Technology Director — Global Health (REMOTE ROLE)

ICF•Rockville, MD

5d•$131,256 - $223,134•Remote

About The Position

ICF’s Global Health and Development line of business is seeking a Technology Director to lead technology modernization across global health and survey programs. This hands-on leadership role owns end-to-end delivery of the program’s technology work and serves as a technical lead and architect, designing systems and directing the team that builds them. The director bridges applied AI and software engineering with survey methodologists, statisticians, field operations staff, and country partners, and is accountable to the funder for results, including redirecting work that is not performing and reallocating its funding. The role leads an AI innovation portfolio spanning automated data-to-report production, natural-language data access, multilingual questionnaire design, field data quality, and new measurement approaches. It involves running stage-gate reviews, setting quality criteria, managing the portfolio’s schedule and risks, and reporting candidly to the funder. The director also sets architecture, engineering standards, responsible AI and data governance practices, and leads and mentors the technology team. The position can be performed remotely within the United States and requires occasional international travel. Employment is contingent upon award of program funding.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in IT, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related technical field, or equivalent experience.
At least 10 years of professional experience designing and delivering technology solutions, including hands-on architecture of multiple complex systems taken into production.
At least 5 years leading and mentoring software or data engineering teams building products or deploying systems.
Track record of architecting and delivering AI/ML or LLM-powered systems in production, including ability to explain how quality was measured and where systems failed.
Experience leading a multi-workstream technology program for a foundation, donor, or government client, with accountability for budget and results.
Deep knowledge of system architecture, data pipelines, software development methods, and at least one major cloud platform such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
Hands-on familiarity with agentic coding tools and specification-driven development, and experience setting how a team uses them.
U.S. citizenship is required by the federal government contract.
Excellent communication skills and ability to translate between technical and non-technical stakeholders, including survey experts and government partners.
Strong presentation skills and ability to explain complex topics to business, funder, and program audiences.
Ability to build productive working relationships across levels and cultures, from senior leadership to entry-level staff.
Self-motivated, able to find ways to add value without extensive direct supervision.
Sound judgment under uncertainty, including the ability to distinguish delayed work from work unlikely to succeed and act accordingly.
Credibility with both engineers and executives.

Nice To Haves

Working proficiency in French or Portuguese.
Background in survey operations or data collection, such as work on or with the DHS Program, MICS, LSMS, a national census, or other population-based household surveys.
Experience delivering technology for global health or international development programs in low- and middle-income countries.
Experience with field data-collection systems for low-connectivity settings, such as e, c, or ODK, or with offline or edge deployment.
Experience working with national statistical offices or ministries of health.
Experience leading a stage-gated R&D or innovation portfolio, including a decision to stop a workstream.
Experience setting and being held to quantitative acceptance thresholds for an AI or data system.
Experience with multi-country deployments where data cannot leave a jurisdiction, and with data privacy and governance for human data, including IRB processes.
Experience with cybersecurity practices, security controls, and authorization processes.
Publications or conference presentations in AI, survey methods, or global health.
Advanced degree in computer science, statistics, demography, public health, or a related field.

Responsibilities

Own delivery of the program’s AI innovation portfolio, covering automated data-to-report production, natural-language data access, multilingual questionnaire design, field data quality, and new measurement approaches.
Run stage-gate reviews; make and defend decisions to stop workstreams, publish lessons learned, and reallocate funding.
Serve as the principal technical counterpart to the funder; lead progress reporting and learning reviews and communicate results candidly.
Manage the innovation portfolio, schedule, and risks with the project manager, including inference and cloud operating costs.
Coordinate with global development programs and technology partners to share methods, successes, and failures and avoid duplicated work.
Act as technical lead and architect for a cluster of workstreams; own system design, write design documents, and participate hands-on from prototyping through production.
Define quantitative quality thresholds and acceptance criteria with survey experts, and hold the team and work to those criteria.
Set portfolio architecture and standards, including model selection and routing, privacy-preserving design, offline and low-connectivity deployment, and security.
Set engineering practices, including specification-driven development with agentic coding tools, evaluation-first delivery, code review, and testing.
Protect data quality and comparability in collaboration with survey methodologists, ensuring innovations do not undermine comparisons across countries or over time.
Oversee responsible AI, data governance, and ethics, ensuring compliance with ICF security standards, IRB requirements, and partner-country data sovereignty expectations.
Lead and mentor applied AI, software, ML, and platform engineers on the program’s technology team.
Bridge technology and survey expertise, ensuring survey methodologists, statisticians, and field teams shape products and engineers understand survey methods.
Work with national statistical offices and ministries of health, alongside ICF country engagement leads, to design tools that countries want and can operate independently.
Share program results through public documentation, publications, and presentations at technical and global health conferences.
Contribute to business growth through proactive client engagement, white papers, and proposal development.