Technical Director, Consumer Demand

FHI 360 is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Technical Director, Consumer Demand on the anticipated USAID Feed the Future Demand and Supply for Safe, Healthy Diets (FTF DASHED).

Description:

USAID-funded global Feed the Future DASHED activity aims to advance food processing practices to improve access to healthy diets and strengthen policies to improve food systems for nutrition for women and children. This will be a full-time position for a duration of five years. Availability of the position is contingent upon successful award to FHI 360 and approval of key personnel.

Job Summary:

The Technical Director, Consumer Demand is responsible for supporting program management and participating in the technical leadership team for the project, with a specific focus on diet quality and consumer demand. The Technical Director Consumer Demand provides technical oversight and direction for the design and delivery of project activities and ensures timely submission of quality deliverables, products, and services related to these focus areas of expertise. The Technical Director establishes and refines technical approaches, tools, and activities related to healthy diets and consumer demand; ensures linkages and programmatic alignment with other technical focus areas and contributes to research and best practices for global thought leadership initiatives.

Key Responsibilities:

• Serve as part of the project Senior Management Team, under the leadership of the Project Director, to help guide project vision, direction, and performance specifically related to healthy diets and consumer demand.

• Provide technical leadership on healthy diets and consumer demand, and help position DASHED as a thought leader on private sector engagement for nutrition for USAID, its Missions and partners through state-of-the-art investigation, research, evidence curation and dissemination.

• Provide leadership for the identification and implementation of cutting-edge approaches for consumer and industry insights to inform social and behavior change approaches, e.g., social marketing, to stimulate demand for safe, nutritious foods.

• Oversee the identification, testing, and implementation of novel approaches to collect and interpret consumer insights that guide food processors on improved, healthy formulations of safe, nutritious processed foods.

• Lead the provision of technical assistance to governments and small and medium enterprises in LMICs with the collection and use of dietary data to inform approaches to healthy diets.

• Support governments to institute improved integration of safe, nutritious foods produced for social protection programs, including but not limited to supplementary food products, school meals, and other institutional meal programs.

• Identify and assist with the collation of resources, tools, innovations, and technologies to further project objectives.

• Support the Project Director to identify and establish links with essential partners and networks working on adding to and interpreting the evidence base for standards setting and dissemination, such as WHO, SUN, AGRA, CODEX.

• Work collaboratively with the Technical Director, Agribusiness to improve the production of safe and healthy processed foods.

• Work collaboratively with the MEL teams, research leads, and country teams to identify development and implementation research priorities, provide technical support to ensure high quality research and help with decision-making on the right research firms for each opportunity.

• Supervise home office technical advisors and provide support, as needed, to country office technical staff.

• Support performance management and professional development of project staff, including ongoing feedback, coaching, and career support.

• Contribute to project work planning, reporting and priority setting.

• Create, promote, and maintain safe and equitable work environments for supervisees, including a harassment- and violence-free work culture, and systems for safeguarding project participants.

Minimum Requirements:

• Master’s degree or its international equivalent in public health, nutrition, or related field.

• Minimum of 12+ years of experience in international development (including 8+ years of leadership, strong business acumen and/or line management experience).

• Experience managing USAID-funded projects is preferred.

• Minimum of 5+ years of professional experience working in the Global South.

• Proven track record providing expert technical advice and guidance on nutrition and the role of the private sector in food systems transformation.

• Experience working