Director, Delivery & Operations

Bluesquare; Brussel Hoofdstad; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Impact-first culture

Executive leadership role

Distributed team of 40+ staff

Job summary

Bluesquare, a fast-growing technology company in Global Health, is seeking a Director of Delivery & Operations to lead the Service Business Unit. You will drive strategic execution, balance resources, and ensure profitable delivery across multi-country projects.

Based in Brussels (preferred), you will work with the CEO and executive team, shaping delivery capability, managing a 40+ person team, and aligning commercial opportunities with delivery capacity to maximize impact and value for clients

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in global health, international development, technology-for-development or related sector.
• Prior experience in COO, Director of Operations, Chief of Staff or similar executive operations role.
• Proven experience managing multiple team leads or managers across distributed, multi-country teams.
• Strong understanding of project delivery, resourcing and profitability in a consulting or services environment.
• Comfortable making and communicating difficult HR decisions, including performance management.
• Experience with budget and P&L ownership.
• Excellent written and spoken communication in French and English.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to setting and executing the company’s strategic vision and priorities as part of the executive management team.
• Translate strategy into operational priorities, plans and objectives with effective execution.
• Own the SBU’s P&L: review performance, arbitrate resourcing and investment decisions, report results.
• Lead and develop the SBU delivery teams across Project Management, Country Teams, Data Engineering and Analytics.
• Oversee resource planning and allocation, optimise utilization and capacity.
• Foster collaboration and a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

Skills

People management

Delivery leadership

P&L ownership

Strategic thinking

Budget management

Communication

Cross-functional

Job description

Organization

Bluesquare is a fast-growing technology company focusing on Global Health. Our mission is to help Global Health resources get where they matter most. We partner with Global Health Funds, local governments, health service purchasers, NGOs, and international donors to strengthen data systems and support smarter health investments.

Our technologies are used in more than 30 countries and support over 60 clients, including the World Bank, WHO, WFP, the Global Fund, the Gates Foundation, GiveWell and leading NGOs.

Learn more at bluesquarehub.com/

Mission

The Service Business Unit (SBU) is Bluesquare's delivery engine for digital health programs: it brings together country teams, project management, and data engineering, implementation and analytics capacity to deliver complex, multi-country projects for Global Health clients.

The Director of Delivery & Operations is responsible for translating the company's strategy into operational execution, ensuring that projects are delivered successfully, resources are used effectively, and the organization operates efficiently and profitably. The role leads the SBU delivery operations and teams, with accountability for project delivery performance, resource planning, operational efficiency, delivery quality and client satisfaction.

The Director of Delivery & Operations works closely with the Director, Growth & Partnerships, who leads business development, partnerships and practice development. Together, they share responsibility for the SBU's overall strategy, financial performance and alignment between commercial opportunities and delivery capacity. Both Directors contribute to Bluesquare's overall strategic direction as members of the Executive Committee and report to the CEO.

Location

Brussels preferred

Role & Responsibilities

1. Executive & Strategic Leadership

• As part of Bluesquare's executive management team, contribute to setting and executing the company's strategic vision and priorities, bringing an operational perspective to strategic, organizational and investment decisions.
• Translate the SBU's strategy into operational priorities, plans and objectives, ensuring effective execution and alignment with Bluesquare's overall strategy.
• Alongside the Director for Growth & Partnerships, own the SBU's P&L: review performance, arbitrate resourcing and investment decisions, and report on results.
• High-level representation of the company with partners, clients and funders, including government officials and global health institutions.

2. SBU Delivery Coordination

• Ensure that the SBU has the right skills and resources, appropriately allocated across projects as well as an effective management structure to support delivery.
• Lead and develop the SBU's team leads across Project Management, Country Teams, Data Engineering, Data Implementation and Data Analytics, ensuring clear responsibilities, accountability and effective team performance.
• Oversee resource planning and allocation across projects and teams, optimizing utilization, managing workloads and anticipating capacity constraints.
• In coordination with HR and team leads, anticipate recruitment needs, support performance management, career developments and identify skills development priorities.
• Foster collaboration, knowledge sharing and a culture of accountability and continuous improvement across the SBU.

3. SBU Operations and Monitoring

• Oversee project delivery across the SBU and ensure that the right processes, performance monitoring and accountability mechanisms are in place to deliver consistently and profitably.
• Monitor delivery risks, unlock projects and arbitrate delivery bottlenecks and resourcing conflicts.
• With the CFO, maintain integrated tools, processes and metrics for project management and profitability.

Profile

We are looking for an experienced operations leader combining people management credibility, delivery rigor, and executive-level judgment.

Required

• 8+ years of experience in global health, international development, technology-for-development or related sector, including significant people management experience.
• Prior experience in a COO, Director of Operations, Chief of Staff, Chief of Party or similar executive operations role.
• Proven experience managing multiple team leads or managers, ideally across distributed, multi-country teams.
• Strong understanding of project delivery, resourcing and profitability in a consulting or services environment.
• Comfortable making and communicating difficult HR decisions, including performance management.
• Experience with budget and P&L ownership.
• Excellent written and spoken communication in French and English.

Preferred

• Experience with digital data systems or technology-enabled programs (e.g., DHIS2, data collection or health information systems), even if not in a hands-on technical role.
• Experience working with ministries of health, donors, global health organizations, NGOs and other implementing partners.
• Direct experience managing technical or engineering teams (e.g., data engineering, software or systems implementation), with credibility among technical staff.
• Experience leading organizational change.
• Familiarity with the global health or international development technology sector.
• Digital health or data systems background.

Soft skills

• Leadership: Ability to structure, support and develop a multi-disciplinary team.
• Strategic awareness: Capacity to connect day-to-day delivery to the company's broader strategy.
• Decisiveness: Willing and able to make timely calls on resourcing and priorities.
• Systems thinking: Ability to see how delivery, technical and business development functions interact.
• Collaboration: Strong cross-team coordination with other executives and leads.
• Autonomy & ownership: Ability to run the SBU operations independently while aligning with company direction.
• Clear communication: Ability to engage both technical and non-technical stakeholders, and the executive team.

What we offer

• You will work in an impact-first company at the crossroads between global health and technology, at an exciting time in this highly dynamic field.
• You will join Bluesquare's executive management team and help shape the company's direction.
• You will lead a dynamic, distributed team of 40+ staff committed to improving health access & quality, especially for the most vulnerable.
• You will work in collaboration with a wide variety of actors within countries (ministries, donors, global health organizations, NGOs and other implementing partners, field staff, etc.).