Director, Technical Services - Laboratory

The Organization:

Corus International is the parent of a family of world-class organizations working to deliver the holistic, lasting solutions needed to end extreme poverty once and for all. We are a global leader in international development, with 150 years of combined experience across our brands. Our nonprofit and for-profit subsidiaries include IMA World Health and its fundraising brand Corus World Health, Lutheran World Relief, CGA Technologies, Ground Up Investing, and Farmers Market Brands.

Our more than 400 employees around the globe are experts in their fields and dedicated to helping the world’s most vulnerable people break the cycle of poverty and lead healthy lives.

At Corus we believe that good only grows stronger and we reflect that belief in our workplace culture. We value every employee’s specialized area of expertise and nurture professional growth. We promote an engaging and supportive work environment, where employees feel enabled and driven to innovate, learn and collaborate. And because our subsidiaries often function as partners, our employees have the opportunity to work across our enterprise family.

The Director, Technical Services - Laboratory will provide strategic and technical leadership to strengthen laboratory systems and diagnostic services supporting infectious disease prevention, detection, surveillance, and response under a U.S. Government (USG)-funded health program, primarily in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and other African countries.

The Director will support country teams and collaborate closely with Ministries of Health (MoH), the National Public Health Institute (INSP), the National Laboratory Directorate, provincial health authorities, and implementing partners to strengthen laboratory capacity for priority infectious diseases, including Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), Mpox, HIV, tuberculosis (TB), malaria, vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs), and other emerging public health threats.

The Director will provide technical assistance in laboratory network strengthening, quality management systems, biosafety and biosecurity, specimen referral systems, outbreak preparedness and response, workforce development, and laboratory information systems. This work will be conducted in alignment with national policies, international standards, and Global Health Security priorities.

The Director will also represent Corus International and the project in regional and global forums, share learning and best practices, and disseminate relevant technical guidance to country teams.

• Provide strategic and technical leadership for laboratory functions supporting EVD, Mpox, HIV, TB, malaria, vaccine-preventable diseases, and other emerging infectious diseases.
• Support country teams and provide technical guidance in the development of annual workplans related to strengthening laboratory systems.
• Support Ministries of Health in implementing national laboratory strategic plans, policies, standards, and operational guidelines.
• Advise on laboratory system improvements, including referral networks, specimen transport systems, and diagnostic services.
• Strengthen laboratory preparedness and response capacity for disease outbreaks and public health emergencies.
• Provide technical assistance to ensure laboratory interventions align with the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), International Health Regulations (IHR 2005), and USG best practices and priorities.

• Provide technical assistance to strengthen integrated national and provincial laboratory networks.
• Improve specimen collection, transportation, referral, testing, reporting, and quality assurance systems.
• Support the development or adoption of tools and methodologies to conduct laboratory assessments and develop corrective action plans.
• Provide technical support for the implementation of laboratory quality management systems (QMS), accreditation pathways, including ISO 15189 and SLIPTA, and continuous quality improvement initiatives.
• Strengthen biosafety, biosecurity, infection prevention and control (IPC), and waste management practices.

• Work…