Senior Health Public Financial Management Advisor

About this role IBP is seeking a senior technical professional to provide technical expertise for its growing health PFM portfolio. The Advisor will provide direct technical assistance and capacity strengthening to country teams and civil society partners; help teams diagnose and address problems in how health resources are planned, budgeted, released, spent, and accounted for; and develop the research methods and diagnostic tools that ground this work in evidence. The role requires a strong PFM practitioner who can work across health and finance systems and move between hands-on technical support, applied research and diagnosis, and facilitation of problem-solving among diverse actors. The Advisor will help teams understand why specific PFM problems occur and how the institutions, incentives, relationships, and accountability mechanisms surrounding them can enable or constrain reform. The successful candidate will be able to translate this analysis into feasible strategies for reform and stronger accountability. Role responsibilities Essential duties of the job include, but are not limited to, the following: 1. Technical Assistance and Capacity Strengthening (50%)
• Provide direct technical assistance to regional and country teams and partners, with a focus on Africa but also covering IBP’s broader partner engagements on health budgets, to diagnose and address health PFM problems, including budget credibility and execution, resource flows, procurement, expenditure controls, reporting, and other constraints affecting the translation of budgets into services.
• Help teams identify the technical, institutional, and political causes of identified problems; map the actors, relationships, incentives, and accountability mechanisms that shape them; and develop feasible strategies for addressing them.
• Facilitate technical dialogue and joint problem-solving among finance/budget and health institutions, subnational governments, civil society, oversight institutions, communities, development partners, and other relevant actors, helping identify where collaboration, oversight, or citizen engagement can contribute to reform.
• Design and deliver capacity strengthening and training for IBP teams, civil society partners, government counterparts, and other accountability actors.
• Facilitate technical dialogue and joint problem-solving among finance/budget and health institutions, subnational governments, civil society, oversight institutions, development partners, and other relevant actors.
• Provide ongoing technical advice and facilitation to IBP teams and partners in English, and in French where possible. 2. Research and Methodology Development (30%)
• Develop and refine practical research methods and diagnostic approaches that combine analysis of specific health PFM problems with analysis of the accountability ecosystems surrounding them, drawing where appropriate on IBP's Open Budget Survey and complementary PFM and health-sector data and tools.
• Conduct or oversee country-level analysis that combines quantitative budget and expenditure data with institutional and political economy analysis to explain why implementation problems occur, which actors and incentives shape them, and where opportunities for reform and stronger accountability exist.
• Conduct or oversee country-level analysis of health budget credibility, execution, resource flows, reporting, and oversight, combining quantitative analysis with institutional and political economy analysis to explain why implementation problems occur.
• Translate findings into actionable recommendations, technical briefs, diagnostic reports, and other products that support country-level problem-solving, reform, and advocacy.
• Identify recurring problems and evidence gaps across countries and use lessons from implementation to strengthen IBP's health PFM methodologies and technical assistance. 3. Coordination and Strategic Alignment (20%)
• Work with IBP's Global Policy and Partnerships team, country Policy Leads, and Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning colleagues to integrate health PFM expertise into country programming, connect learning across countries, and align the work with IBP's broader strategy.
• Coordinate work planning, budgets, and reporting for assigned health PFM projects and activities.
• Represent IBP's health PFM work with donors, government counterparts, technical partners, and relevant policy and technical forums.
• Contribute technical content to concept notes, funding proposals, and donor reports.
• Actively engage and contribute to team meetings, staff meetings, other coordination meetings, and other assigned tasks as required. Core Competencies/experience
• Minimum 7 years of professional experience providing technical assistance, advisory support, or applied analysis on public financial management, including experience in the health sector.
• Strong technical understanding of PFM systems, particularly budget formulation, program budgeting, budget credibility and execution, resource tracking and financing systems, expenditure controls, and financial reporting, and demonstrated ability to apply this knowledge to practical implementation problems.
• Understanding of health systems and health financing and how they interact with government PFM systems. Direct health PFM or health financing experience is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to diagnose complex PFM problems using quantitative, institutional, and political economy analysis, including analysis of the actors, incentives, relationships, and accountability mechanisms that shape implementation, and translate findings into feasible strategies for action.
• Experience providing hands-on technical assistance for government, civil society, and/or other country-level actors, with experience designing and delivering capacity strengthening also preferred.
• Experience developing or adapting research methods, diagnostic tools, or analytical frameworks for country-level PFM or sectoral analysis.
• Strong facilitation and communication skills, including the ability to convene actors with different institutional perspectives and communicate complex PFM issues clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Extensive experience working across countries and cultures, including engagement with governments, civil society organizations, development partners, and other stakeholders in low
- and middle-income countries.
• Commitment to equity and social justice and to strengthening citizen and civil society participation in public resource decision-making and accountability.
• Fluency in English required. Working knowledge of French and familiarity with francophone PFM systems, such as the WAEMU (UEMOA) harmonized public finance framework, are an advantage.

How to apply
and key dates Please complete the online application form, including the short screening questions, submit your CV and provide a cover letter that provides tangible examples of how your skills, knowledge and experience will support your ability to perform the key priorities outlined in the above

job description
(using no more than 750 words). Please include as website links in your cover letter, or as attachments to your application, at least two examples of technical assistance, training materials, or written work that relate to health, PFM, or budget accountability. The recruitment process will involve a technical panel interview and a final panel interview. Deadline: 1pm (GMT) on 22 October 2026. First round interviews are planned for the weeks of 2 and 9 November 2026, with final interviews planned for the week of 16 November 2026.