Chief Technology and Product Officer

About

The Chief Technology and Product Officer provides technology, product and AI leadership for Living Goods' digitally enabled community health systems. Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the role oversees technology and product strategy, engineering, data and AI governance, government digital-health partnerships, and related multidisciplinary teams. The post is preferably based in Nairobi, or another location within Africa. Terms of service: Full Time Duty station: Nairobi preferably, or any other location within Africa Salary: A competitive salary and benefits package commensurate with experience including health insurance and bonus opportunity.

How to apply

Apply online through the official Living Goods career page. Submit the required resume and cover letter; the application form also requests a LinkedIn profile URL and desired salary.

Responsibilities

• Set and own a single technology and product strategy, aligned with Living Goods’ organizational and country strategies.
• Prioritize the digital investment portfolio against health impact, cost-effectiveness and government adoption, and decide which work to start, continue or stop.
• Set the build, buy, partner or adopt policy and apply it to all significant technology decisions.
• Assess emerging technologies, including AI, and decide which to adopt.
• Track technical debt and lead a funded plan to reduce it.
• Manage technology budgets and cloud spend within restricted donor funding.
• Own the product roadmap across all software build lines.
• Oversee delivery governance, covering intake, prioritization, release readiness and post-release review.
• Oversee the product management function, including its standards and resourcing.
• Embed hypothesis-based testing, so that new ideas are tested at small scale before further investment.
• Ensure products generate the data needed to monitor use and demonstrate impact.
• Set architecture and engineering standards for scalable, interoperable and reliable solutions that work offline on low-cost devices and on a national scale.
• Own platform strategy across country deployments, including upgrade paths, country variation and supplier exit options.
• Oversee engineering quality, delivery predictability, and operational performance.
• Oversee cybersecurity, secure development practice and technology risk management.

Qualifications

• 15 or more years of progressive technology and product leadership experience, including substantial experience of large-scale digital transformation.
• 8 or more years in senior leadership roles spanning engineering, product, data and technology organizations.
• Deep technical expertise across software engineering, data architecture, cloud infrastructure and systems integration, enough to set technical standards and challenge design decisions directly.
• A proven track record of building or turning round a product management function, including hiring and developing product managers and setting standards for their work.
• Accountability for AI-enabled products in live use at organizational scale, beyond pilots, including managing and fixing failures.
• Experience designing and applying AI strategy and governance in a high-stakes field such as health, including risk classification, human oversight and escalation, and decisions not to deploy.
• Experience of leading teams of 15 or more across multiple countries.
• A strong understanding of Africa’s digital ecosystem and health system landscape.
• Experience engaging governments, donors and global partners on technology strategy and digital transformation.
• A dual background spanning technology and health.
• Master’s degree in a relevant field.
• Equivalent senior-level experience will be considered.
• Private sector experience.