Preparedness & Response Manager

Vacancy reference

VAC-0418

Department

Preparedness and Response

Location

Oslo / London / Washington DC

Close date

24/11/2025

About CEPI

Launched in 2017, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is an international coalition of governments, academic, philanthropic, private, public, and intergovernmental institutions whose vision is to create a world in which epidemics and pandemics are no longer a threat to humanity. Our mission is to accelerate the development of vaccines and other biologic countermeasures against epidemic and pandemic threats so they can be accessible to all people in need. CEPI played a central role in the global response to COVID-19, creating the world's largest portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines – seven of which are approved for global or domestic use - and co-leading COVAX, the global initiative to support equitable access which supported the delivery of over 2bn vaccine doses globally. CEPI has CEPI has contributed to a number of scientific breakthroughs in vaccine development against other infectious diseases, including the first ever licensed Chikungunya vaccine and the first Nipah and Lassa virus vaccines into Phase 1 trials.

As COVID-19 has demonstrated, emerging infectious diseases represent an existential threat to our way of life. COVID-19 is not the first pandemic of the 21st century, and unless we act now, we can be sure that it will not be the last. Unlike some of the other big threats that humanity faces, we have the tools to systematically reduce and even eliminate the risk of future pandemics. It is vital that we capitalise on the rare alignment of political will, practical experience, and technical and scientific progress emerging from the pandemic to prevent such devastation happening again. CEPI's five-year plan for – known as CEPI 2.0 - aims to dramatically reduce or even eliminate the future risk of pandemics and epidemics. Central to the plan is CEPI's goal to accelerate the time taken to develop safe, effective, globally accessible vaccines against new threats to just 100 days. Achieving this '100 Days Mission', which has been embraced by the G7 and G20, would give the world a fighting chance of containing a future outbreak before it can spread to become a global pandemic, potentially averting millions of deaths and trillions of dollars in economic damage.

CEPI is a not-for-profit association under Norwegian Law and has offices in Oslo (HQ), London, and Washington DC.

In CEPI we strive for diverse thinking, and we want a diverse pool of candidates for all our vacancies. We work for an inclusive working environment where each employee can contribute and grow.

More details about CEPI and our mission can be found on our website:

About the role

CEPI's Preparedness & Response Division is hiring for a preparedness and response manager, whose primary responsibilities will be to develop and maintain outbreak preparedness plans for a number of project teams, to organize and facilitate a vaccine research response in the event of an outbreak or impending epidemic or pandemic and to conduct after-action reviews as appropriate.

The primary purpose of this role is to support key aspects of CEPI's preparedness planning and execution of a vaccine research response when outbreaks or epidemics occur.

We are looking for candidates that are motivated by CEPI's mission. We prefer candidates with a good understanding of the vaccine development process and/or direct experience in public health emergency response incident management or decision support. The ability to work in a cross-functional team setting is essential. Please note that this is not a field-based or clinician role. CEPI is a vaccine research, development, and manufacturing organization and candidates will support planning and coordination of activities to prepare for and respond to outbreaks with a vaccine research response.

This role is a one-year fixed term position, with the potential for extension depending on future strategic priorities and resource requirements.

Responsibilities

The role(s) will support CEPI's outbreak response planning, policy development, and operational execution. This entails:

• Supporting the development of preparedness planning for a subset of CEPI teams involved in the development of vaccines (e.g. by pathogen or platform, or manufacturer)
• Support development of preparedness exercises to test the technical, operational and/or policy and decision-making elements of a vaccine research-focused outbreak response.
• Additional, specific objectives/projects will be assigned based on the unique skills of the appointee as well as the needs of the Preparedness & Response Division at the time. These may include, but are not limited to:
• Developing internal templates and tools for outbreak response coordination and management.
• Developing communication materials around preparedness and response activities and concepts.
• Conducting lessons learned exercises around real outbreak responses.
• Contributing to matrixed working groups shaping strategic preparedness concepts and approaches (e.g., vaccine libraries, stockpiling, etc.)
• Development of pandemic preparedness playbooks and joint response plans with CEPI partners
• Supporting internal management of response efforts in the event of an outbreak.
• Other duties as assigned.

Education, Experience and Competence

• Bachelor's degree and 2-5 years of experience in emergency management, global health, public policy, project management, vaccine R&D&M, or a related field.
• Understanding of the vaccine development process
• Understanding of the role of vaccine research, development, and/or manufacturing in outbreak response.
• Knowledge of concepts and tools used in emergency planning and preparedness.
• Ability to analyze and understand complex, multisectoral and ecosystem issues and develop strategic approaches to them.
• A desire to learn new things and contribute new ideas; naturally proactive.
• Strong interpersonal and collaborative skills.
• Excellent communication skills.

Travel and Location Requirements

• This role involves international travel of up to 15%.
• The position will be based in London, Oslo or Washington D.C.

What we can offer you

• The opportunity to work together with leading experts on solutions for global challenges.
• Experience from the international effort on developing vaccines against Emerging Infectious Diseases and accelerating vaccine development response to outbreaks including the current pandemic.
• A dynamic, diverse and inclusive working environment.

Background verification will be conducted to verify information provided in the CV and available documentation.