Lead Exposure Program Officer

Overview

WJCF is an Indian non-profit organisation committed to saving lives by reducing the burden of disease and strengthening government-owned, high-quality health systems. Since 2007, WJCF has combined data-driven approaches and deep public health expertise with strong government partnerships to design, implement, and scale solutions across India’s national and state health programmes. We work for and at the service of governments — supporting the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and State Departments of Health to build systems that are strong, sustainable, and led by Indian institutions.

As an Indian organisation, WJCF brings an unmatched depth of contextual understanding of India’s health system architecture, policy landscape, and implementation realities across diverse geographies and population groups. This local institutional credibility, combined with global technical rigour, is central to WJCF’s effectiveness as a partner to governments and donors.

Our work is built around four complementary roles: as a Trusted Government Partner, co-designing programmes and strengthening health system architecture; as an Operational Partner, translating strategies into effective on-the-ground delivery; as a Market Shaper, improving the availability and affordability of health commodities; and as an Ecosystem Catalyst, convening governments, development partners, academia, and the private sector to drive solutions at scale.

WJCF’s programme portfolio spans thematic areas like hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, vector-borne diseases), syphilis, cervical cancer, diabetes, maternal and childhood anaemia, immunisation, under-5 diarrhoea and pneumonia, sexual and reproductive health, Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri – Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY), Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), hypoxemia and oxygen, safe drinking water, sickle cell disease, presbyopia, lead poisoning, and cross cutting thematic areas like AI and Health, integrated disease surveillance, and climate and health. We currently support programmes across 19 states and union territories, with teams working at national, state, district, and sub-district levels.

Our people are our greatest asset. WJCF brings together a talented, diverse team of professionals from public health, analytics, consulting, healthcare, the development sector, and academia, all united by a shared commitment to improving health outcomes for the people of India. We are entrepreneurial, action-oriented, and deeply grounded in the communities and systems we work in. Our field teams collectively bring hundreds of years of experience managing public health programmes across the country.

WJCF collaborates with a range of international and domestic partners and donors to advance its mission, including an affiliation with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), a global health organisation with which WJCF shares a common mission and values.

Programme Overview

Lead poisoning is one of India's most significant and most solvable public health challenges. India bears the world's highest burden of childhood lead poisoning, with over 275 million children carrying blood lead levels above 5 µg/dL; the national average is 6.2 µg/dL and 23 States exceed the threshold (NITI Aayog and CSIR review, 2022). Lead exposure causes irreversible neurological damage in children, contributes to an estimated one million cardiovascular deaths annually in adults (Larsen et al., 2023), and generates compounding intergenerational risks.

The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), as the designated national focal agency under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, is establishing the National Biomonitoring Programme for Chemical Toxicants (NBPCT). WJCF is embedding a Technical Support Unit (TSU) nationally and a state-level teams in select states. The state teams will work alongside the State Health Department, the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB), and allied departments to build the governance architecture, program roadmap, set up an inter-departmental coordination mechanism, develop state-adapted protocols, and operationalise all NBPCT program activities.

Position Summary

WJCF is looking to hire a highly motivated, entrepreneurial professional with strong credentials and exceptional stakeholder skills for the role of program officer for the Lead exposure Program. The incumbent will support on-ground implementation to strengthen the delivery of the lead exposure programme in the state. The role is analytically demanding and operationally hands-on supporting programme operations, analysis, and stakeholder engagement across the State Health Department, the State Pollution Control Board, and allied departments. The incumbent will also take on direct engagement with district stakeholders as the programme rolls out.

The incumbent will report to the State Lead, Lead Exposure. The ideal candidate should have exceptional interpersonal skills, be able to work independently, be flexible, be comfortable working and supporting operations across cross-functional teams and have a strong commitment to excellence.

Location: Mohali (at the Directorate of Health Services)

Travel: To program districts within Punjab, and occasionally to New Delhi

Responsibilities

• Conduct desk research and primary data collection for the state governance and system gap assessment, including structured interviews with officials from the health department, district administration, and allied departments.
• Support the establishment and running of the state task force and inter-departmental coordination mechanism on lead exposure convening meetings and following up with departments to close out agreed actions.
• Drive on-ground execution of workplans in priority districts in coordination with the district magistrate’s office, district health administration, facility staff and allied departments and routine field visits to track progress.
• Build and maintain dashboards, trackers, and analytical outputs that support state decision-making on hotspot identification, prioritisation, operational planning and program monitoring.
• Support in program planning and implementation in collaboration with team members and program leadership.
• Support technical assistance to the State Pollution Control Board, including development of training modules for staff and inspectors, protocols, and data analysis.
• Design and oversee contextualisation of IEC and training materials developed nationally
• Build and manage working-level relationships with government and non-government stakeholders at state and district levels
• Prepare high-quality presentations, progress narratives, update notes, and reports for government, donor, and internal audiences.
• Maintain the state workplan tracker and flag risks and delays to the State Lead in good time.

Qualifications

• Master's/bachelor’s degree in public health, environmental health, public policy, management, engineering, economics, or similar fields, with a minimum of 5 years of work experience in management consulting, public health, public policy, or allied areas.
• Exceptional analytical (qualitative and quantitative) and communication (written and verbal) skills.
• Strong problem-solving skills and a positive, solution-oriented approach.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to build and nurture relationships in a diverse and challenging environment, including with government counterparts.
• High level of proficiency in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint and Word.
• Ability to think strategically, handle ambiguity, and solve problems in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously, set priorities, and work independently.
• Demonstrated interest in public health, environmental health, or health systems strengthening.
• Fluency in English and Hindi; working knowledge of the local language preferred.

Preferred

• Experience working with state governments, NHM, or State Pollution Control Boards.
• Exposure to environmental health, chemical toxicants, or laboratory and surveillance systems.
• Experience in management and/or healthcare consulting, development sector consulting, or public health.

Last Date to Apply: 28 November, 2026