Lead, Health Security

Please Note: This role requires the ability to work on site 3 days per week per company policy.

The annual salary range for this role is $120,000-140,000 in New York.

This is a grant funded position that ends on January 31 2029.

The World Economic Forum, committed to improving the state of the world, is the international organization for public-private cooperation.

The Forum engages the foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Why we are recruiting

The Forum`s Centre for Health & Healthcare (CHH) helps identify and scale up solutions for more resilient, efficient, and equitable healthcare systems to deliver the best possible care and keep global populations healthy. The CHH community brings together global leaders to engage in key global issues.

At the Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos in January 2026, the CHH launched the Pandemic Preparedness Engine (PPX), an ambitious global initiative designed to accelerate how the world prepares for biological threats by Hosted by the Forum's Health Security Initiative. PPX is the world's first global, AI-factory-based platform designed to identify infectious disease risk and accelerate the G7-endorsed 100 Days Mission to develop vaccines against viral threats within 100 days of identification.

The Forum is recruiting a subject matter expert to serve as a Lead, Health Security. This role sits at the intersection of science, strategy, and partnership. It will focus on translating health security priorities into actionable, real-world applications-working with pharmaceutical, biotech, and AI technology partners to design and scale the PPX platform and accelerate countermeasure R&D.

Reporting lines and interactions

This position will report to the Head, Resilient Healthcare, and sit within a core project team of three, with additional subject matter expertise provided by a network of secondees

Main responsibilities

• Support the strategic development and positioning of the Pandemic Preparedness Engine (PPX) as an AI-enabled platform linking disease intelligence to vaccine development
• Lead engagement with pharmaceutical, biotech, diagnostics, and scientific partners to translate platform capabilities (e.g., AI, federated data systems) into practical R&D and decision-making applications aligned with real-world development workflow
• Advance end-to-end vaccine and therapeutic R&D use cases, translating platform capabilities into practical applications from discovery and design through regulatory submission
• Contribute to the development of governance structures, sustainability models, and operating frameworks to support the long-term scale and institutionalization of PPX
• Establish and manage high-level Expert Advisory Committees and an Executive Board to provide strategic guidance, and ensure PPX is embedded into national, regional and global agendas and systems
• Contribute to strategic communications and high-level engagements (e.g., Davos, ministerial dialogues) to position PPX as a scalable, industry-relevant global public good

The successful candidate will be assessed on

• Ability to navigate the complexity of a matrix organization and leverage synergies across functional competences and thematic content.
• Agile coordination of Forum communities and partners, integrating multiple views and evolving and innovating within a rapidly shifting context.
• Ability to support the development and management of strategic partnerships with leading businesses, governments, and international organizations,

Preferred requirements and experience

• Advanced degree in public health, life sciences, biomedical engineering, or related field.
• Minimum of 8+ years of experience in biotechnology, pandemic preparedness, health security, AI-enabled life sciences, or related fields.
• Strong understanding of the vaccine or therapeutic development lifecycle, and the key decision points from discovery through clinical development and deployment
• Experience driving deployment of AI-enabled platforms in life sciences/health security (e.g., agentic AI, federated systems) into workflows.
• Demonstrated experience engaging senior leaders across sectors and navigating complex global partnerships.
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex scientific or technical concepts into strategic or operational initiatives
• Proven project management skills and experience translating vison into action through workshop design and adult learning practices
• Operate effectively within a highly matrixed, globally distributed team
• A flexible, agile mindset, with a demonstrated ability to operate in fast-paced, evolving environments, taking initiative to build and refine approaches while executing

Why work at the Forum:

The Forum believes that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to improve the state of the world by building awareness and cooperation, shaping mindsets and agendas, and driving collective action. Join us and become a driver for positive change!