DevOps Engineer Seconded to Ministry of Health 4 views

Founded in 2002 by President William J. Clinton and Ira C. Magaziner, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (“CHAI”) is a global health organization committed to saving lives, reducing the burden of disease, and strengthening integrated health systems in the developing world. CHAI works with governments in over 35 countries to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, hepatitis, and cancer; accelerate the rollout of lifesaving vaccines; reduce maternal, infant and child mortality; combat chronic malnutrition; and strengthen health systems.

CHAI’s Sustainable Health Financing program supports governments in implementing reforms towards the goal of universal health coverage (UHC), where citizens can access healthcare without financial strain. CHAI collaborates closely with Ministries of Health and national financial protection programs to enhance their capacity for evidence-based decision-making, including design, implementation, and management of financing reforms.

WHY A DevOps ENGINEER

Ethiopia’s Federal Ministry of Health is at a pivotal moment in its digital transformation journey, operating an expanding ecosystem of health information and financial management systems (which include DHIS2, EPSS, GMP, IBEX, IFMIS/Oracle, and Peachtree) that must increasingly communicate with one another to produce actionable, unified data for decision-making. As the MoH advances its Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) agenda and implements the Health Resource Tracking (HRT) platform, there is a critical need for an embedded, technically skilled DevOps Engineerwho can bridge the gap between government IT systems, external implementation vendors, and international technical partners. A DevIOps Engineer brings the depth to manage complex, multi-environment deployments including both cloud-hosted services on providers such as Ethio telecom’s EthioCloud, other Cloud Services and on-premise MoH data centers, while ensuring system reliability, security compliance, and the progressive transfer of operational sustainability. This role is not only a technical necessity; it is a strategic investment in Ethiopia’s institutional capacity to sustain, govern, and evolve its digital health infrastructure independently.

PROJECT BACKGROUND

The DPI for Health Resource Tracking (HRT) project is a multisectoral initiative spanning the Ministry of Health (MoH) and Ministry of Finance (MoF) at the federal level, and Regional Health Bureaus (RHBs) and Regional Finance Bureaus (RFBs) at the sub-national level. It is establishing a standards-based data exchange layer to connect government financial systems (IBEX, IFMIS, Peachtree) with health sector reporting systems (DHIS2, EPSS, GMP), enabling unified visibility across health financing channels in Ethiopia.

POSITION OVERVIEW

CHAI is seeking a technically strong individual to be seconded to the Ministry of Health as the embedded Digital Health DevOps Engineerfor the HRT project. This person will sit within MoH premises and serve as the primary on-site technical coordinator managing hosting infrastructure, facilitating vendor implementation activities, ensuring alignment of HRT plans with ongoing Ministry digital initiatives, and ensuring institutional continuity as the system moves toward full MoH ownership.

The DevOps Engineerwill be specifically responsible for the end-to-end technical health of the HRT platform — from infrastructure provisioning and server management to data pipeline monitoring and visualization configuration — serving as the technical backbone that holds together the vendor, the MoH DH team, and the broader DPI ecosystem.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Platform Infrastructure & Environment Management

• Oversee hosting infrastructure, whether cloud-based (EthioCloud/Ethio telecom, GCP, AWS) or on-premise MoH data center. Ensuring all environments meet MoH security, performance, and operational standards.
• Coordinate with the local vendor to set up and maintain development (DEV), user acceptance testing (UAT), and production environments for all HRT project components.
• Monitor system performance, uptime, availability, and security across all environments; escalate anomalies and critical incidents promptly.
• Manage server provisioning, configuration, and lifecycle on both Linux (Ubuntu) and virtual environments within the MoH data center or EthioCloud infrastructure.
• Support migration activities and provide technical oversight of vendor-managed deployment pipelines and release processes.
• Coordinate with Ethio telecom and other local service providers on network connectivity, SLA compliance, and cloud resource provisioning for MoH-hosted components.

2. Vendor Coordination & Technical Facilitation

• Act as the primary on-site technical liaison between the external vendor team, MoH technical staff, and eGov advisors.
• Facilitate vendor access to MoH systems, data centers, and infrastructure while enforcing access governance and audit trail policies.
• Track vendor deliverables against the Statement of Work (SOW); proactively identify and surface blockers, risks, and dependencies.
• Coordinate and co-lead system integration testing (SIT), user acceptance testing (UAT), and system validation activities.

3. System Administration & Server Management

• Administer Linux servers (installation, patching, hardening, performance tuning) for all HRT-related services and middleware components.
• Manage user access, roles, permissions, and security configurations for HRT core components: adaptors, registries, the data exchange layer, and related microservices.
• Configure and maintain web servers (Nginx, Apache), application servers, and reverse proxies serving HRT platform components.
• Manage container orchestration using Docker and Kubernetes; maintain Helm charts, cluster configurations, and service health.
• Diagnose and resolve infrastructure and environment issues; maintain clear incident logs and resolution records.
• Maintain living documentation of system configurations, deployment procedures, integration maps, and operational runbooks.

4. Data Visualization & Dashboard Configuration

• Deploy, configure, and administer Apache Superset (or equivalent BI tools such as Metabase or DHIS2 dashboards) for HRT data visualization and health financing dashboards.
• Manage database connections, dataset configurations, and role-based access controls within visualization tools to ensure secure and accurate reporting.
• Work alongside MoH data and analytics staff to configure charts, dashboards, and indicators aligned with health resource tracking reporting requirements.
• Ensure visualization platform stability, uptime, and integration with back-end data sources including PostgreSQL and data exchange outputs.
• Support performance tuning of queries and caching layers within visualization platforms to ensure responsive dashboard loading.

5. Data Pipeline Monitoring & Incident Management

• Monitor the performance and health of data exchange processes across HRT integrations (IBEX, IFMIS/Oracle, Peachtree ↔ DHIS2, EPSS, GMP).
• Identify, classify, log, and track pipeline issues — including data delays, sync failures, and transformation errors by type (infrastructure vs. application).
• Maintain change and configuration control across environments; ensure all updates are validated, documented, and aligned with agreed processes.
• Set up and maintain alerting and monitoring dashboards (e.g., Grafana, Prometheus, or equivalent) for proactive infrastructure observability.

6. Security, Compliance & Governance

• Ensure all system access, configurations, and operations comply with Government of Ethiopia IT security standards, the MoH data governance policy, and relevant international standards.
• Support periodic security reviews, audits, and compliance assessments; remediate identified gaps in collaboration with the vendor and MoH IT.
• Maintain structured configuration management and change control documentation with approval processes.
• Enforce network security configurations, firewall rules, and VPN access policies in line with MoH IT governance frameworks.

7. Knowledge Transfer & Institutional Sustainability

• Design and execute a structured capacity-building plan for MoH IT staff, ensuring progressive transfer of operational responsibility for all HRT platform components.
• Develop and maintain standard operating procedures (SOPs), user guides, and training materials for ongoing system management.
• Represent the HRT project in MoH Technical Working Group (TWG) meetings, steering committees, and interoperability forums.
• Champion HRT integration within broader MoH digital transformation initiatives (e.g., the Health Sector Digital Transformation Roadmap), ensuring the platform’s visibility and alignment with national strategy.
• Adhere to all Government of Ethiopia institutional standards, procurement rules, and operational procedures as applicable.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software Engineering, or a closely related field.

Experience

• Minimum 7 years of hands-on experience in system/platform administration, with at least 4 years in software engineering and 3 years in DevOps or infrastructure management in production environments.
• Demonstrated experience managing Linux server environments (RHEL, Ubuntu, or equivalent), including installation, hardening, and performance management.
• Practical experience with cloud hosting platforms, including local providers such as EthioCloud (Ethio telecom) and on-premise data center virtualization (VMware, KVM, or equivalent) and server management.
• Proven database administration experience with PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, or comparable RDBMS including backup/recovery, query optimization, and user management.
• Experience with containerization and orchestration tools: Docker and Kubernetes in a professional setting.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions) and deployment automation.
• Hands-on experience with system integration, API-based data exchange, and data pipeline operations.
• Experience deploying and configuring data visualization platforms such as Apache Superset, Metabase, or similar BI tools.

Skills & Competencies

• Proficiency in English (written and spoken).
• Ability to translate complex technical concepts clearly for non-technical government stakeholders.
• Strong prioritization and self-management skills; comfortable working autonomously in a dynamic, multi-stakeholder environment.
• High integrity, reliability, and alignment with CHAI’s mission of strengthening health systems for underserved populations.
• Familiarity with Linux shell scripting (Bash) and basic automation scripting for system operations.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS & ADVANTAGES

• Familiarity with health information systems — especially DHIS2, EPSS, or GMP — or government PFM systems (IBEX, IFMIS/Oracle, Peachtree).
• Data Science, Analytics, and modelling are strongly preferable.
• Understanding of health data interoperability standards: HL7 FHIR, OpenHIE architecture, RESTful APIs, and related protocols.
• Prior experience coordinating external technical vendors in a government or NGO implementation context.
• Knowledge of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) design principles and open-source digital ecosystems.
• Experience with Ethiopian public sector digital systems or government IT governance frameworks.
• Familiarity with Grafana, Prometheus, or equivalent monitoring and observability stacks.
• Exposure to user research, field testing, and technology training for non-technical end-users.
• Prior engagement with Ethio telecom’s EthioCloud platform or other Ethiopia-specific cloud/hosting providers.

WORKING ENVIRONMENT & EXPECTATIONS

This is a full-time, embedded secondment position within MoH premises in Addis Ababa. DevOps Engineer will be operationally co-located with MoH Digital Health staff, with regular coordination with the CHAI country team and remote collaboration with eGov technical advisors.

The role operates at the intersection of government systems, commercial vendors, and international development requiring equal measures of technical depth, stakeholder empathy, and professional resilience. The ideal candidate is a self-driven platform professional who takes full ownership of infrastructure reliability, communicates proactively across all levels of stakeholders, and is passionate about the role that robust digital infrastructure plays in improving health outcomes for Ethiopians.