Project Manager (6-month fixed-term contract)

Wits Health Consortium (Pty) Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of the Witwatersrand. This post sits in the MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt) in the Wits School of Public Health.

The Unit runs a long-standing health and socio-demographic surveillance system in the Agincourt sub-district of rural Mpumalanga, next to Mozambique. This role supports a multi-year Traditional Health Practitioner (THP) HIV Testing study in Bushbuckridge: a randomised controlled trial that trains traditional health practitioners to provide HIV counselling and testing in intervention sites, while control sites keep standard-of-care testing. The main question is whether testing uptake rises in intervention clinic areas.

The Project Manager will run day-to-day field operations so the trial is delivered on time and to standard, working with Unit researchers and international collaborators.

Minimum requirements

• Honours or Master’s degree in Public Health, Social Sciences or a related field
• Valid driver’s licence
• 2 years’ clinical and/or research management experience
• Proven work experience in a low- or middle-income country

Advantageous

• Driving experience (own car preferred)
• MS Office
• Strong interpersonal and leadership skills
• Report writing and teaching skills
• Time management and the ability to work under pressure
• Academic writing and publication experience
• Ability to work in a high-performing, multidisciplinary team
• Ability to set priorities and handle several tasks at once

Key responsibilities

Programme management

• Lead day-to-day RCT implementation across intervention and control clinics in Bushbuckridge
• Plan, monitor and evaluate THP training on HIV counselling and testing
• Manage recruitment, screening and enrolment of THPs and community members, in line with ethics and protocol
• Oversee collection, checking and capture of HIV testing data for both trial arms
• Direct observations, interviews and surveys with THPs, clinic staff and clients
• Watch for cross-contamination and protocol deviations
• Lead community sensitisation and outreach
• Track costs for training, supplies, stipends and supervision for cost-effectiveness analysis

Project administration

• Monitor accounts, track budgets and prepare financial reports for researchers, administrators and funders
• Plan staffing, office space and operational resources
• Recruit project research staff
• Manage external contractors and related budgets
• Communicate with investigators at partner institutions

Scientific output

• Help prepare research and policy reports and presentations
• Collate weekly project statistics
• Present progress at study meetings
• Contribute to, and where appropriate lead, manuscripts and conference presentations

How to apply
Email Weekend.Khoza@wits.ac.za
Subject line: Agin_002_pm

Attach:

• Cover letter (maximum two pages) stating the vacancy
• Detailed CV with three contactable referees
• Certified copies of qualifications and transcripts
• Certified copy of ID
• Certified copy of driver’s licence

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. If you hear nothing within two weeks of the closing date, regard your application as unsuccessful.

Preference will be given to suitable applicants from designated groups under the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 and its amendments.