Global WASH O&M Lead (Remote)

Splash International; United States; Remote; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) with 3% match

Paid time off and holidays

Job summary

Splash International is seeking a WASH Technical Advisor, O&M, to translate global O&M strategy into locally owned models, ensuring maintenance, financing, workforce, supply chain, and accountability systems at start-up and handover. The role spans government, utilities, and school-level work, with travel across Africa and the US.

Reporting to the Senior Director, Programs, you will drive strategy execution, partner collaboration, and service delivery design to sustain reliable school WASH

Qualifications

• 7+ years in WASH, infrastructure sustainability, municipal service delivery, public systems strengthening, operations, maintenance, or utilities.
• Demonstrated experience managing complex workstreams across government counterparts, local partners, service providers, and technical teams.
• Strong grounding in O&M systems: preventive and reactive maintenance, lifecycle costing, service standards, and handover planning.
• Track record developing tools, SOPs, workplans, dashboards, or implementation frameworks that help teams execute consistently.
• Excellent writing and facilitation skills, with the ability to make systems-level concepts practical for diverse audiences.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required. Experience in East or Southern Africa, school WASH, or performance-based contracting strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

• Support country teams to implement Splash’s sustainable O&M strategy across country workplans, including Ethiopia, Zambia, and Malawi.
• Translate the global strategy into action plans, tools, decision gates, and country-ready guidance for pilot, delivery, and exit phases.
• Working closely with country-based technical staff, track O&M readiness across school cohorts, service providers, utilities, and government counterparts, adapting approaches based on implementation evidence.
• Develop O&M financing templates and handover criteria; monitor commitments and alignment with Splash’s exit criteria.
• Partner with country leadership to embed O&M into education, water, utility, and municipal planning processes wherever feasible.
• Identify and prioritize O&M partners: service providers, utilities, technical partners, and local implementers.
• Advance global partner conversations into agreements covering scope, service levels, roles, and costs; develop service agreements and contracts.
• Support country teams to develop service agreements and contracts that define responsibilities, performance expectations, and handover conditions.
• Manage global O&M partner relationships, tracking commitments and escalating delivery and/or performance issues.
• Design O&M service models covering preventive, scheduled, and reactive maintenance; establish SOPs and maintenance schedules.
• Strengthen local workforce capacity through mentoring, handover documentation, and peer learning.
• Analyze O&M supply chain needs, focusing on spare-parts availability and procurement standards for sustainability.
• Collaborate with Impact team to develop lean monitoring approaches tracking infrastructure functionality and repair response times.

Skills

Systems thinking

WASH sector experience

Operations & Maintenance

Stakeholder management

SOPs & tools development

Policy & program integration

Excellent writing & facilitation

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience

Job description

Splash International is seeking a WASH Technical Advisor, O&M, to translate global O&M strategy into locally owned models, ensuring maintenance, financing, workforce, supply chain, and accountability systems at start-up and handover. The role spans government, utilities, and school-level work, with travel across Africa and the US.

Reporting to the Senior Director, Programs, you will drive strategy execution, partner collaboration, and service delivery design to sustain reliable school WASH