Senior Director — THRIA (Tawuniya Health Research & Innovation Academy)

Saudi Arabia is executing the most ambitious healthcare transformation agenda in its history. Tawuniya — the Kingdom's largest health insurer — is not a spectator.

We are building THRIA: an institution that sits at the intersection of applied health research, workforce capability, and system innovation. It will be the first of its kind in the Saudi private health sector — and it will require a leader whose academic credentials are as serious as their institutional ambition.

This is not a role for a training manager with research exposure.

This is a role for a published health researcher who has decided it is time to build something.

The Research Imperative

THRIA's first research initiative — launched May 2025 — generated 614 research proposals from 2,073 researchers across 72 Saudi institutions within its opening cycle. Ten studies are currently active. The pipeline is real, the partnerships are signed, and the scholarly infrastructure is in place.

What is missing is the intellectual anchor who will set the research agenda, ensure its rigor, and translate its output into national health policy, payer strategy, and system transformation.

You will not supervise researchers. You will be one — and lead others because of it.

Your Research Profile — Non-Negotiable

- Active publication record in peer-reviewed journals, with a body of work concentrated in at least two of the following: health policy, value-based healthcare (VBHC), population health management (PHM), health financing, insurance market design, or health systems transformation

- Minimum 15–20 published papers, including first-author and corresponding-author work in indexed journals (ISI/Scopus); h-index commensurate with career stage

- Experience as a principal investigator (PI) on funded research — whether government, institutional, or international grant-funded

- Demonstrated ability to translate research into policy or operational impact— publications that influenced a guideline, a contract model, a national program, or a payer strategy carry more weight here than citation count alone

- Familiarity with Saudi and GCC health system dynamics is strongly preferred; international researchers with a genuine commitment to the Saudi context will be considered

- Editorial or peer review experience with recognized health policy or health systems journals

- Participation in international research networks, working groups, or advisory bodies in VBHC, PHM, or health financing is a significant advantage

Your Academic Credentials

- PhD required — in Health Policy, Health Economics, Public Health, Health Systems, or a directly related discipline

- Postdoctoral fellowship or equivalent advanced research training preferred

- Clinical background (medicine, pharmacy, nursing) combined with a research doctorate is a particularly valued combination for this role

What You Will Lead

Beyond your personal research agenda, you will architect and run an institution with two parallel engines:

The Academy Engine — six schools covering PHM, VBHC, Health Economics, Insurance Clinical Competency, Digital & AI Transformation, and Occupational Health & Wellness — serving internal Tawuniya staff, subsidiaries (Meena, TPA), provider networks, regulators, and the broader Saudi health workforce.

The Research & Innovation Engine — four active streams (Clinical, AI & Digital, Wellness, Occupational) in partnership with 72 Saudi institutions, WHO, Harvard Medical School, NIH, Public Health Authority, Ministry of Health, Council of Health Insurance, and Insurance Authority.

You will govern both — ensuring that the research agenda informs the curriculum, and that the curriculum produces the researchers and practitioners who advance the agenda.

Leadership & Institutional Experience

- 12–15 years of total experience, with a clear arc from research excellence toward institutional and system leadership

- Experience building or leading a research center, academic unit, health institute, or equivalent within a health system, insurer, university, or policy body

- Demonstrated ability to manage complex multi-stakeholder partnerships — academic institutions, government regulators, international organizations, and private sector health entities simultaneously

- Able to publish in English, present at international forums, and engage with Saudi policymakers and clinicians in Arabic with equal authority

- Experience influencing health policy through research — not just describing systems but changing them

The Ideal Candidate — An Honest Portrait

You have spent your career asking rigorous questions about how health systems should be designed, how value should be measured, and how populations should be managed — and publishing credible answers.

You have grown frustrated watching your work cited in papers but not translated into the systems that serve real patients.

You are ready to lead an institution that closes that gap — where your research agenda shapes a national workforce, informs a major payer's strategy, and contributes directly to Vision 2030's health transformation.

You are not leaving academia. You are extending its reach.

What Tawuniya Offers

- An already-live research ecosystem: partnerships, active studies, institutional relationships

- Strategic mandate with full scope to shape THRIA's identity, research agenda, and academic positioning

- The platform of Saudi Arabia's largest health insurer — with the population data, payer intelligence, and system relationships that most researchers never access

- Alignment with Vision 2030 at the national level — your work will be seen, used, and cited beyond Tawuniya

If this describes you — or someone you know — we want to hear from you.

Direct applications and referrals welcome.

Tawuniya