Director of External Affairs

Role Overview

The Director of External Affairs is a leadership role responsible for HealthLearn’s external growth. External Affairs includes outward-facing marketing and communications, shepherding government adoption, strategic partnerships with NGOs and professional councils, and fundraising, facilitating expansion into new countries. The role integrates government engagement, partnerships, and external positioning into a coherent external strategy and operates as part of the management team with shared responsibility for organizational performance. The role owns external growth strategy in close partnership with the Executive Director, is accountable for outcomes across a defined portfolio of priority countries and programs, and is expected to lead a small, focused team while remaining hands-on in execution. This Director will act as a key catalyst for transformative impact by helping millions of health workers gain access to excellent and free online training, ensuring they save more lives by improving the quality of the care they deliver.

Key Results in Year One

• Full Ministry of Health approval and CPD accreditation in at least four countries
• Launch and successful government- or partner-led dissemination in at least two countries
• One new partnership with another NGO to offer one or more new courses
• At least 20,000 new course completions driven through approved dissemination pathways
• Clear, maintained pipeline of external opportunities with defined scale and conversion estimates

Primary Responsibilities

Strategy and Organizational Leadership (30%)

• Shape external growth strategy, including country sequencing and partnershipapproach
• Identify high-leverage opportunities for scale via government uptake, partnerships, or funding
• Support board and advisor engagement, including preparation of materials and follow-through
• Build and maintain systems to track external relationships, commitments, and dependencies
• Contribute to day-to-day operations in a small, execution-driven organization
• Contribute to organizational strategy, planning, and prioritization
• Advise the executive team on political, reputational, and institutional risk
• Maintain documentation of approvals, commitments, and stakeholder history

Government Engagement and Approvals (40%)

• Own and drive government engagement strategy across priority countries
• Lead high-stakes engagements while supervising day-to-day government engagement execution
• Set direction and sequencing for MOH endorsement, CPD/CME accreditation, and regulatory approvals
• Personally unblock stalled approval or dissemination processes through outreach, judgment, and escalation
• Oversee government-led dissemination at national and subnational levels
• Ensure localization, expert review, and submissions are completed accurately and on schedule
• Explore international / intergovernmental partnerships to facilitate rapid scaling of reach and impact
• Manage continuity of relationships across time and political changes

Partnerships, Fundraising, and Public Presence (30%)

• Build and manage relationships with NGOs, multilaterals, donors, and ecosystem partners
• Represent HealthLearn at conferences, meetings, and external events
• Support prospecting and pitching for partnership and funding opportunities
• Maintain a forward-looking opportunity pipeline with estimated scale and likelihood of conversion
• Lead external communications for broad audiences (e.g., blog posts, newsletters, media)
• Track and manage key external relationships using CRM-style systems

Qualifications and Experience

We are open to candidates with deep experience in government engagement, partnerships, business development, enterprise sales, fundraising, policy, or related fields.

• Minimum of eight years of relevant experience, including work in sub-Saharan Africa or comparable contexts
• Ownership of complex, multi-step external initiatives with senior stakeholders and long timelines, with a history of demonstrable successes and wins
• Primary responsibility for representing an organization in high-stakes external relationships (e.g., government, regulators, executives, or major partners)
• Experience prioritizing and advancing a portfolio of external opportunities under resource constraints, including deciding what not to pursue
• Experience supervising or building small, focused teams or workstreams
• Experience operating in highly regulated, bureaucratic, or politically complex environments where progress depends on extreme persistence and relationship-building
• Strong operational discipline, including systems for tracking relationships, commitments, and follow-up, and willingness to personally execute any necessary tasks

Additional context

• Experience in health, education, or other regulated sectors is a strong plus, but not required
• A postgraduate degree in a relevant field is a plus, but not required
• Full professional proficiency in English required; French is a strong advantage

Full professional proficiency in English required; French is a strong advantage