About Sand

Sand Technologies is a global Physical AI company using data and AI to make critical industries work better. We partner with governments, cities and enterprises to improve how essential systems operate across healthcare, water, energy, telecommunications and infrastructure.

Our work delivers proven real-world impact. We have built AI systems that help manage London’s water supply, supported telecom network planning across hundreds of cities, and developed digital healthcare platforms serving tens of millions of people across Africa. From intelligent command centers to AI-powered infrastructure platforms, we help organizations sense, analyze and act in complex environments.

Our people are ambitious, curious and relentlessly practical. Our teams work alongside clients in the field, solving hard problems and deploying solutions that last. With colleagues across Africa, Europe, the UK and the US, we operate across the full stack - from research and engineering to deployment and capability building.

Our mission is simple: to harness AI to solve humanity’s most pressing challenges.

About the role

Sand is scaling rapidly across Africa, partnering with Ministries of Health to deploy the Health Operating System (HOS) — a decision-support and execution platform that transforms how health systems sense, analyze, and act on data. The HOS is already operational across multiple countries, with plans to expand to 15 countries by end of 2026, supported by 80+ Forward Deployed Engineers.

As a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), you are the technical spearhead of our client engagement in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Unlike our roaming FDE roles, this is a permanently embedded position. You will be based full-time within the Ministry of Health in the DRC, becoming a long-term extension of the client's operational team. Your mandate is to build deep institutional relationships, develop comprehensive understanding of the national health system, and deliver sustained value over an extended engagement — not just rapid sprints, but lasting transformation.

This is not staff augmentation. You are an amalgamation of three roles:

1. The Software Engineer — Deep technical acumen to build and deploy production-grade solutions using Sand's product suite
2. The Product Manager — Strategic foresight to understand client problems, influence business objectives, and identify expansion opportunities
3. The Consultant — Client-facing finesse to navigate complex stakeholder relationships, manage scope, and transfer knowledge

Your primary mission is to prove our value fast, delivering functional solutions rapidly using Sand's products, playbooks, and tools, and then maturing those solutions into mission-critical infrastructure that the Ministry depends on daily. Over time, you become the institutional memory of the deployment — the person who understands the data landscape, the stakeholder dynamics, and the operational realities better than anyone.

Who We're Looking For

The Forward Deployed Engineer is a highly ambitious individual. You are someone who is deeply keen on learning — someone who dives in headfirst to solve some of the hardest, most complex problems in global health. You thrive on understanding the technology, understanding the stakeholders, understanding our product suite, and weaving all three together to deliver solutions that change how health systems operate.

This role is not for someone looking for comfort or routine. It is for someone who wants to step outside of their comfort zone, build something they can be proud of, and grow faster than they thought possible. The FDE programme is a career accelerator — an intensive rotation that exposes you to technical depth, strategic thinking, and client leadership in equal measure, all while working on problems that matter for millions of people.

For this permanently embedded role, you also need the maturity and resilience to sustain deep client relationships over months and years — not just weeks. You will become the face of Sand in Malawi, and that requires patience, cultural fluency, and the ability to navigate institutional complexity while maintaining momentum.

Key Responsibilities

Serve as Sand's Permanent Technical Presence in the Democratic Republic of Congo

• Embed full-time within the Ministry of Health, becoming a trusted member of the client's extended team
• Develop deep, longitudinal understanding of the national health data landscape, institutional dynamics, and operational priorities
• Build and maintain relationships across all levels of the Ministry — from frontline data officers to senior leadership
• Act as the primary technical point of contact for all Sand activities in-country, coordinating with launchers, country directors, and visiting FDE teams

Drive On-Site Value Delivery

• Rapidly unlock, explore, and integrate client data sources (e.g., DHIS2, SCADA systems, network management platforms, operational databases)
• Understand client problems through prototyping and rapid value delivery — deploying POCs and MVPs using Sand's product components and playbooks
• Transition initial solutions into hardened, production-grade systems that the Ministry relies on daily
• Own the long-term health of deployed solutions — monitoring adoption, troubleshooting issues, and iterating based on user feedback
• Deliver and track value generated through deployment of Sand products

Enable Product-Led Growth

• Lead with Sand's existing product suite — know the products by heart and where each solution is most effective for the domain you're deployed in
• Document learnings, client challenges, and successful solutions as reusable patterns for the broader FDE community
• Drive discovery and expansion by uncovering new opportunities on the ground

Build Local Capacity and Sustainability

• Work alongside Ministry teams to co-create solutions and progressively transfer knowledge, ensuring they can operate and maintain systems independently
• Identify, recruit, and mentor local data engineers, scientists, and analysts to build sustainable in-country capacity
• Develop training materials and documentation tailored to the local context, language, and skill level
• Be the continuity that ensures handover isn't a cliff — you bridge the gap between Sand's deployment and the Ministry's long-term ownership

Feed the Platform Feedback Loop

• Channel field learnings back to improve the core product through structured mechanisms (Technical Deep Dives, Solution Swarms, pattern documentation)
• Turn "gravel roads" into "paved superhighways" — document solution patterns so the next FDE can move faster
• Contribute field feedback that influences 30% of the product roadmap

Requirements — Essential

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related technical field
• 5+ years of experience in software engineering, data engineering, data science, system deployment, or technical leadership
• Proficiency in at least one of: Python, SQL/PostgreSQL, JavaScript — with ability to write production-grade code
• Strong problem-solving skills with a bias toward action and rapid prototyping
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills — comfortable presenting to senior government or corporate stakeholders and translating between technical and non-technical audiences
• Experience working with or deploying to government, public sector, or large institutional clients
• Proven ability to lead local technical teams and build capacity
• Willingness to relocate and be permanently based in the DRC for the duration of the engagement (12-24+ months)
• Language: Local language proficiency is a significant advantage

Requirements — Preferred

• Experience with data integration, ETL pipelines, and working with diverse data sources
• Experience in one or more of Sand's focus domains: health informatics/digital health, water utility operations, telecommunications network operations, or energy systems
• Familiarity with domain-specific platforms (e.g., DHIS2, OpenMRS for health; SCADA, GIS for water/energy; OSS/BSS for telecom)
• Experience with BI and dashboarding tools, particularly Apache Superset
• Experience with data transformation tools such as dbt or Airflow
• Comfort working with data dictionaries, reporting requirements, and identifying common data quality issues
• Knowledge of data security, privacy, and interoperability standards (e.g., FHIR for healthcare, GDPR, local data sovereignty requirements)
• Experience operating in resource-constrained environments (unreliable power, limited connectivity)

Work Environment

This is a permanently embedded role. You will work on-site at the Ministry of Health in the DRC 4 days per week, with 1 day for focused remote work, internal collaboration, and knowledge sharing with the broader FDE community. You should expect to be based in the DRC for a minimum of 12-24 months.

You must be self-driven, comfortable operating as Sand's primary technical representative in-country, and disciplined with online collaboration tools to stay connected with the broader Sand team across geographies. Cultural sensitivity, adaptability, and genuine interest in the local context are essential — you are not passing through, you are putting down roots.

LEAP Program Description

Global Solutions Ventures (GSV) – a joint-venture partnership between ZemiTek, LLC and Dexis Consulting Group – is implementing the Long-term Exceptional Technical Assistance Project (LEAP Global), a mechanism originally used by USAID to battle against infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, neglected tropical diseases, and pandemic influenza. As of July 1, 2025, LEAP Global transitioned to the U.S. Department of State (DOS). This initiative aims to address the complex human resource challenges faced by national infectious disease programs in the USA-supported countries.

The intervention of this project is to hire and embed technical expert advisors and subject matter experts within government entities. By directly embedding the technical expertise within the national programs, LEAP provides long-term, sustainable lifesaving support to empower host governments to lead and manage key aspects of their infectious disease portfolios and improve coordination between the U.S. Government and the host country.

About the Position

The Senior Human Resources for Health Advisor will support the Office of Foreign Assistance of the U.S. Department of State Embassy Kinshasa carrying out the America First Global Health Strategy. The primary focus of the Advisor will be technical support to develop a Political Economic Analysis of  Frontline health workers management and payment transition operational plan in alignment with the U.S,-DRC Health Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed on February 26, 2026.

This position specifically supports Section 2.4 of the MOU, with human resources for health responsibilities spanning all health service delivery areas (HIV, TB, malaria, maternal and child health, nutrition, global health security including polio eradication) to strengthen the entire health system rather than individual disease programs.

The Senior Advisor will support the Ministry of Health, Hygiene, and Social Security (MOH) for improving performance and retention of human resources for health of front-line health workers, including community health workers.  The Senior Consultant will identify policy and practice bottlenecks and facilitate solutions through coordinated technical support and facilitation of effort through the Ministry’s programming and administration efforts along with the health donors group members.

The Senior Advisor will identify technical and skills bottleneck and facilitate solutions through close mentorship. S/he will be based at the MOH Human Resources Division Office. The Senior Consultant will receive day to day direction from the Division head. S/he will be reporting to U.S. Embassy Public Health Advisor and Frontline Health Workers workstream Lead bi-weekly. The Advisor will support the MOH in carrying out life-saving humanitarian assistance (LHA) service delivery in full alignment with the new Presidential Executive Order (EO) directives. 

Responsibilities

• Support the MoH General Secretary to manage and coordinate efforts to process with employees hiring plan, set up HR data systems, review and update salaries and allowances payroll as well as retirement plans.
• Provide technical assistance in the compilation of a valid, up to date registry of front-line health workers in collaboration with the MOH and the Ministry of Public Works.
• Advise the MOH General Secretary on health policy and strategy gaps and make recommendations for remedial actions.
• Coordinate with the U.S. Government and the Global Fund to list staff receiving bonuses and ensure that they are `national staff register or private sector entity payroll systems.
• Develop a risk mitigation and communications plan to maintain performance and retention of health workers transitioned off of bonuses by January 2027.
• Support U.S. Government implementing partners to create a plan for transition CHWs to monthly stipends by domestic health resources per the MOU.
• Participate as a resource member to the GIBS Sante Health Workers and Service Delivery Working Group to support implementation of the 2026 priority action plan and improve coherence of related health donor actions to strengthen human resources of health policy and practice.
• Support the MOH to ensure workforce strategies support integrated health service delivery across all MOU Areas of Cooperation rather than vertical program structures.
• Coordinate with the LEAP Health Finance Advisor and Health Governance Advisor to align workforce transitions with co-investment tracking and financial oversight.

Reporting:

The Advisor will submit a monthly report to designated officer at the U.S. Embassy Office of Foreign Assistance by the 5^th day of the following month. Reports should demonstrate how workforce activities support integrated health system strengthening across all MOU Areas of Cooperation. Additionally, the Advisor will submit a weekly progress report to U.S. Embassy/Department of State (and participate in weekly calls) to include a short paragraph about main successes for that week. 

Qualifications

• Advanced Academic Credentials: Master’s degree or higher in Public Health, Health Policy, Health Economics, Public Administration, or related field.
• At least seven (7) years of relevant experience in the following areas:
  • HRH Policy & Regulatory Leadership: Led formulation/revision of national HRH strategies, regulatory frameworks, and workforce policies aligned with UHC and Ministry of Health priorities.
  • Workforce Planning & Operations: Designed staffing norms, deployment strategies, HRIS systems, and performance management frameworks in decentralized health systems.
  • Risk Management in Fragile Settings: Conducted operational risk assessments and developed mitigation plans addressing attrition, payroll integrity, donor dependency, and emergency surge capacity.
  • Donor & Stakeholder Coordination: Aligned HRH investments across government, World Bank, USG, and implementing partners; facilitated multi-partner consensus.
  • Institutional Capacity Strengthening: Led technical assistance, change management, and M&E systems to strengthen sustainable HRH governance.
• Full Professional Fluency: Bilingual English and French (written and oral), with experience leading high-level policy dialogue and technical drafting in both languages.
• Experience with IRIS is desirable.