Position Title: Senior Director, Health Programs

Location: Washington, DC, Raleigh, NC or Remote

Department: North America

Reports to: Regional President and Managing Director, North America

Description

Special Olympics Inc. (SOI) is international NGO serving over 6 million people with intellectual disabilities (ID) in 193 countries. Best known for its engagement around sports, SOI promotes a myriad of health services and activities and houses the largest global database of health screenings of people with intellectual disabilities. SOI’s Health strategy is directed towards promoting equity and reducing health disparities for the 6 million athletes and 80 million people with ID around the world through four strategic activities: (1) Preventive care services, including early intervention for those under 8 years of age, fitness programs and public health promotion activities; (2) Assessment services, directed at preventive health screenings and early detection of the most common conditions for people with ID and developing person-centered care coordination and connections to reduce those conditions; (3) Training services, to engage the health care workforce using evidence-based learning activities that employ virtual and hands-on interactions to improve quality of care; and (4) Promoting health systems reform through partnerships with provider and government organizations and promoting strong self-advocacy.

This Senior Director of Health Programs provides the opportunity for an experienced, motivated leader to grow and expand our health programming across all strategic priorities within the North America region. This individual will play a critical role supporting Special Olympics’ new 2021-2031 global health strategy by advancing the development, planning and implementation of various thematic areas including, but not limited to, early interventions, health promotion, preventive care and fitness programming as well as advocacy towards inclusive health system reforms. The Senior Director of Health Programs is responsible for the development, implementation and evaluation of Health strategies and partnerships that develop, promote and expand health opportunities in North America. Health services programming is widely implemented through the support of a cooperative agreement with the US Centers for Disease Control. As an integral member of the North America Team and strong collaborator with the SOI Health Team, this role oversees the highly impactful health care services and public health programming provided year-round, including at events, major Games and in the community. This is an incredible opportunity to join a dedicated team delivering health interventions to a very marginalized population, with profound results!

Primary Responsibilities:

• Provide overall leadership to Special Olympics North America’s health strategy including, but not limited to technical assistance and overall strategy, growth and quality improvement, field implementation, operations and monitoring, partner relationships and results dissemination.
• Directly supervise regional health staff; develop clear and achievable objectives, evaluate performance against objectives, mentor, and provide corrective guidance as appropriate.
• Create multi-year regional strategies and annual operational plans and budgets for health that are aligned with the global health strategic plan and that are integrated with, and support, the overall goals of the SONA region. Conduct needs assessments as appropriate to support the development of strategies at the regional level.
• Set funding priorities for health programming within the SONA region, based on past Program performance metrics, global and regional priorities, environmental factors and regular liaison with regional leadership. Manage actual costs within a budget set by SOI.
• Communicate health strategies, plans, and funding priorities to Program Eds/CEOs within the SONA region, and liaise with Program Directors and staff in charge of health programming to integrate these into their own plans.
• Support grant management in the region to create efficient systems for application, disbursement and reporting by Programs. This includes establishing channels for regular engagement with all stakeholders, grant and report review, tracking and monitoring systems and contributing to application and reporting processes led by SOI and stewarding key relationships and partners stipulated when required.
• Support major health initiatives within the region including health programming at USA Games Cup and other medical/ health services such as COVID response and vaccination campaigns.
• Maintain a strong and productive relationship with global SOI Health Department, continuing to support global priorities and initiatives as appropriate and contributing significantly to the success of the department and movement.

Educational background and minimum years of experience:

• Master’s degree in public health, health administration, health services management, etc. or similar and/or clinical degree, licensure or certification in relevant health discipline;
• At least 10-12 years of professional experience in a leadership role, including team supervision and strategic and operational planning and execution of health services and programs in North America
• Demonstrated experience in successful planning, management and implementation of large federal, foundation and other grants;
• Experience with budget development and financial oversight;
• Experience stewarding, developing and scaling health care industry partnerships;
• Experience providing technical expertise to implementers in pursuit of interventions designed to improve health outcomes;

Necessary knowledge and skills

• Deep knowledge of US health care service delivery systems and public health programs, large federal grants management, and community-based organizations
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills, including the ability to contribute to grant writing and deliver presentations to engage with external stakeholders;
• Strong organizational and time management skills, and ability to manage multiple priorities and people in a fast-paced, deadline driven setting;

Preferred Qualifications and Experience

• Project management (PMP) certification, health education (CHES) certification, or board certification in public health are pluses
• Experience with health technology, including telehealth, electronic health record system implementations, wearables/remote monitoring, is highly desired
• Previous engagement with the Special Olympics movement in any capacity;
• Fluency in language other than English, especially Spanish.

Special Olympics provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.