chief Technology Officer

DEPARTMENT:  Digital Health

CLASSIFICATION LEVEL: Head

LOCATION: Remote in Africa

ABOUT HEALTHY LEARNERS

Healthy Learners is an award-winning non-profit organisation working to improve the health and learning of children across Zambia—and soon, beyond. In partnership with the Government of Zambia, we bring healthcare directly into schools so that children stay healthy, stay in class, and reach their full potential. Our model is government-owned and government-led, fully embedded in national priorities, systems, and structures.

Today, we have 1,062 health rooms, trained 8,370 School Health Teachers, and operate in 𝟰𝟱 districts across all ten provinces, reaching more than 1.4 million learners through Zambia’s first integrated School Health Program. Our approach combines school-based service delivery with technical assistance to government at every level—strengthening planning, supervision, data use, and local capacity to deliver.

As we complete our national scale-up, we’re focused on deepening programme quality, strengthening delivery systems, and laying the foundation for long-term government leadership. We’re looking for a dynamic operational leader to help drive this next chapter—someone ready to manage complexity at scale and help a proven model achieve lasting impact.

Healthy Learners is the proud recipient of the Skoll Award for Social Innovation, the Duke F.M. Kirby Prize, and the Lipman Family Prize from the University of Pennsylvania. These awards reflect not just our success to date, but the strength of the opportunity ahead. If this mission resonates with you, we’d love to hear from you.

ABOUT YOU

You exemplify the qualities of being Humble, Hungry, and Smart in your leadership:

• Humble (Continuous Learning & Inclusion): You actively seek, encourage, and facilitate feedback sharing, fostering an environment of continuous learning. You adapt and grow continuously, cultivating a culture of inclusion and belonging.
• Hungry (Efficiency, Excellence, and Innovation): Your relentless drive for efficiency and excellence is evident in your approach to both everyday tasks and complex challenges. When obstacles arise, you don't merely seek answers; you develop solutions and establish structures to address future obstacles proactively. Your hunger for innovation permeates the organisation, where you eagerly explore new and best practices, ensuring our people's operations remain modern and highly effective.
• Smart (Emotional Intelligence & Psychological Safety): Your exceptional emotional intelligence is your superpower, allowing you to create psychological safety within the organization. Through your ability to build trust, encourage risk-taking, and nurture courageous conversations, you promote an environment where individuals can thrive and collaborate effectively.

POSITION OVERVIEW

Lead product strategy, development, deployment, and operational monitoring for Healthy Learners’ technical products and third‑party tools used in the School Health Program. Drive national‑scale rollouts across Zambia and prepare for multi‑country regional expansion. Bridge engineering, program delivery, and NGO stakeholder engagement to ensure solutions are secure, scalable, user‑centered, and mission-aligned.

This role involves limited direct interaction with children. The successful candidate is expected to uphold Healthy Learners' Child Safeguarding Policy and standards at all times, ensuring that all learning materials and activities promote safe, respectful, inclusive, and child-centred practices.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Product strategy & roadmap

• Define and own the product roadmap for Healthy Learners’ technical solutions (internal platforms, mobile/tablet clinical apps, analytics/dashboards, integrations with third‑party tools) aligned to program objectives and funder requirements.
• Prioritise features and deployments using impact, compliance, cost, and risk criteria; maintain a clear product backlog and release schedule.

1. Technical product leadership

• Work with engineering/technical teams and external vendors to translate program requirements into technical specifications, user stories, and acceptance criteria.
• Oversee software development lifecycle: design, sprints, QA, UAT, release management, and post‑release monitoring.
• Ensure secure, resilient integrations (APIs, ETL, Snowflake, cloud providers) and manage technical dependencies with third‑party platforms.

1. Programmatic deployment & scale‑up

• Lead end‑to‑end deployments of digital tools for the School Health Program at national scale: pilot planning, rollout, training, device provisioning, offline/online sync strategies, and regional adaptation.
• Coordinate cross‑functional workstreams (program, M&E, field ops, IT/security, procurement, partners) to ensure smooth deployment and adoption.
• Develop deployment playbooks, SOPs, and checklists for national and cross‑country scale.

1. Monitoring, evaluation & continuous improvement

• Define and own product KPIs and operational SLAs (uptime, sync success, data completeness), and build dashboards and alerts for live monitoring.
• Work with M&E to analyse usage, outcomes, and data quality; translate findings into product improvements and program adjustments.
• Manage A/B testing, pilot evaluations, and feedback loops with frontline users to iterate rapidly.

1. Third‑party vendor & partner management

• Evaluate, select, contract, and manage third‑party software vendors and partners; ensure contractual SLAs, security and data protection compliance (including Zambia DPA 2021), and performance monitoring.
• Manage integrations, data sharing agreements, and joint roadmap alignment with partners.

1. Cross‑functional leadership & stakeholder engagement

• Serve as the internal product champion across Healthy Learners, communicating roadmap, tradeoffs, and timelines to leadership, donors, government partners (Ministry of Education/Health), and field teams.
• Facilitate co‑design workshops with teachers, school health teams, frontline workers, and government stakeholders to ensure local relevance and adoption.

1. Team development & capacity building

• Build and lead a small product team (product managers, product owners, business analysts) and mentor team members.
• Drive capacity building for program teams and government partners on product governance and technical adoption.

1. Risk, compliance & quality

• Ensure products meet data protection, security, and ethical standards; coordinate DPIAs and ensure appropriate controls for children’s data.
• Create and maintain incident response, change management, and quality assurance processes.

Deliverables & success metrics

• Product roadmap aligned to organizational strategy with quarterly releases delivered on schedule.
• Successful national rollout of School Health Program technology with defined adoption and data quality KPIs met (e.g., device uptime, encounter completeness, sync rate).
• Operational monitoring dashboards with SLA breach alerts and ≤ target MTTR for critical incidents.
• Documented deployment playbooks, SOPs, training materials, and vendor contracts.
• At least one pilot country expansion plan executed within specified timelines for regional roll‑out.
  

SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Public Health, International Development, or related field. Master’s preferred.
• 6+ years product management or program/product leadership experience in technology deployments; experience in NGOs, public health, or international development strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience managing software development lifecycles, product teams, and third‑party integrations.
• Hands‑on technical literacy (ability to read technical designs, APIs, data flows, cloud infra) and experience with mobile data collection platforms, analytics stacks (e.g., Snowflake, BI tools), or relevant health tech systems.
• Experience deploying digital solutions at scale, preferably in low‑resource or offline environments.
• Proven track record managing government or institutional stakeholders and donor reporting requirements.

• Strong product sense and user‑centered design orientation.
• Excellent project management skills: planning, prioritisation, delivery under constraints.
• Cross‑functional collaboration and diplomacy: works well with engineers, program teams, government stakeholders, and funders.
• Data‑driven decision making and comfort with monitoring/M&E metrics.
• Excellent written and verbal communication in English; ability to produce clear briefs and donor reports.
• Cultural sensitivity, adaptability, and commitment to Healthy Learners’ mission.

• Certifications: Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), PMP, or equivalent.
• Experience with M&E frameworks and health program indicators.
• Familiarity with Zambia Data Protection Act 2021, GDPR and relevant regional and national privacy/security best practices.
• Prior experience in scaling government‑run programs and integration with national health/education systems.
• Based regionally within Africa-friendly time-zones with regular travel to Zambia to facilitate travel to schools, provincial offices, and regional partner sites as needed (less than 25% travel time).

WHAT WE OFFER

• Opportunity for Impact: Play a pivotal role in implementing a program that improves health outcomes for millions of schoolchildren, shaping the future of communities across Africa.
• Competitive Compensation: Receive a competitive salary and benefits package that reflects your expertise and commitment.
• Professional Growth: Access ongoing training, leadership opportunities, and engage in innovative projects that challenge and inspire you.
• Supportive Culture: Join a passionate, dedicated team that values collaboration and mutual support, fostering an environment where all contributions are recognized.
• Networking Opportunities: Collaborate with international organizations and enhance your network and influence in the public health sector.