Biomedical Specialist & Data Steward

Location: Any MSF office*

Contract: Permanent contract at 100%

Starting date: December 2025

Deadline to apply: 12 November 2025

Compensation and benefits: MSF practice is to offer the C&B package current in the MSF entity establishing the contract.

*By default, the successful candidate will be offered a contract in the MSF office of their country of residence at the time of application.

I. MSF INTERNATIONAL

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, healthcare exclusion and natural disasters. MSF offers assistance to people based only on need and irrespective of race, religion, gender or political affiliation. MSF International is the legal entity that binds MSF’s 24 sections, 28 associations and 19 branch offices together. Registered in Switzerland, MSF International provides coordination, information and support to the MSF Movement, as well as implements international projects and initiatives as requested.

II. POSITION BACKGROUND

MSF has the objective of taking care of the patients requiring medicines, medical devices, and other medical, logistical or library products. SPINCO, Coordination and Source of Product Information, is the driver for effective collaboration across the movement to deliver a central source of trusted product information that enable continuous process improvements. SPINCO contributes towards MSF’s social mission by enabling improvements to field operations through the provision of product information to all layers in the organisation. This enables product quality and visibility for better quality of care, enables assortment management, improves supply chain performance and increases overall interoperability whilst reducing duplications of effort.

III. PLACE IN THE ORGANISATION

The Biomedical specialist and data steward is part of the SPINCO team of MSF International. He/she reports to the SPINCO Data stewards coordinator and works closely with key staff in all five Operational Centres of MSF, the QA referents in the 3 ESC’s and regional supply centres, the OC referents supervising the product assortment.

IV. OBJECTIVES OF THE POSITION

The purpose of the position of biomedical specialist is to provide expert advice in the creation of all product codes and related information, checks the quality and availability of the products, ensure easy maintenance and the supply of spare-parts, accessories, and consumables. You guarantee the coherence with existing policies, protocols, and guidelines defined by MSF medical and logistic directors, and make this product information accessible on an operational tool (web “Unicat”, sharePoint platform “MSF catalogues” or USB memory key) for the whole MSF movement. Product information is essential at all levels of the organization. At field level it enables the creation of projects ‘orders. At ESC (European Supply Centres) level, it is used to conduct quality reviews when validating sources of supply. At both ESC’s and RSC’s (Regional supply centres) level, it ensures the right products are purchased. AT the OC level, it enables referents and projects manager to create their Medical Master List and ALPA’s (Articles List Per type of Activity) in the MSL tool (Medical Standard List). It also supports medical and logistical experts in selecting the appropriate products available.

The operational tools like Unicat, MSF catalogues on SharePoint and, USB key are a common reference point for projects, supply centres, and operational centres. These tools contain:

• More than 37,000 products/articles information are available

• More than 1,600 documents including guidelines, policies, and user manuals are linked to the products

• More than 75,000 relations between products

V. MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

1.  Accountable for the creation of product codes and descriptions, and all related information for the whole MSF movement (projects, OC experts, ESC referents, …). This ensures that projects can order the appropriate material to provide quality care to patients in adequate environments and infrastructure.

2. Accountable for collecting and dispatching information for all Medical Device and In Vitro Medical device standard (EU norms and ISO norms) for the MSF movements.

3. Accountable to select the most suitable product for any field use through a well-defined standardisation process. It consists in clearly defining the best product for a given context based on different criteria including quality, availability, coherence with existing protocols or guidelines, and validation or endorsement by the Medical Directors/Logistic Coordinators platform or international logistical working groups.

4. Accountable to gather and consolidate all relevant information on new products, including quality dossier, price information, field testing, maintenance requirements, and any existing protocols, policies, or guidelines. You present a comprehensive summary of this information to the Medical Directors’ platform for final validation.

5. Accountable for harmonizing products on the field to enable interoperability between the different operational centres in field projects.

6. Accountable for the quality of product information in the UniData tool (Data-Steward role), ensuring its accuracy, completeness, consistency, timeliness, uniqueness, and validity as UniData is the single source of product information for all downstream systems: ERP’s of ESC, UniQuality, Medical Standard List, order tools (UniField, Akiba…).

7. Accountable for the accessibility and visibility of the product information on operational tools on web platforms, the MSF intranet, or off-line tools for any MSF staff over the world.

8. Accountable as Product Owner of the central database UniData.

9. Responsible to actively participate in interagency meetings and projects as agreed upon by the Medical Directors’ platform.

• Master’s degree in biomedical sciences

• Genuine interest in and commitment to the humanitarian principles and challenges of MSF

• A strong knowledge of MSF in terms of product information (MSF catalogues) and guidelines

• Minimum of 2 years of professional experience

• Strong team member, able to collaborate, share and cooperate with others, working together towards a common goal

• Strong diplomacy skills with the ability of convincing the focal points and reach agreements that allow to move forward

• Energy, tact and flexibility to ensure good relationships with the numerous stakeholders

• Good analytical and problem-solving skills, with excellent attention to detail

• Mature, with strong interpersonal and outstanding organizational skills, capable to prioritize multiple tasks effectively

• Driven and persistent, with the ability to meet defined objectives and implement efficient solutions within a set timeframe

• Excellent report writing and presentation skills

• Ability to work and report independently

• Able to represent SPINCO in international meetings

Specific Requirements:

• Proficiency in both English and French (reading and writing)

• Technical writing capacity

• Computer skills are essential

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

At MSF, we are committed to an inclusive culture that encourages and supports the diverse voices of our employees. We welcome applications from individuals of all genders, ages, sexual orientations, nationalities, races, religions, beliefs, ability status, and all other diversity characteristics.

MSF is committed to preventing abuse, inappropriate behaviour, lack of integrity and financial misconduct in its work and care spaces. MSF expects all staff to share this commitment and promote an environment where abuse and misconduct is not tolerated.

We are committed to removing barriers for people with specific accessibility needs. If you need an adjustment to the recruitment process to be considered for the role, please let us know from the beginning of the selection process.

Note: All offers of employment will be subject to reference checks and to appropriate screening checks. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms his/her/their understanding of these recruitment procedures.