Director, Global Operations

Clinton Health Access Initiative; United States; On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

The Clinton Health Access Initiative is seeking a Director of Operations to innovate and optimize internal operations. This role, reporting directly to the COO, involves overseeing AI initiatives, streamlining processes, and enhancing operational efficiency across various teams. Ideal candidates will have a Bachelor’s degree, over 12 years of experience in leadership roles, and strong operational expertise, particularly in AI tools. This position requires flexibility and a commitment to CHAI's mission, with up to 30% international travel expected.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 12 years of relevant professional experience.
• Strong operational background and leadership experience.
• Genuine knowledge of AI tools and their applications.

Responsibilities

• Set direction for internal AI transformation.
• Lead cross-functional operational initiatives.
• Drive process improvements across operations.
• Provide oversight of global safety and security.
• Develop a knowledge management system aligned with AI goals.
• Manage a Global Operations team.

Skills

AI tools knowledge

Leadership

Change management

Operational efficiency

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Job description

Overview

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to our mission of saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries. We work at the invitation of governments to support them and the private sector to create and sustain high-quality health systems.

CHAI was founded in 2002 in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, with the goal of dramatically reducing the price of life‑saving drugs and increasing access to these medicines in the countries with the highest burden of the disease. Over the following two decades, CHAI has expanded its focus. Today, along with HIV, we work with our partners to prevent and treat infectious diseases such as COVID-19, malaria, tuberculosis, and hepatitis. Our work has also expanded into cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and other non‑communicable diseases, and we work to accelerate the rollout of lifesaving vaccines, reduce maternal and child mortality, combat chronic malnutrition, and increase access to assistive technology. We are investing in horizontal approaches to strengthen health systems through programs in human resources for health, digital health, and health financing. With each new and innovative program, our strategy is grounded in maximizing sustainable impact at scale, ensuring that governments lead the solutions, that programs are designed to scale nationally, and learnings are shared globally.

At CHAI, our people are our greatest asset, and none of this work would be possible without their talent, time, dedication, and passion for our mission and values. We are a highly diverse team of enthusiastic individuals across 40 countries with a broad range of skill sets and life experiences. CHAI is deeply grounded in the countries we work in, with the majority of our staff based in program countries.

CHAI is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and is committed to providing an environment of fairness, and mutual respect where all applicants have access to equal employment opportunities. CHAI values diversity and inclusion, and recognizes that our mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people with diverse experience, backgrounds, and culture.

Position Overview

CHAI’s Global Operations team has the mandate to maximize operational effectiveness and efficiency across the organization. The Director, Operations reports to the Chief Operating Officer and oversees three distinct functional areas:

• Internal AI transformation – leading the adoption of AI across the organization, in close partnership with the Innovation team.
• Strategic operations – process design and optimization, leading cross‑functional operational priorities in collaboration with HR, Finance, IT, Legal & Compliance, etc.
• Operational infrastructure – managing the foundational functions that enable the organization to operate effectively, including safety & security and knowledge management.

These three areas are not separate bets. They are interdependent: AI is no longer optional in any high‑performing operations function, process improvements only stick when the underlying infrastructure is reliable, and stable infrastructure is what makes both transformation and continuous improvement possible. CHAI is looking for a leader with the breadth and adaptability to oversee all three areas, and the credibility to move across very different domains while holding clear strategic direction.

This role offers unusual breadth of operational exposure across a complex, fast‑moving global health organization, and is well suited to a leader eager to take on expanded organizational leadership responsibility over time.

What Success Looks Like

The following give a concrete sense of the kinds of outcomes we are looking for; they should be viewed as illustrative, and not comprehensive.

• CHAI is, at its core, radically more efficient due to the following three levers:
  • AI has fundamentally changed how CHAI works. Core business processes have been reengineered to leverage the benefits that AI can provide. Staff are not occasional users – they are confident, capable practitioners who reach for AI instinctively when solving problems. CHAI can now deliver more with the same resources.
  • Cross‑functional work is streamlined and moves ahead rapidly, rather than getting stalled between functions. The energy that used to get lost in unwieldy processes or misalignment between functions is now spent moving the mission forward.
  • Routine operational infrastructure has been streamlined so that teams are no longer spending their time re‑inventing the wheel on the same processes. Global Ops is considered the go‑to team to figure out the most effective and efficient way to accomplish day‑to‑day general management and operational tasks.
• The organization’s biggest operational pain points and risks are tackled successfully – from emergent issues that arise on an ad‑hoc basis and require significant attention from the Leadership team, to long‑standing issues that remain unresolved.

Responsibilities

• Set the direction for CHAI’s internal AI transformation in partnership with the C‑suite and the Innovation team, and provide strategic and management oversight to the manager who delivers it – covering organization‑wide rollout coordination, training and enablement, AI governance and policy, pilot coordination, and vendor relationship management.
• Lead and facilitate cross‑functional operational initiatives across CHAI’s global and country teams, including complex priorities that cut across departmental lines.
• Identify and drive process improvements across CHAI’s internal operations, designing better ways of working and ensuring changes are implemented durably.
• Provide executive oversight of CHAI’s global safety and security function, led day‑to‑day by an Associate Director, Safety & Security; serve as the senior organizational escalation point for significant incidents.
• Build and oversee an effective, right‑sized knowledge management system for CHAI that is aligned with the organization’s AI transformation goals.
• Lead a Global Operations team of six FTEs – providing direction, coaching, and meaningful investment in each team lead’s development.
• Serve as PMO for high‑priority cross‑functional initiatives at the request of CHAI Leadership.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent and at least 12 years of relevant professional experience, including demonstrated success in a leadership role with direct management of teams and cross‑functional accountability.
• Strong operational generalist background with the credibility and range to oversee functions where you are not the deepest subject‑matter expert.
• Genuine working knowledge of AI tools, their capabilities, and limitations, and how they can be applied to transform enterprise workflows; deep technical expertise on AI is not required, but the ability to lead CHAI’s internal AI adoption agenda credibly and engage substantively on AI strategy is.
• Demonstrated experience leading change management or organizational transformation initiatives, including shifting staff behaviour and building new ways of working across a distributed workforce.
• Prior experience navigating ambiguity and providing organizational direction in decentralized environments with limited formal structure.
• Proven ability to build and manage high‑performing teams, with experience in coaching and developing staff at the mid‑manager level.
• Willingness to travel internationally, up to 30% annually.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience improving how work gets done across an organization – whether through process redesign, restructuring teams, building new operating models, or leading operational change initiatives.
• Experience working closely with C‑suite leaders to make data‑driven recommendations and drive successful execution on leadership priorities.
• Experience in fast‑paced and high‑rigour sectors, such as management consulting or tech.
• Experience in global health, international development, or a comparable mission‑driven sector.
• Exposure to safety, security, or risk management functions in an international operating context.
• Experience managing geographically dispersed teams across multiple countries, time zones, and cultural contexts.