Quality & Safety Officer — Laboratory

Join Pharo Health — Building the Future of Specialized Healthcare in Africa

Pharo Health Ethiopia, a portfolio company of Pharo Ventures, is redefining the future of premium healthcare delivery in the Horn of Africa.

We are establishing a state-of-the-art specialty and diagnostic center in Addis Ababa designed to deliver world-class, patient-centered care through advanced medical technology, exceptional clinical talent, and seamless multidisciplinary collaboration.

As an early member of our specialist team, you will have the rare opportunity to help shape a modern healthcare institution from the ground up — one built on clinical excellence, innovation, compassion, and impact.

Our vision extends beyond a single facility. We aim to build a leading healthcare network that expands access to high-quality specialist care across Ethiopia and the wider region.

About the Role

We are looking for a passionate, proactive, and detail-oriented Quality & Safety Officer to help shape a culture where quality, safety, and continuous improvement are at the heart of everything we do.

In this role, you will lead and coordinate quality assurance, quality control, infection prevention, and safety programmes across the Pharo Health laboratory. You’ll work closely with accreditation bodies, regulatory authorities, and internal teams to champion ISO 15189 standards, maintain audit readiness, strengthen compliance, and ensure every laboratory process is safe, reliable, and consistently delivers the highest standard of care.

We’re seeking someone who thrives on improving systems, solving problems, and inspiring others to raise the bar. If you believe that excellence is built through continuous improvement, attention to detail, and a commitment to patient and staff safety, you’ll fit right in.

If you’re excited by the opportunity to drive meaningful change and help build one of the region’s leading healthcare organizations, we’d love to hear from you.

 

Duties & Responsibilities

1. Quality Management System (QMS) Development & Maintenance

• Design, implement, maintain, and continuously improve the laboratory Quality Management System in alignment with national and International Standard and guidelines.
• Develop, review, and control all quality documents — policies, SOPs, work instructions, forms, and quality records — ensuring version control and accessibility.
• Conduct gap analyses against applicable accreditation standards and develop structured improvement plans.
• Maintain the quality document register and ensure staff sign off on SOP awareness and updates.

2. Internal Quality Control (IQC) & External Quality Assessment (EQA)

• Oversee and review daily, weekly, and monthly IQC program across all laboratory sections.
• Apply national and international rules to review QC data; investigate and document QC failures, assignable causes, and corrective actions.
• Manage the laboratory’s enrolment in appropriate EQA/PT program and track performance metrics over time.
• Analyze EQA results, identify systematic bias or imprecision, and implement corrective actions in collaboration with section leads.
• Produce monthly and quarterly QC trend reports for laboratory leadership review.

3. Audit, Non-Conformance & Corrective Action Management

• Plan and conduct scheduled and unannounced internal audits across all laboratory sections, workstations, and processes.
• Document audit findings, non-conformances, observations, and opportunities for improvement.
• Lead root cause analysis for non-conformances, critical incidents, and near-miss events using standard methodologies.
• Track all Corrective and Preventive Actions to full closure, verifying effectiveness through follow-up review.
• Maintain the non-conformance register and audit schedule as live quality records.

4. Patient Safety & Incident Management

• Establish and maintain a robust incident reporting system; ensure a non-punitive reporting culture is promoted across all staff.
• Review all critical value notifications, misidentification events, result delays, labelling errors, and near misses; coordinate timely investigation and closure.
• Conduct patient safety rounds and risk assessments; identify safety hazards and ensure they are escalated and resolved.
• Produce incident trend analyses and patient safety KPI dashboards for review by laboratory management.

5. Occupational Health, Biosafety & Infection Prevention

• Develop, implement, and monitor the laboratory biosafety program in compliance with WHO biosafety guidelines and institutional policy.
• Ensure availability, correct use, and regular inspection of PPE across all sections.
• Oversee segregation, labelling, and safe disposal of biohazardous, chemical, and sharps waste.
• Conduct biosafety induction for all new laboratory staff and regular refresher training for existing staff.
• Manage chemical safety including SDS availability, hazardous substance register, and chemical spill response procedures.
• Coordinate exposure incident management — needle-stick, splash, or chemical exposure — and ensure timely reporting to occupational health.
• Monitor and document infection prevention compliance including hand hygiene audits, surface decontamination, and sterility practices.

6. Regulatory Compliance & Accreditation Readiness

• Serve as the primary coordinator for all external regulatory inspections, accreditation assessments, and licensing renewals.
• Ensure all laboratory certifications, equipment calibration certificates, staff licenses, and EQA enrolments are current and on file.
• Prepare accreditation dossiers, self-assessments, and corrective action plans in response to assessor findings.
• Monitor changes in regulatory requirements (AAFDA) and update the QMS accordingly.

7. Training, Competency, Reporting & Quality Culture

• Design and deliver quality and safety training program — QMS orientation, IQC interpretation, biosafety, document control, audit participation, and RCA.
• Conduct annual and ad hoc competency assessments for laboratory staff in quality-related topics.
• Promote a visible culture of quality improvement, accountability, and patient-centered safety across all laboratory sections.
• Prepare and present monthly quality and safety performance reports to the Laboratory Manager and Senior Leadership.
• Track and report quality KPIs.

N.B: Additional duties may be assigned based on service needs, operational priorities, and organizational requirements.

Qualifications, Knowledge & Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in medical laboratory technology, Health Sciences, Biomedical Science, or related clinical discipline. Postgraduate qualification or certification in Quality Management or Patient Safety is a strong advantage.
• Valid professional license/registration where applicable under Ethiopian regulatory requirements.
• Minimum of 5 years laboratory experience, with at least 2 years in a quality, safety, or compliance-focused role within a clinical or diagnostic laboratory.
• In-depth working knowledge International and National standard in laboratory accreditation processes.
• Demonstrated experience in designing and conducting internal audits, root cause analysis, and corrective action management.
• Strong understanding of WHO biosafety levels, infection prevention, occupational health, and chemical/biohazardous waste management.
• Ability to analyze QC data, audit findings, and KPI trends; proficient in Excel or data visualization tools.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; able to present technical quality data clearly to clinical and non-clinical stakeholders.
• High integrity, meticulous attention to detail, influence without authority, strong organizational skills, and ability to lead change.