Global Head of Innovations

Role
: Global Head of Innovations

Reports to:
Executive Advisor, Programs

Location
: Preferably Nairobi-based, but other locations within African time zones will be considered

About Living Goods
Living Goods (LG) is a leading non-profit organization innovatively transforming the health of vulnerable communities. Living Goods leverages a powerful combination of catalytic technology, high-impact training, and quality treatments that empower government community health workers (CHWs) to deliver quality care to their neighbours' doorsteps. These CHWs also earn meaningful compensation and enhance their stature in the process, reinforcing a virtuous cycle of trust.

Background And Team Function
The Innovation Team co-designs and tests scalable solutions – powered by digital systems, data, and AI – that address key challenges in community health programs. We develop high-impact solutions that strengthen CHW capabilities and motivation, improve speed, quality, and continuity of care, and reduce costs. Our work spans both incremental and breakthrough innovations, and we partner closely with governments, technology providers and other stakeholders to tackle priority gaps in community health systems. By transforming our learning sites into innovation hubs, we accelerate learning cycles and generate evidence that supports government-led adoption at scale.

The Opportunity
The Global Head of Innovations will lead Living Goods' innovation agenda as a key driver of organizational success, ensuring that new solutions deliver measurable health impact, cost efficiency, and government-led scale. This role will set the vision and governance for innovation, foster a culture of rapid learning and evidence-based decision-making, and ensure alignment with national health priorities.

As a strategic leader, the Global Head of Innovation will oversee a robust pipeline of experiments while ensuring readiness for government adoption. The role will champion partnerships, secure resources through collaboration with fundraising teams, and represent Living Goods externally to build alliances and influence the future of community health. Additionally, the Global Head of Innovation will proactively scan emerging trends and technologies to keep the organization at the forefront of advancements in digital health and health systems optimization.

This is a unique opportunity to shape the future of health innovation and impact millions of lives while working in a collaborative, mission-driven environment that values creativity, learning, and measurable impact.

Key Responsibilities
Strategy & Governance

• Define and lead Living Goods' innovation strategy, and annual portfolio roadmap and multi-year innovation pipeline.
• Establish governance processes, including stage-gate reviews, decision SLAs and documentation standards.
• Align innovation priorities with organizational goals.
• Ensure innovations are designed to solve critical community health challenges in ways that are simple, practical and easy for governments to adopt and sustain.

Portfolio Management

• Oversee the full lifecycle of innovation initiatives balancing speed, learning and measurable outcomes.
• Lead stage-gate reviews to ensure rigorous decision-making, alignment with strategic priorities and readiness for next-phase investment.
• Set evidence thresholds and oversee MEL frameworks to validate impact, cost effectiveness and feasibility.
• Proactively identify and address risks to ensure innovation initiatives remain aligned, adequately resourced, and on track for successful delivery.
• Ensure insights and learnings are captured and disseminated internally and externally.

Stakeholder Engagement & Partnerships

• Serve as senior liaison with country leadership and global teams.
• Oversee the coordination of cross-functional squads and country teams to ensure timely delivery.
• Collaborate with fundraising teams to secure resources and align with donor priorities.
• Represent Living Goods in external forums, conferences, and strategic partnerships.
• Present data, evidence and insights emerging from innovations pilots to strategic audiences positioning LG as a community Health innovations thought leader

Team Leadership

• Lead, mentor and develop a high-performing core innovation team.
• Work closely with cross-functional teams, including Program Strategy, Digital Health, Performance, Evidence & Insights and country teams to co-design, test and refine innovations that integrate technical, operational, and contextual expertise for maximum impact and government adoption.
• Foster a culture of rapid learning, user-centered design, collaboration, accountability and continuous learning.

Essential Qualifications, Experience & Attributes:

• Master's degree in public health, health informatics, policy, MBA or related field.
• Professional qualifications in Project Management desirable.
• Minimum 10 years of relevant experience, including at least 7 years in leadership roles.
• Proven track record in innovation, portfolio management, and health systems strengthening.
• Strong experience in digital health and/or public health innovation, including end-to-end management of the innovation cycle.
• Technical knowledge and hands-on experience with virtual and data-driven health solutions.
• Ability to analyze, comprehend, and articulate organizational goals to guide decision-making.
• Exceptional communication skills.
• High integrity, interpersonal and leadership skills, and ability to build commitment through collaboration.
• Demonstrated success in organizational learning, knowledge management, and documentation of best practices.
• Forward-thinking mindset and curiosity to explore emerging trends and technologies.

Core Competencies:

• Innovation governance and portfolio management – ability to establish effective processes and standards for prioritizing, developing and managing a diverse pipeline of innovation initiatives from concept to adoption.
• Systems thinking and ability to design solutions for government integration.
• MEL literacy and evidence-to-action decision-making.
• Stakeholder orchestration across government, donors, and tech partners.
• Strategic communication and change leadership.
• High integrity, collaboration, and ability to build commitment across teams.

Compensation
A competitive salary and benefits package commensurate with experience including health insurance and bonus opportunity. The opportunity to be your best while making lives better for those in need.

Living Goods is an equal opportunity employer and will consider every qualified applicant for employment. Living Goods does not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, national origin, ancestry, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability.
Our current job openings are displayed on our website, where you can search for open positions and apply directly. Living Goods does not offer any positions without an interview and never asks candidates for money. If you are asked for money, we strongly recommend that you do not respond and do not send money or personal information. If offered a role at Living Goods, we'll request consent to complete a background check, which is part of our hiring process.