Head of Innovation

Job Purpose:

To drive health innovation at WISH, fostering a culture of innovation and positioning Qatar as a global health hub. They build partnerships, support innovators, and deliver scalable solutions with measurable impact.

Key Result Areas:

• Manage programmatic activities focused on identifying, analyzing, and framing pathways for the scale-up of evidence-based policy innovations in health.
• Support the analysis and development of policy research products on health innovation, aimed at leveraging science, research, and innovation ecosystems for health and contributing to social impact and economic growth.
• Identify and showcase cutting-edge policy and governance solutions (e.g., novel financing, service delivery models, regulatory approaches, community-led initiatives) from both local and global contexts.
• Devise, develop, and oversee innovation-related content for WISH events (summits, workshops, deep dives), ensuring they position WISH as a leading global think tank for actionable health innovation policy solutions.
• Work closely with the Director of Research and Policy Development to ensure innovation programs translate research insights into practical policy initiatives and align with WISH’s thematic priorities.
• Create and manage project plans for innovation-related programs (e.g., policy solution incubators, model showcase platforms), ensuring timely delivery from concept to summit execution.
• Develop and sustain a WISH Innovation Circle of Experts to provide mentorship, guidance, and strategic input for promising policy initiatives.
• In close consultations with the Director of Partnerships and Outreach develop partnership agreements with public and private stakeholders for specific innovation policy-focused projects.
• Promote investment and incentives in science and innovation from both public and private sectors to enhance social health impact and economic opportunities.
• Perform other reasonable tasks as assigned by the supervisor.

Minimum Knowledge, Skills & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Public Policy, Public Health, International Development, Social Sciences, or a relevant field & 6 - 8 years of relevant full-time work experience.
• Proven expertise in policy development, implementation, and/or scaling impactful solutions within health/social care or related sectors.
• Experience in innovation management.
• Demonstrated experience in designing and managing programs that bridge policy research and real-world implementation/adaptation.
• International experience, preferably in the Middle East Region, and knowledge of Qatar and Qatar Foundation is an advantage.
• Experience in curating policy solutions, facilitating multi-stakeholder dialogues, and developing platforms for showcasing scalable models.
• Excellent interpersonal, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills, with proven ability to build productive relationships with diverse partners (governments, NGOs, communities, contractors).
• Excellent writing skills with the ability to draft and edit policy briefs, reports, and communications clearly and concisely; Arabic proficiency is a significant advantage.
• Proficiency in MS Office applications.