Public Health Response Manager

Public Health Response Manager

• Project/Division:
  Secure Bio Detection

• Start date:
  
  As soon as possible

• Status:
  Full-time Secure Bio employee

• Approximate compensation: $147,; we may make exceptions for outstanding candidates

• Visa sponsorship:
  No

• Work location:
  
  Cambridge, MA (preferred), Washington, DC, or Remote for outstanding candidates

• Reports to:
  
  Head of Response and Federal Strategy

Secure Bio Detection runs a pathogen-agnostic early warning system to protect the world from catastrophic pandemics. Secure Bio Detection is a project of the non-profit Secure Bio; our mission is to ensure that, as advances in biotechnology lower the barriers to engineering pathogens, humanity is prepared. We’re developing systems to identify novel threats early enough to mount an effective response.

We’re looking for a Public Health Response Manager to spearhead Secure Bio’s engagement with state and local public health to ensure detection translates into effective response. You’ll build on your existing credibility and peer relationships with state and local public health to establish partnerships necessary to enable response, and craft proactive crisis communication materials tailored to the state and local public health customer.

You will help shape Secure Bio’s approach to defining what constitutes an effective response for a variety of scenarios, develop and maintain relationships necessary to minimize the time between an alert on Secure Bio’s biosurveillance system and a decision maker enabled to take appropriate action in response, and provide support to the Head of Response and Federal Strategy. You’ll also work closely with our Genomic Biosecurity Scientists to translate technical findings into appropriate actions.

Finally, you’ll serve as Secure Bio's internal expert on state and local public health needs, constraints, workflows, and decision-making processes.

• Build and nurture trusted relationships with state and local public-health partners, ensuring Secure Bio communications are credible, useful, and designed for uptake during both routine engagement and potential crisis events.

• Establish and maintain partnerships with state, local, territorial, and tribal public-health agencies and relevant public-health professional networks.

• Maintain crisis communication templates that convey appropriate urgency while acknowledging uncertainty and setting expectations tailored to different audiences.

• Work with our Genomic Biosecurity Scientists to translate technical findings into clear, appropriately caveated information that public-health partners can evaluate and act on.

• Inform escalation frameworks for detection events, ranging from routine anomalies to potential pandemic-level events.

• Lead aspects of the response process when concerning signals are detected, from initial assessment, alerting state and local customers, through resolution.

• Support development of exercises and simulations to test and improve response protocols.

• Inform decision trees for various detection scenarios that balance false alarm costs against catastrophic risk.

• Maintain up-to-date contact lists and communication channels with key stakeholders.

• Draft after-action reports following response events to continuously improve protocols.

• On occasion, work outside of normal business hours to ensure key stakeholders have information necessary to take response actions during escalation events.

• Exceptional communication and relationship-building skills, with a demonstrated ability to earn trust and convey complex information clearly.

• Track record of successfully handling high-pressure situations with incomplete information, including the ability to stay calm, make considered decisions, and communicate clearly.

• Exceptional ability to synthesize complex, often incomplete technical information to extract decision-critical insights and drive action.

• Demonstrated skill in coordinating across multiple independent teams or organizations, even without formal authority.

• Strategic thinker who can think several steps ahead, communicate shifting priorities, and adapt in uncertain environments.

• Strong judgment and discretion, particularly in…