Designation : Program Director – Medical Services
Location : Patna (Bihar)
No. of Vacancies : 1
Project/Unit : Sangam Collaborative
Project Background:
The Sangam Collaborative is a landmark social development initiative designed to uplift 200 million Indians living in multidimensional poverty. With a transformative investment, SANGAM COLLABORATIVE concentrates efforts on five priority states—Jharkhand, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Bihar (JACOB states)—which are disproportionately impacted by acute poverty.
Health and Education account for 67% of the Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MDPI). SANGAM COLLABORATIVE works closely with state governments to strengthen public health systems, improve service delivery, and enhance community wellbeing.
SANGAM COLLABORATIVE's approach leverages Digitization, Decentralization, Leadership & Institutions, and Inclusion to enhance health service delivery. Domain expertise with proven solutions lays the foundation for introduction, progression, and gradual integration of innovations into government public health systems.
Job Summary:
The Program Director - Medical Services, reporting to the Core Team Member, will anchor facility-based health system transformation in the state, with a focus on improving survival outcomes for mothers, newborns, and critically ill patients. The role will drive the design and institutionalization of high-functioning district hospital and FRU models, ensuring delivery of quality emergency care, optimal utilization of human resources, and strong clinical governance systems - aligned with SANGAM COLLABORATIVE’s objective of achieving measurable reductions in maternal and neonatal mortality at scale.
The Program Director will lead efforts to build the capacities of medical service cadres through institutions such as SIHFW and SHSRC, while strengthening secondary and tertiary care facilities to deliver comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care (CEmONC) and other critical emergency services. The role will also focus on improving quality of care (QoC) through attainment of relevant accreditations, fostering effective partnerships and collaborations across stakeholders, and integrating gender-intentional approaches into policies and program implementation.
Additionally, the Program Director will be accountable for end-to-end operational strategy development and execution, ensuring high standards of program quality, and providing strong leadership, direction, and oversight to the team to drive impact at scale.
Key Responsibilities:
1. Technical Leadership & Strategy Development
• Design and implement model district hospital and FRU transformation frameworks, including infrastructure, HR deployment, clinical protocols, and governance
• Provide technical support to the Health Department to pursue its goals of departmental reorganization for greater effectiveness in attaining long term health goals.
• Provide evidence-based technical assistance to government and development partners on maternal, newborn and emergency health policies and programs.
• Support the development and implementation of state and national -level MNH strategies aligned with national guidelines and global best practices.
• Identify gaps in MNH and emergency services and recommend innovative solutions to enhance service delivery.
2. Program Implementation & Strengthening
• Assist in designing, implementing, and scaling up high-impact MNH interventions, including antenatal care, skilled birth attendance, emergency obstetric and neonatal care and postnatal care.
• Support health system strengthening efforts, including quality of care improvements, workforce training and supply chain management for essential MNH commodities.
• Streamline the support to achieve NQAS, LaQshya certification of targeted facilities as well as FRU functionality.
• Strengthen one on one and group collaboration among the different partners based on their individual priority areas and objectives. Facilitate existing and new partners in their interactions with the government systems and by making space, facilitating coordination and mutual complementarity.
• Effectively improve the availability of specialist doctors and their engagement in CEmONC.
• Along with strengthening the CEmONC services, expand the functional range of emergency services in DHs.
• Sustain and enhance quality of intrapartum care in block level facilities.
• Provide on-site technical support to district health officials and frontline workers to improve service delivery.
3. Capacity Building & Training
• Support designing the content and management of health-related capacity and skill building of cadres through strengthening the SIHFW and its affiliates (RHFWTCs), in close collaboration with partners.
• Support SHSRC and its linkages to programs (for conducting studies, or engagement of program leadership personnel in SHSRC tasks and support the attendant capacity-building needs).
• Initiate engagement of medical colleges to support select aspects of the Health System – including capacity building of healthcare providers through the medical colleges on facility organization and service delivery.
• Internalize clinical mentoring work and strengthen institutional mechanisms for sustaining training and capacity building for nurses and doctors.
• Facilitate mentorship and supportive supervision mechanisms to enhance the quality of care in hospitals.
• Strengthen referral systems and emergency response mechanisms for maternal and neonatal complications.
4. Monitoring, Evaluation, and Research
• Support the development of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) frameworks to track critical health indicators.
• Facilitate program evaluations, data analysis, and research to assess the impact of interventions and identify areas for improvement.
• Promote the use of digital health technologies for real-time data collection and decision-making.
5. Policy Influence & Stakeholder Engagement
• Support the Directorate and SHS to formulate program policies, strategies and guidelines.
• Engage with donors, partners and academic institutions to align MNH initiatives with national priorities.
• Influence to unlock increased funding and policy support for maternal and newborn health programs.
• Contribute to policy briefs, reports, and case studies to inform decision-makers and strengthen evidence-based policymaking.
Essential Qualification & Experience:
• MBA/ Masters in Social Work/Public Health/Rural Management/ Hospital Management/ PGDM from Tier-1
institutions (IIMs/ IITs/ MDI etc.)
• Minimum 10 years of experience in maternal and newborn health, preferably in a public health or development setting.
• Experience working with government health programs (NHM, RMNCH+A), NGOs, or international agencies.
• Strong expertise in maternal and neonatal clinical care, health systems strengthening, and program implementation.
• Proficiency in data analysis, M&E frameworks, and research methodologies.
• Excellent communication, leadership, and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Operations management, engagement with government departments, consultancy will be an added advantage.
Essential Skills:
• Familiarity with government health policies and programs in India.
• Experience in designing and implementing health solutions for maternal and newborn care.
• Ability to work in low-resource settings and travel frequently to field locations.
• Proficiency in Hindi and English; knowledge of regional languages is a plus.
• Collaboration with multiple internal/external stakeholders (individual and teams)
• Experience working in dynamic work environments with substantive dose of ambiguity
• Basic level quantitative and qualitative analytical skills
Application process: Candidates interested in the role may apply with their updated resumes by filling out the application form here:
https://forms.gle/mWa7JkMB4QDvikbW8