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About Marie Stopes International (MSI)

Marie Stopes International is one of the largest international family planning organisations in the world. Millions of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable women trust Marie Stopes International to provide them with quality family planning and reproductive healthcare.  MSI is in 37 countries, with 9,000 team members, 3,190 social franchises, 52,000 outreach locations and 600+ clinics.

Job Function

The International Operations Department plays a critical role in the work of MSI’s country programmes which deliver family planning and safe abortion services to MSI’s clients around the world. It is responsible for ensuring that MSI’s programmes are positioned to deliver results, drive growth, achieve programmatic and operational excellence, are committed to implementing best practices at scale, while simultaneously adhering to core programmatic and operational standards.

Job Role

Reports to: 

Regional Director

As a country director, you will be responsible for delivering results for women and their families, driving programmatic excellence and implementing best practice at scale.  By providing high quality services where they are needed the most, your work will directly contribute to preventing unnecessary deaths and make a sustainable impact on the lives of thousands of people every year.

The Country Director is a key leadership position responsible for the overall strategy, management (programmatic, financial, and administrative), and development of MSI’s national family planning and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) programmes. They lead skilled, professional country teams to deliver life-saving services through clinical centres, mobile outreach teams, social franchising and social marketing. The Country Director prepares and executes annual budgets, marketing plans and work plans; plans and develops new business opportunities; oversees financial, administrative and logistical resources; ensures adherence to MSI minimum standards; and assures quality clinical and administrative operations in line with the annual and long-term strategic goals and objectives. The Country Director manages for results, valuing and rewarding high performance, accountability, speed and efficiency and innovation, while keeping the client at the heart of everything MSI does.

The Country Director is MSI’s senior representative in Mexico. They work closely with key stakeholders to overcome barriers that prevent women and men from accessing safe, affordable, reliable family planning and other sexual and reproductive health services.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership:

• Lead, and develop individual and team capacity.
• Lead MSI’s vision and manage short, medium and long term plans; simplifying the complexity for themselves and others.
• Instill a positive MSI management culture and social business approach across the team, constantly seeking feedback and continual improvement.
• Improve operations by strengthening capacity, building high performance teams, identifying and promoting talent, managing performance.
• Ensure human resource policy and processes and procedures are in line with best practice and local legislation.

Business Planning:

• Ensure a commercially viable centre network delivering sustainable growth and operating surplus. 
• Design and deliver a comprehensive country marketing strategy and plan to build the brand of choice by using robust audience data, competitor analysis and other market data.
• Deliver a robust business model ensuring the on-going growth of healthy income streams from earned income and when appropriate, grant and innovative financing resources.
• Lead country strategic planning, annual operational planning and development of the annual working budget.

External Relations and Fundraising:

• Generate new business opportunities in line with MSI’s core focus on safe abortion and family planning.
• Represent MSI in the press, at internal conferences, at external events, in print, TV and radio as appropriate and in liaison with the global communications team.

Quality Operations:

• Lead the adoption of innovative solutions to improve productivity and increase effectiveness of delivery channels.
• Promote evidence-based decision-making and support operational research to better understand MSI clients and their barriers to access.
• Ensure robust systems and processes are in place to support operations, drive productivity and deliver results.
• Ensure exceptional clinical quality of care is maintained at all times; supports quality assurance processes and participates in all Medical Advisory Team meetings for continuous quality improvement.
• Ensure complete donor contractual compliance at every stage of the project cycle.

Finance and Governance:

• Improve the bottom line through revenue growth and optimising earned income from selected MSI outlets.
• Improve the bottom line through increased efficiency of operations and sound financial management.
• Ensure strong financial management and robust internal controls are in place and that the programme adheres to local statutory obligations, MSI minimum standards and international development donor requirements.
• Ensure that MS Mexico sends accurate and timely monthly financial and statistical reports to MSI.
• Meet governance requirements of the country programme entity/entities.

Accountability and Partnership:

• Ensure compliance with MSI best practice and minimum standards and that the MSI Partnership Manual guidelines are observed.
• Promote One MSI, encouraging cooperation, supporting learning across the partnership and participating in global and regional business meetings.

Security:

• Ensure the programme fully meets duty of care requirements and operates within MSI’s Global Security Framework.
• Ensure that team members and visitors receive full in-country briefings covering the context, risks and security rules.
• Prepare clinics and staff adequately for anti-choice protest activity.

Experience

• Proven experience managing a surplus generating service-providing business (preferably in the health sector), and excellent understanding of customer care and quality assurance.
• Strong financial management experience, including internal controls and accountability, managing and improving the bottom line.
• Demonstrable experience generating, tracking and analysing management information and client data to inform management decision-making.
• Proven experience building lasting relationships with key external stakeholders, e.g. government or donor stakeholders (for example, previous fundraising success).
• Experience working with Boards.
• Experience building a brand into a brand of choice (including experience in FMCG or other private sector experience).

Qualifications and Training

• Educated to degree level.
• Relevant post-graduate qualification e.g. MBA, MSc, MA (desirable).
• Project Management (Prince 2 desirable).
• Excellent command of written and spoken Spanish, fluent in English.

Personal Attributes

• A commercial mind-set, understanding the levers for profitability for success within the marketplace.
• Energy, drive and unwavering commitment for MSI’s mission, and the ability to inspire others.
• Customer focused, passionate about MSI’s clients and strives to consistently meet and exceed expectations, putting MSI’s clients at the centre of everything, and ensuring that MSI delivers high quality, high impact services that meet their individual needs.
• Readiness to lead MSI Mexico in a challenging environment facing severe anti-choice protests.
• Inspires individuals and teams through situational leadership providing clear direction and motivation.
• Provides support and flexibility to colleagues, demonstrating fairness, understanding and respect for all people and cultures.
• Focuses on results, ensuring long term sustainability and increased impact.
• Aware of the emerging developments within MSI’s sector, with the ability to focus and articulate a vision of the future which inspires and excites others, while understanding the detail and looking for the evidence.
• Actively seeks out feedback on their performance (both results and behaviours) with a view to continuously learning and growing as a leader.
• Builds and maintains effective long-term working relationships with all stakeholders, and is a true MSI ambassador.

MSI Behaviours and Values

Team Members Behaviours

Work as One MSI:

• You contribute, use, and share accurate data and evidence to improve understanding, insight and decision-making across MSI, enabling MSI to maximise its ability to influence others.
• You share relevant knowledge, expertise and resources to strengthen teamwork and prevent duplication of effort.
• You actively work as part of a team, providing support and flexibility to colleagues, demonstrating fairness, understanding and respect for all people and cultures.

Show courage, authenticity and integrity:

• You hold yourself accountable for the decisions you make and the behaviours you demonstrate.
• You are courageous in challenging others and taking appropriate managed risks.

Develop and grow:

• You seek feedback to enable greater self-awareness and provide the same to others in a way which inspires them to be even more effective.
• You manage your career development including keeping your knowledge and skills up to date.

Deliver excellence, always:

• You strive to consistently meet and exceed expectations, putting clients at the centre of everything, and implement smarter, more efficient ways of performing your role.
• You build and maintain effective long-term working relationships with all stakeholders, and are a true MSI ambassador.

Leadership (for leaders only):

• You inspire individuals and teams, through situational leadership, providing clear direction.
• You seek and provide opportunities which motivate team members, helping to develop skills and potential whilst strengthening MSI’s talent and succession pipeline.
• You are aware of emerging developments in MSI’s sector, demonstrating strategic insight about MSI’s clients and their business and encourage this in your team.
• You articulate a vision of the future which inspires and excites others.

MSI Values

Mission driven:

With unwavering commitment, we exist to empower women and men to have children by choice not chance.

Client centred:

We are passionate about our clients and dedicate our efforts to delivering agreed objectives to the highest possible quality.

Accountable:

We are accountable for our actions and take responsibility for everything we do to ensure long term sustainability and increased impact.

Courageous:

We recruit and nurture talented, passionate and brave people who have the courage to push boundaries, make tough decisions and challenge others in line with our mission.