Senior Medical Scientist

Ipas; South Carolina; Remote; USD 165,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Ipas seeks a Senior Medical Scientist in a remote-capable role to advance safe abortion, contraception, and GBV care quality on a global scale. You will lead evidence-based initiatives, train staff, and build cross-organizational partnerships to improve SRHR outcomes.

You will disseminate findings, engage with external stakeholders, and contribute to donor-facing content, all while applying clinical expertise to program design and evaluation.

Qualifications

• Advanced clinical degree in nursing or midwifery.
• 10+ years’ experience in clinical practice including reproductive health care.
• Experience applying clinical information to training and programs.
• Knowledge of international SRHR programs and low-resource settings.

Responsibilities

• Lead and advance safe abortion, contraception, and GBV care quality and access.
• Disseminate evidence via publications and presentations; conduct trainings.
• Represent Ipas externally and advocate for the mission.
• Build partnerships with organizations to maximize impact.
• Develop tools translating evidence into health services; support training.

Skills

English fluency

Team leadership

Training capability

Education

Advanced clinical degree (e.g nursing, midwifery)

Job description

This position is remote-based. Salary range for US-based candidate is $165,000.00 to $180,000.00. Compensation for this position will be determined by the prevailing market rate in the employee's country and the applicable statutory laws, in addition to Ipas's own pay philosophy and other factors, such as the employee's experience level and expertise. Position may work remotely from any of the following US states: AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, MD, MA, MI, NJ, NY, NC, PA, SC, TX, VA, WA. Additionally, the position may work remotely from any of the following countries outside of the US: Bangladesh, Bolivia, Canada, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, Mexico, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zambia.

Summary of Responsibilities

The Senior Medical Scientist is a subject matter expert, using clinical expertise, evolving evidence and strategic partnerships to advance Ipas’s mission at the global level. In collaboration with key staff across the organization, Senior Medical Scientist will advance innovative initiatives and provide strategic guidance and technical assistance on safe abortion, contraception and GBV care quality and access. The Senior Medical Scientist disseminates new evidence through publications and presentations; conducts training; represents Ipas externally, advocating for the organization’s mission within the broader reproductive health field; and builds partnerships with colleague organizations to maximize impact.

Organizational Leadership and Strategy:

• Provides technical leadership to develop and test innovative approaches to improve quality abortion and contraception care (e.g., global quality indicators, quality improvement processes) and to integrate safe abortion and postabortion contraception into SRHR programming for Ipas support programs and in emergency crisis settings

Program, technical, or functional content of the job:

• Provide and/or analyze evidence based technical content used for advocacy opportunities related to safe abortion for Ipas supported programs and external coalitions
• Develop technical tools and resources translating evidence based clinical updates into health services
• Provides technical leadership on quality and regulatory processes pertinent to the Ipas MVA product line, as well as infection prevention and MVA processing
• Supports training of Ipas supported sites and partners on content such as VCAT, clinical management of abortion and contraception care, trauma-informed care, legal risk assessment, etc.
• Leads and/or significant participation in clinical/technical research and technical evidence dissemination for abortion/contraception clinical practice improvement
• Prepare and/or analyze service delivery data and issue clinical recommendations for continuous improvement of quality of care across the pathways to care.

Resource mobilization:

• Supports fundraising initiatives by contributing to donor proposals and preparation/review of donor reports

Communications & representation:

• Write periodic evidence summaries for internal communications with technical staff across the network
• Provides external leadership, Ipas representation, and advocacy as required at national, regional and international conferences and events
• Disseminates evidence externally through presentations and publications

Position Requirements

• A deep commitment to sexual and reproductive health and rights, especially abortion, contraception and GBV care access
• Demonstrated contribution to the development of technical tools, standards, guidelines, and SRHR research.
• Professional-level fluency in English (speaking, reading, and writing)
• Proven ability to support and strengthen the capacity of teams, including through training, supportive supervision, strong communication, nonhierarchical leadership approaches, and modeling the Ipas core values.
• Demonstrated capacity and commitment to good stewardship of funds, including strong skills in work planning, budgeting, financial monitoring, and data-driven problem solving.
• Proven ability to build positive working relationships in a multicultural and complex implementation contexts with diverse internal teams and external partners

Education

• Advanced clinical degree (e.g nursing, midwifery)

Experience

• 10+ years’ experience in clinical practice including reproductive health care and experience applying scientific clinical information to practical training and programs
• Substantive experience with evaluation of quality in clinical care and quality improvement.
• Substantive knowledge and experience of international reproductive health programs and systems in low-resource and humanitarian settings
• Knowledge of key partners and influencers in our field
• Experience working in multicultural teams

Preferred Qualifications

• PhD or DrPH and/or significant experience in research
• Strong clinical background
• Experience working in humanitarian contexts and/or working with humanitarian implementing agencies
• Established relationships with non-profit organizations and advocacy groups
• Proficiency with at least one Ipas working language, such as French, Portuguese, or Spanish.
• Strong preference for advanced practice midwife or nurse

Working environment:

• Ability to travel up to 20% of the time internationally, including in crisis settings

Ipas is strongly committed to providing a work environment that is free from all forms of harassment, discrimination, and inequity. We recruit, employ, train, promote, and compensate our personnel without regard to race, age, sex, religion, national origin, color, creed, ancestry, citizenship, caste, ethnicity, regional identity, tribal identity, marital status, veteran status, disability, genetic information, gender identity, transgender status, sexual orientation, or any other personal characteristic protected by law or outlined by Ipas policy. Ipas acknowledges that these personal characteristics may differ in different contexts.