Sr. Global Optometrist at VisionSpring

• The Global Senior Optometrist has an important role when it comes to increasing clinical quality and client experience whilst not losing sight of the task sharing approach that VisionSpring is pursuing. In his/her capacity the person is responsible for identifying gaps, capacity building of team through training and on the job supervision, regular discussions, and feedback, such that teams can constantly adapt and relentlessly improve.
• The Global Senior Optometrist collaborates with country quality and customer experience leads and VAP team members as well as with the Global Senior Lead, Program Experience and Quality. The Global Senior Optometrist works hand in hand with the MERL unit to ground best practices in evidence. The Global Senior Optometrist is a member of VisionSpring’s Global Program Office and reports to the Global Vice President of Programs (based in Accra, Ghana).

About You

• Mission-driven, entrepreneurial leader. You build a mission-driven unit to support the delivery of the organization’s long-term outcomes widening our outreach. You foster ideation, iteration, creativity and learning.
• Passionate about quality standards and clinical techniques. You love understanding the quality of our services and practices and are passionate to further improve quality standards of the clinical skill and procedures on a global scale .
• Customer centric. You center program-quality around defined value propositions, customer experience, and feedback.
• Scaling champion. You are motivated to transform local and national processes and protocols into scalable approaches that can be adjusted to reflect country contexts but ensure similar quality and client experience across the board.
• Inclusive player-coach. You mentor and develop people. In a diverse, growth-stage organization you create opportunities for participation and increased responsibility. You model vulnerability and accountability, and roll-up your sleeves to deliver when and where needed.
• Public health mindset. You believe that solutions should be simple and scalable and should lead to a paradigm shift in the lives of millions globally.

About Us

• VisionSpring is creating access to affordable eyewear, everywhere. Clear vision creates opportunities for increased learning, work, safety, civic participation, and quality of life.
• As a social enterprise, social change motivates us first. Our focus on sales and revenue targets serves and advances our mission objective—to increase functioning, productivity, and income earning potential for our low-income consumers by correcting refractive errors with eyeglasses.
• We are working to transform the systemic dysfunction of an optical market that has failed to deliver eyeglasses—a 700-year-old technology—to 1.1 billion consumers in need of vision correction, most of whom live on less than $4 a day.
• We serve low-income consumers, not as beneficiaries but as customers. Our customers expect a high-quality and affordable product, and they will spend limited discretionary income for the immediate and tangible benefits of vision correction.
• By selling eyeglasses, we awaken new demand and seed a viable market. By selling new eyeglasses we are able to serve four times as many people per dollar input than the alternative of donating recycled ones. To efficiently scale, we must deliver each new unit with lower cost.
• We run our business on both sales metrics and social impact measures. We use a range of organizational forms and practices to get the job done.
• We believe in scaling our impact, not our organization. We are a lean team of doers.

What You'll Do
Global program clinical quality assurance and client centered strategy

• Set global standards for optometrists and other clinical staff as well as support the development and roll out of standard operating procedures and trainings for channels without clinical staff like the pharmacy channel and Reading Glasses for Improved Livelihoods, based on the Assisted Technology
• Support the development and implementation of VisionSpring’s global program quality in terms of clinical precision and upto date with prevailing market practices as well as align to the client centred strategyand related policies, guidelines, processes, and standard procedures, aligned with organizational strategic priorities and targeted outcomes.
• Develop and implement effective monitoring of program quality and client experience.

Harmonization of approaches

• Develop and endorse Standard Operating Procedures in place for relevant program elements across VisionSpring countries, this will include amongst others standardization throughout our camps with slight adaptations to accommodate for context variations
• Identifying areas for improvement in customer care, developing and implementing plans to address those issues, and monitoring the effectiveness of those plans, keeping in view the nature and scope of VisionSpring work.
• Compliance with regulations and standards: Ensuring our practices adhere to all relevant healthcare regulations and quality standards set by various regulatory bodies.
• Reviewing clinical data and customer feedback to assess the quality of care provided by individual on ground optometrists.
• Helping optometrists improve their performance through feedback, coaching, and mentoring. Presenting data and reports on quality measures to stakeholders and providing clear and concise explanations of the findings.
• Staying up-to-date on the latest quality improvement methodologies and best practices and use them for enhancing visionspring programs.
• Develop and implement supportive supervision check list, such that we can make controls/checks of the quality for our own teams and implementing partners. This might need to be rolled out by a third party.
• Client experience monitoring, this includes process monitoring, client feedback on counselling, choice and wearing habits.
• Based on experience and evidence from the field, suggest effective ways or innovations to achieve greater quality and client experience.
• Generate and recommendtechnical insights that could help in suggesting policy and process changes to policymakers and thus catalyze the access to clear vision for all.
• Support piloting any new technology and tools, new glasses, new eye testing materials, new charts with a quality assurance lens in support with MERL.
• Implement quality assurance protocols to ensure the delivery of high-standard eyecare services.
• Conduct regular assessments and audits of optometry operations to identify areas for improvement.
• Provide supportive supervision to optometry staff, offering guidance and training to maintain quality standards
• Ensure quality assurance is actively being measured.

Capacity building and support

• Provide leadership and guidance to all optometrists and vision technical staff; motivate and coach clinical team members; ensure that all team members operate with a high degree of accountability and professionalism.
• Provide continuous support to improve the quality of our programs and the client experience in all of our countries
• Support the recruitment, management, and development of (clinical) team members and motivate them to deliver the highest quality of services.
• Ensure team members have easy access and understanding of VisionSpring’s quality assurance tools, processes and systems
• Train team members on quality assurance tools, processes and systems in collaboration with the head of the training/learning department where relevant
• Work with program teams to develop understanding of the importance of quality assurance and client experience
• Contribute to program knowledge management

Fundraising

• Support future project design by contributing to proposals ensuring that quality assurance and client experience are at the heart of our interventions.
• As quality assurance and client experience is a domain that is constantly evolving, you will be flexible to adapt potentially additional tasks in line with the overall goal of ensuring quality assurance and client experience.

Requirements

• Degree in Optometry from a recognized university.
• At least 5 years of relevant professional experience in optometry with sound knowledge of and experience in refraction (subjective and objective), retinoscopy, slit lamp examination, and contact lens fitting.
• Minimum of 3 years of progressive program management experience
• Experience in technical support and coaching of partners and/or team members.
• Exposure to public health and experience of working on policies/solutions that have created social impact at scale.
• Ability to positively influence people without having line management relationship.
• Strong commitment to respectful collaboration with multi-lingual team members from diverse backgrounds.
• Fluency in English, written and spoken.
• Ability to travel 30% of the time. Willingness to travel internationally and work in locations with limited infrastructure.
• Preferred experience and skills: (1) Experience working in sub-Saharan Africa, India, Bangladesh; (2) Working in a high-growth or start-up environment; (3) Working in an international organization operating in low- and middle-income countries. (4) Master’s degree in health management/public health, or commensurate work experience in related to public health programming