Overview
Smile Train is the world’s leading cleft focused organization. Our goal is to transform the lives of every person impacted by a cleft lip or palate. We train and support doctors and medical professionals to provide our patients with free, life-changing, comprehensive cleft treatment. Our sustainable model has allowed us to reach more than 2 million children in 90+ countries in the past 25 years, and we still feel like we’ve just started. We are truly changing the world one smile at a time! Make a Difference!
The Education and Training (E&T) Director for Latin America is a senior leadership role responsible for organizing, professionalizing, and scaling Smile Train’s Education & Training function across the region. Education and training are recognized strategic advantages and high-value offerings for partners; this role ensures that value is delivered through strong governance, consistent execution, and measurable impact. The Director builds and oversees the education operating model, translating regional priorities into structured learning journeys for surgeons, multidisciplinary cleft teams, and early-career professionals, in partnership with universities, medical societies, and training institutions. The role leads the design and deployment of scalable education systems, including standardized curricula frameworks, digital and blended learning solutions, faculty and trainer development models, and quality assurance mechanisms. The Director ensures alignment with global standards, innovation, and research, while adapting implementation to regional and country contexts. The Director also owns performance management and impact measurement for education and training, defining KPIs, building dashboards, and establishing monitoring processes to track delivery, adoption, learning outcomes, and real-world impact. Through data-driven management, the Director elevates the partner experience by establishing a high-performing regional capability, reinforcing Smile Train’s leadership in high-quality, safe, and comprehensive cleft care across Latin America.
Key Responsibilities
1. Departmental Leadership & Strategy: Bring an entrepreneurial attitude to building the department from scratch, with a focus on scalability, innovation, sustainability, and cost-efficiency. Lead the development of the regional E&T department, including future staffing needs, infrastructure, and budgeting, aligned with Smile Train’s global and regional goals. Establish efficient operational structures, processes, tools, and performance metrics to guide all education and training activities. Ensure training initiatives and topics are aligned with global and regional E&T strategies, partner needs, and data-driven evidence (e.g., outcomes, quality indicators, surveys).
2. Content Coordination & Standardization: Support the creation of tailored learning journeys for partners based on their maturity stage and service model. Support the maintenance, distribution, and implementation of standardized multidisciplinary curricula for cleft care, including topics in surgery, anesthesia, speech therapy, nursing, nutrition, and orthodontics. Work closely with Smile Train global and regional clinical advisors to solicit and review training content. Ensure all materials are translated, localized, and adapted for adult learners across Spanish and Portuguese-speaking contexts.
3. Stakeholder Engagement & Collaboration: Collaborate with Program Managers to identify training needs across the region; integrate education into partner strategies and learning curves; facilitate consistent regional E&T data collection; and support local and regional execution. Work closely with the HQ E&T team to advise on regional nuances, gaps, successes, and best practices, driving alignment and efficiency across global E&T processes. Support HQ E&T with resource mobilization and donor engagement by providing the Development Team with data, reports, and impact narratives on E&T initiatives as needed. Represent Smile Train Latin America in global Smile Train E&T forums, contributing to thought leadership and ensuring regional alignment.
4. Monitoring, Evaluation & Impact: Contribute to continued improvements of global systems to measure training participation, satisfaction, knowledge acquisition, and impact on clinical outcomes, advising HQ on regional nuances, gaps, and best practices. Use data insights to improve training programs and demonstrate the value of E&T initiatives. Ensure consistent E&T data collection across the region and integrate Latin America’s training data into global centralized monitoring systems and guidelines. Translate insights from monitoring systems into actionable priorities, identifying emerging gaps and recommending high-impact training areas to address.
5. Regional & Global Conferences: Represent Smile Train Latin America in global Smile Train E&T forums and activities.
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