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Amref Kenya
Senior Technical Advisor (STA) – Horizon-1000 at Amref Kenya
KenyaFull TimeMid-Senior Level
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Job Description
Primary Health Care (PHC) is the foundation of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and the cornerstone of resilient, equitable, and people-centred health systems. Kenya has made significant progress in strengthening PHC through investments in community health, Primary Care Networks (PCNs), digital health infrastructure, health financing reforms, and an enabling policy environment, including the Digital Health Act (2023), the Primary Health Care Act (2023), and the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (2025–2030). Despite these advances, frontline health workers continue to face increasing workloads, growing disease complexity, fragmented information systems, and limited access to timely clinical and operational decision support. Routine digital systems have substantially improved data capture and reporting but have yet to consistently transform data into actionable intelligence that improves service delivery and patient outcomes.
Horizon1000 (H1000) is a multi-year initiative to deploy contextually grounded, ethically designed AI solutions, including AI-powered Clinical Decision Support Systems, across primary healthcare systems in Kenya, as part of a bigger program in Africa. The initiative seeks to support governments in deploying safe, effective, and scalable AI-enabled clinical and health system tools that improve the quality, efficiency, and equity of PHC while ensuring that technology strengthens rather than replaces frontline health workers.
As the lead implementation partner, Amref Health Africa is responsible for coordinating country-level implementation, stakeholder engagement, operational delivery, programme management, evidence generation, and long-term sustainability while ensuring alignment with national priorities, donor expectations, and responsible AI principles. Through this work, Horizon1000 aims to demonstrate a scalable model for integrating AI into public-sector primary healthcare that can strengthen health systems across Kenya and inform responsible AI implementation throughout Africa.
About the Role
The Senior Technical Advisor – Horizon1000 provides strategic and operational leadership for the implementation, coordination, and delivery of the Horizon1000 Kenya programme. Reporting to the Senior Programme Manager, the position is responsible for leading the day-to-day implementation of the programme across participating counties while ensuring that all technical, operational, financial, governance, and partnership activities are delivered on time, within scope, and in accordance with donor, government, and institutional requirements.
The Senior Technical Advisor ensures that programme implementation is evidence-driven, government-led, and responsive to evolving operational realities. The role oversees implementation planning, workplan execution, budget management, risk mitigation, quality assurance, stakeholder coordination, and performance monitoring while fostering strong relationships with the Ministry of Health, Digital Health Agency, county governments, development partners, and implementing organizations.
Operating at the intersection of primary healthcare, artificial intelligence, digital health, implementation science, and health systems strengthening, the STA balances innovation with operational excellence to ensure that AI-enabled solutions are safely integrated into routine service delivery. The role promotes responsible AI principles by embedding ethical governance, transparency, equity, interoperability, human oversight, and continuous learning throughout implementation while ensuring that technology enhances frontline decision-making and strengthens public-sector health systems rather than creating parallel structures.
This role requires exceptional programme leadership, strategic and systems thinking, strong project management capability, government engagement experience, partnership coordination, digital health expertise, and the ability to lead complex multi-stakeholder initiatives in rapidly evolving environments. The STA will play a central role in positioning Kenya as a global leader in the responsible implementation of Artificial Intelligence for Primary Health Care and in generating implementation models that inform future scale-up across Africa.
Key Responsibilities
Programme Delivery & Management
Lead the day-to-day planning, coordination, and implementation of the Horizon1000 Kenya programme, ensuring delivery against scope, approved workplans, milestones, budgets, and donor commitments.
Translate programme strategy into structured annual and quarterly implementation plans, ensuring alignment with Ministry of Health priorities, county health plans, and national digital health strategies.
Manage the project implementation team and collaborate with other Amref Programs in the delivery of H1000 project
Coordinate implementation across all workstreams, including AI use case identification, solution deployment, responsible AI governance, implementation science, monitoring and evaluation, capacity strengthening, and sustainability planning.
Monitor programme progress against agreed deliverables, proactively identifying implementation bottlenecks and coordinating timely corrective actions.
Provide regular implementation updates, strategic recommendations, and risk assessments to the Senior Programme Manager and programme governance structures.
Ensure programme resources are effectively coordinated to maximize implementation efficiency, learning, and long-term health systems impact.
AI Implementation & Operational Delivery
Lead the operational coordination of AI-enabled solutions across participating counties, ensuring that implementation remains clinically relevant, user-centred, and aligned with routine Primary Health Care workflows.
Coordinate human-centred design activities, workflow assessments, user research, and use case prioritization in collaboration with county governments, technology partners, and frontline health workers.
Oversee phased deployment of AI-enabled solutions, ensuring implementation follows structured rollout plans that prioritize learning, adoption, quality improvement, and sustainability.
Coordinate readiness assessments, onboarding activities, user training, mentorship, and post-deployment support to strengthen adoption and effective utilization of AI-enabled tools.
Work closely with consortium partners, technology developers, and implementation teams to ensure AI solutions integrate effectively within Kenya's digital health ecosystem through the Digital Health Superhighway.
Ensure implementation activities consistently strengthen existing government systems and avoid creating parallel digital health structures.
Support continuous refinement of implementation approaches based on user feedback, implementation evidence, operational analytics, and evolving programme priorities.
Government & Stakeholder Engagement
Serve as the primary operational focal point for Horizon1000 implementation with the Ministry of Health, Digital Health Agency, county governments, regulatory institutions, and other government stakeholders.
Coordinate engagement with County Implementation Teams (CITs), health facility leadership, frontline health workers, professional associations, and implementing partners.
Facilitate national and county technical working groups, programme review meetings, co-creation workshops, implementation planning sessions, and governance forums.
Strengthen government ownership by ensuring H1000 is embedded within existing national and county health systems, policies, governance structures, and planning processes.
Foster effective collaboration across consortium partners, research institutions, technology developers, donors, and implementing organizations to ensure coordinated programme delivery.
Support policy dialogue and stakeholder engagement that promote responsible AI adoption, interoperability, digital health governance, and long-term institutionalization of programme outputs.
Responsible AI Governance & Quality Assurance
Ensure responsible AI principles, ethical safeguards, and patient safety considerations are integrated throughout programme implementation.
Coordinate implementation of recommendations from the Responsible AI & Ethics Committee, Technical and Scientific Advisory Group (TSAG), and other governance structures.
Support compliance with Kenya's Digital Health Act, Data Protection Act, National AI Strategy, Ministry of Health guidance, and other applicable legal, ethical, and regulatory frameworks.
Ensure ethical concerns, implementation risks, and operational issues identified by frontline users or stakeholders are documented, escalated, and addressed appropriately.
Promote implementation approaches that prioritize transparency, human oversight, explainability, fairness, inclusiveness, and continuous learning across all AI-enabled interventions.
Maintain quality assurance standards for programme implementation, ensuring technical excellence, operational consistency, and adherence to donor and institutional requirements.
Qualifications
Experience
Five (5) or more years of progressively responsible experience managing multi-stakeholder programmes in digital health, health systems strengthening, Artificial Intelligence, or international development, including at least two (2) years of supervisory or project leadership experience, with a Master's degree, OR
Eight (8) or more years of progressively responsible experience managing multi-stakeholder programmes in digital health, health systems strengthening, Artificial Intelligence, or international development, including at least three (3) years of supervisory or project leadership experience, with a Bachelor's degree.
Demonstrated experience leading large donor-funded programmes involving government institutions, development partners, and multidisciplinary technical teams.
Proven experience managing programme implementation across national and county government structures within Kenya or comparable devolved health systems.
Experience deploying digital health, health information systems, Artificial Intelligence, clinical decision support systems, or health technology implementation programmes is highly desirable.
Demonstrated experience managing implementation partnerships involving government, academia, technology partners, and development organizations.
Experience applying implementation science, change management, human-centred design, or quality improvement methodologies to strengthen health system adoption of innovations is highly desirable.
Experience working with national digital health strategies, interoperability initiatives, health information systems, or digital transformation programmes is an added advantage.
Experience supporting evidence generation, implementation research, monitoring and evaluation, and knowledge management for health systems programmes.
Experience working with Primary Health Care programmes, Universal Health Coverage initiatives, or health workforce strengthening programmes is highly desirable.
Education
Master's Degree or a Bachelor's degree in public health, Digital Health, Health Systems Management, Project Management, Health Policy, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, or another relevant discipline. A background combining health systems and digital or technology domains is particularly valued.
Training or certification in AI in Healthcare, Responsible AI, Data Protection, Information Security, or Digital Health Governance is required.
Certification in Monitoring and Evaluation, Change Management (PROSCI, CCMP), Health Informatics, Digital Health, Data Governance, Artificial Intelligence, or Implementation Science is an added advantage.
Knowledge, Skills and Competencies
Strong understanding of Primary Health Care systems, devolved governments, health systems strengthening, Social Health Authority, Digital Health Agency and Universal Health Coverage.
Knowledge of Artificial Intelligence, Generative AI, clinical decision support systems, digital health ecosystems, and health information systems.
Understanding of Kenya's Digital Health Architecture, Digital Health Act, Data Protection Act, National AI Strategy, interoperability standards, and health information governance frameworks.
Strong programme and project management skills, including planning, budgeting, monitoring, reporting, procurement, and risk management.
Demonstrated ability to coordinate multidisciplinary teams and manage complex stakeholder relationships.
Strong analytical, communication, facilitation, negotiation, and report-writing skills.
High level of proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and programme management tools; familiarity with digital health platforms, dashboards, and data analytics software is desirable.
Ability to manage functional operations & delivery.
Provides technical and professional expertise ensuring accuracy, compliance and continuous improvement.
Supervises and develops staff, managing team performance and building skills to ensure effective execution.
Ability to ensure financial and resource stewardship.
Promotes equity, diversity and inclusion.
Upholds governance, policies and compliance.