Chief Technology and Product Officer

Role: Chief Technology and Product Officer

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer
Location: Nairobi preferably, or any other location within Africa

About Living Goods
Living Goods is a government performance partner that helps countries build affordable, intelligent, high-impact community health systems. We work alongside ministries in Burkina Faso, Kenya and Uganda to design, embed and strengthen the operating foundations that make care delivery reliable, measurable and continuously improving, and we treat cost as a design parameter so governments can maximize health impact within real budgets.

Founded in Uganda in 2007, our community health model is backed by a randomized controlled trial showing a 27 per cent reduction in under-five mortality, and we deliver life-saving care for about $2 per person served per year.

About the Role

The Chief Technology and Product Officer (CTPO) provide the technology, product and AI leadership that makes Living Goods a global benchmark for digitally enabled and intelligent community health systems. The role holds technology and product strategy as a single accountability. Working in close partnership with Governments and with the Program team, the CTPO turns priorities into digital products and platforms that can work at scale and within Government systems and into strategic engagement with Governments and technology partners.

The role spans two areas. The first is product and technology delivery: deciding how solutions are designed, built, secured and run, and making sure they generate the data needed to show their impact. The second is government partnership: working with ministries of health and national digital health authorities to strengthen their community health information systems, align Living Goods' work with national digital health strategies and standards, and build the government capacity needed for solutions to be owned and sustained within public systems over the long term. Because much of this work runs on government-owned systems and third-party or open-source platforms, a significant part of the role is influencing technology decisions made by others, alongside direct ownership of Living Goods' own products.

Reporting Scope

The CTPO reports to the Chief Executive Officer and serves as a member of the Global Executive Team, with direct oversight of the Director, Software Engineering; the Head of Products and AI; and Director, Digital Health and Government Partnerships. The role is accountable for technology strategy and architecture, the digital product strategy and portfolio governance, data and AI governance, engineering delivery and quality, technology investments, the scaling of digital health systems into government ownership, and technical government engagement, in alignment with Living Goods’ delegation of authority framework.

Key Responsibilities

 

Technology and Product Strategy

30% of time

• Set and own a single technology and product strategy, aligned with Living Goods’ organizational and country strategies.
• Prioritize the digital investment portfolio against health impact, cost-effectiveness and government adoption, and decide which work to start, continue or stop.
• Set the build, buy, partner or adopt policy and apply it to all significant technology decisions.
• Assess emerging technologies, including AI, and decide which to adopt.
• Track technical debt and lead a funded plan to reduce it.
• Manage technology budgets and cloud spend within restricted donor funding.

Product Management and Delivery

20% of time

• Own the product roadmap across all software build lines.
• Oversee delivery governance, covering intake, prioritization, release readiness and post-release review.
• Oversee the product management function, including its standards and resourcing.
• Embed hypothesis-based testing, so that new ideas are tested at small scale before further investment.
• Ensure products generate the data needed to monitor use and demonstrate impact.

Architecture, Engineering and Security

15% of time

• Set architecture and engineering standards for scalable, interoperable and reliable solutions that work offline on low-cost devices and on a national scale.
• Own platform strategy across country deployments, including upgrade paths, country variation and supplier exit options.
• Oversee engineering quality, delivery predictability, and operational performance.
• Oversee cybersecurity, secure development practice and technology risk management.
• Ensure business continuity, monitoring, and incident response for systems that support clinical decisions.

Data, Analytics and AI

10% of time

• Define and lead the implementation of a responsible and safe AI strategy.
• Lead the organization-wide roll-out of the data platform, with information products tailored to each audience.
• Oversee data governance, quality, security, privacy, and access in line with national regulations.
• Integrate AI across the software development lifecycle and the function’s ways of working.

Government Partnership and Systems Strengthening

15% of time

• Work with ministries of health and national digital health authorities to strengthen community health information systems.
• Align Living Goods digital work with national digital health strategies, architectures and standards.
• Lead the transition of digital platforms into government systems and ownership, using implementation and cost models that governments can sustain.
• Build government technical capacity to own, operate and maintain digital solutions.
• Promote interoperability, open standards, and reuse of shared national systems.
• Influence technology decisions on government-owned, third-party and open-source platforms that Living Goods’ work depends on.

Partner and Donor Engagement

10% of time

• Build and manage strategic partnerships with donors and technology partners.
• Contribute to fundraising, including the technical content of proposals and concept notes.
• Represent Living Goods in national and global digital health policy and standards forums.
• Communicate technology and product work clearly and accurately to non-technical audiences.

Leadership and Team Development

Across

• Lead, coach and develop multidisciplinary teams across engineering, product, data and digital health, working across geographies.
• Collaborate across the organization to ensure technology and products are responsive to programs, fit for purpose and adopted.
• Build leadership capability and succession plans within the function.
• Promote a culture of evidence, accountability, and learning.

The Person We Are Looking For

We are looking for an exceptional technology and product leader who combines deep technical expertise with a passion for public impact, and who understands that technology is only valuable when it improves outcomes, strengthens systems and enables sustainable scale.

The successful candidate will be equally comfortable holding a product review, arguing an architecture decision with engineers, shaping digital health strategy with ministers of health, and helping donors understand what technology-enabled community health can and cannot yet do.

What the Role Requires

Essential

• 15 or more years of progressive technology and product leadership experience, including substantial experience of large-scale digital transformation.
• 8 or more years in senior leadership roles spanning engineering, product, data and technology organizations.
• Deep technical expertise across software engineering, data architecture, cloud infrastructure and systems integration, enough to set technical standards and challenge design decisions directly.
• A proven track record of building or turning round a product management function, including hiring and developing product managers and setting standards for their work.
• Accountability for AI-enabled products in live use at organizational scale, beyond pilots, including managing and fixing failures.
• Experience designing and applying AI strategy and governance in a high-stakes field such as health, including risk classification, human oversight and escalation, and decisions not to deploy.
• Experience of leading teams of 15 or more across multiple countries,
• A strong understanding of Africa’s digital ecosystem and health system landscape.
• Experience engaging governments, donors and global partners on technology strategy and digital transformation.

Desirable

• A dual background spanning technology and health.
• Master’s degree in a relevant field. Equivalent senior-level experience will be considered.
• Private sector experience.

Leadership Competencies

Impact First. Uses technology and product capability to improve health outcomes and system performance, not as an end in itself.
Government First. Believes sustainable impact comes through strengthening public systems and enabling government ownership.
Product Judgement. Decides what to build, what to stop and what to leave alone, and can explain the reasoning to engineers, ministers and donors alike.
Evidence Over Enthusiasm. Tests claims before making them, and is precise about what has been proven and at what scale.
Ruthless Prioritization. Focuses resources on the highest-impact opportunities, and holds the line when pressure comes from elsewhere.

How to Apply

Applications will be considered on a rolling basis until the position is closed. Early applications are strongly encouraged. The role is currently covered on an interim basis, and this recruitment is for the permanent post-holder. 

Compensation
A competitive salary and benefits package commensurate with experience including health insurance and bonus opportunity. The opportunity to be your best while making lives better for those in need.

Living Goods is an equal opportunity employer and will consider every qualified applicant for employment. Living Goods does not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, national origin, ancestry, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability.

Our current job openings are displayed on our website, where you can search for open positions and apply directly. Living Goods does not offer any positions without an interview and never asks candidates for money. If you are asked for money, we strongly recommend that you do not respond and do not send money or personal information. If offered a role at Living Goods, we’ll request consent to complete a background check, which is part of our hiring process.