Laboratory Officer – Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)

About the role

The Laboratory Officer – AMR will provide technical leadership and implementation support for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance activities across nine Fleming Fund‑supported sentinel laboratories in Tanzania. The role focuses on strengthening bacteriology, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, quality assurance, and data reporting to national and global platforms.

Key responsibilities

• Conduct rapid laboratory readiness assessments and verify capacity of sentinel labs for high‑quality AMR surveillance.
• Provide structured technical mentorship, supportive supervision, and on‑site coaching on bacteriology, AST, quality management systems, internal quality control, biosafety, specimen handling, and laboratory information management.
• Support enrollment in, maintenance of, and participation in External Quality Assessment (EQA) and proficiency testing programmes, ensuring timely corrective actions.
• Promote compliance with national policies, SOPs, and international standards such as ISO 15189, CLSI, and EUCAST.
• Implement continuous quality improvement initiatives to enhance diagnostic accuracy and reliability of AMR data.
• Ensure timely, accurate reporting of AMR surveillance data to national platforms and the WHO GLASS system.
• Collaborate with clinicians, pharmacists, and surveillance teams to analyse, interpret, and disseminate AMR findings and antibiograms.

Required profile

Required skills

• Bacteriology
• Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST)
• Quality management systems
• Internal quality control
• Biosafety and biosecurity
• Specimen collection and management
• Laboratory information management
• Data quality practices
• ISO 15189
• Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines
• European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) guidance
• External Quality Assessment (EQA) programmes
• Proficiency testing
• GLASS reporting