Senior Technical Officer Therapeutics Products Manufacturing (Africa CDC)

Organization Information

Reports to: Director, Manufacturing 
Directorate/Department: Local Manufacturing of Health Commodities 
Division: Vaccines and Biologicals Manufacturing 
Number of Direct Reports:
Number of Indirect Reports:
Number of Positions: 1
Job Grade: P3
Contract Type: Appointment for Limited duration (ALD)

Purpose of Job

In line with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the Africa Health Security and Sovereignty (AHSS) agenda, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) established the Platform for Harmonized African Health Products Manufacturing (PHAHM) to coordinate and strengthen continental efforts toward sustainable African health products manufacturing (vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics).

The Platform aims to enhance self-reliance, ensure equitable access to quality-assured medical products, and build resilient health systems. Strengthening local production of therapeutics is a central pillar of this vision, requiring targeted technical support in GMP compliance, regulatory alignment, technology transfer, market shaping, and investment facilitation.

To this end, Africa CDC seeks to recruit a Senior Technical Officer-Therapeutics Products Manufacturing (P3) to support the design, coordination, and implementation of strategic interventions to enhance African therapeutics manufacturing and market access.

Main Functions

The Senior Technical Officer will provide high-level technical, analytical, and coordination support to PHAHM in advancing manufacturing of therapeutics across African Union Member States.

The expert will contribute to the implementation of the African Therapeutics Manufacturing Strategy, strengthen GMP compliance and regulatory readiness among manufacturers, and build capacity through training, mentorship, and stakeholder coordination.

This job involves the following main functions that are generally applicable for this category:

• Provide technical support to therapeutics manufacturing ecosystem in Africa, including technology transfer, manufacturing readiness, regulatory alignment, commercialization, and market entry.
• Facilitate coordination and alignment among manufacturers, National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs), procurement agencies, partners, and Member States to accelerate product approval and access.
• Support development of strategic partnerships and commercialization pathways to strengthen the sustainability and competitiveness of African manufacturers.
• Support the implementation of the African Pooled Procurement Mechanism (APPM) for inclusion of African made pharmaceuticals into the APPM.
• Support implementation of Africa CDC/PHAHM initiatives related to therapeutics manufacturing.

Specific Responsibilities

• Conduct and/or coordinate manufacturing readiness assessments and gap analysis.
• Conduct cGMP compliance assessments of therapeutic manufacturers and provide technical assistance to address identified gaps.
• Support manufacturers to develop and implement CAPA plans and quality management systems,
• Provide targeted on-site or virtual technical assistance to improve production quality, process validation, and regulatory conformance.
• Design and deliver capacity building programs for manufacturers, and quality control laboratories on GMP, quality systems, and regulatory standards.
• Support alignment of regulatory pathways for locally produced therapeutics through collaboration with AMA, WHO, and ML3 NRAs.
• Conduct mapping of therapeutic manufacturing capacities across Member States, including technology readiness, supply chain dependencies, and market opportunities.
• Support demand-supply and cost competitiveness analyses for selected products.
• Develop periodic progress reports, technical briefs, and policy papers.
• Contribute to the training of therapeutics manufacturing experts through the Africa CDC Northern RCC

Academic Requirements and Relevant Experience

• Masters Degree in Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, Biotechnology, or related field, and 7 years of relevant experience

OR

• Bachelor’s Degree in Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, Biotechnology or related field, and over 10 years of relevant experience.

Required:

• Strong understanding of the pharmaceuticals manufacturing ecosystems, including manufacturing operations, regulatory systems, commercialization pathways, and procurement mechanisms.
• Demonstrated experience working in the pharmaceuticals manufacturing industry.
• Experience in manufacturing gap assessment and in delivering capacity building programs for manufacturers, quality systems, regulatory standards, and technology transfer.
• Experience in conducting manufacturing readiness assessments and technical gap analyses.
• Experience in delivering capacity building programs for manufacturers or within a pharmaceutical manufacturing company, quality systems, regulatory standards, and technology transfer.
• Strong technical writing, presentation, and communication skills for both technical and high-level audiences.
• Experience working in African pharmaceuticals manufacturing and public health environments is highly desirable.

Desirable:

• Knowledge of two or more of African Union working languages (English, French, Arabic or Portuguese) is an added advantage.

Required Skills

• Demonstrable expertise in pharmaceuticals manufacturing.
• Demonstrable technical expertise and experience in the development of policies and processes for pharmaceuticals manufacturing.
• Coordination and management abilities and experience. Being pro-active and solutions-oriented with initiative to achieve desired outcomes.
• Ability to apply effective leadership and interpersonal skills through use of strategic thinking, team and project leadership, decision-making skills.
• Proven experience in presenting oral communication in international congresses, conferences, and seminars in the vaccine sector and or pharmaceutical manufacturing sector.
• Work experience in the field in an African country is an asset.

Leadership Competencies

• Change Management
• Managing Risk….
• Strategic Insight
• Developing Others

Core Competencies

• Building Relationship ….
• Foster Accountability Culture
• Learning Orientation
• Communicating with Influence ….

Functional Competencies

• Conceptual thinking ….
• Drive for Result ….
• Job Knowledge and information sharing:
• Continuous Improvement Orientation

TENURE OF APPOINTMENT:

The Appointment will be for a period of Eleven (11) Months, of which the first three (3) months will be considered as a probationary period. Thereafter, the contract may be renewed subject to funding availability, satisfactory performance and agreed deliverables.

GENDER MAINSTREAMING:

Africa CDC is an equal opportunity employer and qualified women are strongly encouraged to apply.

LANGUAGES:

Proficiency in one of the AU working languages (Arabic, English, French, Kiswahili, Portuguese, and Spanish) is mandatory and fluency in another AU language is an added advantage

REMUNERATION:

The salary attached to the position for the eleven month period is US$  88,844.56  (P3 Step 5) inclusive of all allowances for internationally recruited staff, and US$ 68,255.99 inclusive of all allowances for locally recruited staff of the African Union.

APPLICATION INFORMATION

Applications must be submitted no later than July 24, 2026 11h59 p.m. EAT.

-Only candidates who meet all job requirements and are selected for interviews will be contacted.

-Consideration will be given only to those candidates who have submitted a fully completed online application with a curriculum vitae (CV), an African passport, and the required academic qualifications, such as Diplomas, Bachelor’s degrees, Master’s degrees and any relevant certificate in line with the area of expertise.

-The African Union is an equal opportunity employer, and female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

-Candidates from less represented countries within the African Union are strongly encouraged to apply for positions that fit their profiles.

These countries include: Algeria, Angola, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Comoros, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Sahrawi D.R., Sao Tome and Principe., Seychelles, Somalia and Tunisia.