G

Program Assistant, Global Health

Gates Foundation
Full-time
On-site
Seattle, WA United States of America

The Foundation

We are the largest nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world. Founded on a simple premise: people everywhere, regardless of identity or circumstances, should have the chance to live healthy, productive lives. We believe our employees should reflect the rich diversity of the global populations we aim to serve. We provide an exceptional benefits package to employees and their families which include comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with no premiums, generous paid time off, paid family leave, foundation-paid retirement contribution, regional holidays, and opportunities to engage in several employee communities. As a workplace, we’re committed to creating an environment for you to thrive both personally and professionally.

The Team

Our Global Health division harnesses advances in science and technology to save lives in poor countries. We focus on the health problems that have a major impact in developing countries but get too little attention and funding. Where tools exist, we support sustainable ways to improve their delivery. Where they don’t, we invest in research and development of new interventions, such as vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics. Our work in infectious diseases focuses on strategies to fight and prevent HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, neglected tropical diseases, enteric and diarrheal diseases, pneumonia, and maternal, newborn and child health. These strategies are supported by functional & cross cutting teams that focus on Discovery and Translational Sciences, Vaccine Development, and Integrated Development.

The Integrated Portfolio Management Team (IPM) in the Global Health division is tasked with maximizing the health impact of our product development portfolio which is similar in size to the largest pharmaceutical companies. We do this by assessing the value/impact and the risk of most products in our R&D pipeline to optimize impact by 2045. Cost effectiveness and health impact analyses form the basis of these assessments.

The goal of the Enterics, Diagnostics, Genomics, & Epidemiology (EDGE) Team is to accelerate the reduction in childhood deaths from diarrheal disease in low- and middle-income countries, and to eliminate typhoid as a public health problem globally. We also aim to enhance the development and use of diagnostics for infectious diseases, and to develop low-cost and optimized approaches to pathogen surveillance in LMICs. Guided by the burden of disease and the threat of outbreaks, we develop vaccines, diagnostics, and tools for detection and surveillance of pathogens for delivery to our target populations. Vaccines are being developed or optimized to target rotavirus, bacterial causes of diarrhea (including Shigella and Cholera), and enteric fever (typhoid and paratyphoid). We also focus on extreme volume manufacturing of diagnostics and developing point-of-care molecular diagnostics. Surveillance tools in development include tools for pathogen detection and genomic surveillance from clinical samples and wastewater to optimize global and local surveillance for outbreak and endemic pathogens.

This position reports to the Senior Program Manager for the Global Health Office of the President and Strategy, Planning, & Management (GH OOP-SPM) team.

Leadership and Culture

We believe that energized people, working well together, fueled by great leadership in an inclusive environment in which they thrive, will do phenomenal things!

*This position is a limited-term position for 18 months and located in our Seattle, Washington office. Relocation will not be provided.

Your Role

This role provides critical administrative and organizational support for Deputy Directors, Senior Program Officers and the team broadly. Program Assistants provide wide and varied administrative and organizational support for program or operations leaders and teams. They are highly engaged members of the business team. Efficiency, attention to detail, flexibility and good judgment are essential in this role to ensure smooth team operations. The Program Assistant is integral to the team, ensuring that all administrative and scheduling functions are completed promptly, allowing for highly productive environments. A successful candidate will demonstrate a strong ability to navigate the role, responsibilities, and culture. He / She will also have an appetite for proactivity amid ambiguity.

What You’ll Do

  • Schedule a high volume of appointments and meetings, manage complex calendars for multiple people and across multiple time zones.

  • Make travel arrangements domestically and internationally.

  • Assist in scheduling and planning for events, such as meetings, conferences, and presentations, which may include coordinating arrangements for participants, handling logistics, preparing, and disseminating materials.

  • Partner with Events team, AV (Audiovisual) team and external speakers for virtual convenings.

  • Provide communications support and assistance to ensure timely responses to inquiries including answering and prioritizing emails and calls. This includes the ability to synthesize information to make recommendations and decisions.

  • Maintain organized files and records and a system for tracking, monitoring and prioritizing tasks and projects.

  • Play a key role in team culture and help the Senior Program Assistant to design team building and celebration and events.

  • Provide administrative support including document creation, expense reports, reimbursements, organization, and maintenance of files.

  • Work on special projects as needed.

  • Interact and communicate clearly and consistently with grantees and partners in the field.

Your Experience

  • Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.

  • 3-5 years of work experience in an administrative role for a complex and fast-paced organization.

  • Proven ability to set priorities and meet deadlines while balancing the need to provide support for multiple individuals, including complex calendar, travel, and event planning.

  • Excellent oral and written communications skills.

  • Able to communicate effectively with internal and external contacts, establish trust, and adjust to a wide variety of working styles.

  • Knowledge of foundation priorities and how they align with the goals of the department/division.

  • Proficient skills with Microsoft Office Suite, including Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint, Word, and Excel, as well as SharePoint.

  • Good judgment, maturity, discretion, tact, and a sense of humor.

  • Positive, collaborative, customer-oriented approach to work.

  • Demonstrated confidence and grace needed to address multiple priorities at rapid pace.

*Must be able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship.

The salary range for this role is $30.58 to $42.79 USD. As a mission-driven organization, we strive to balance competitive pay with our mission and new hires are typically brought into the organization at a salary range between the minimum and the midpoint salary range. Actual placement in the range will depend on a candidate’s job-related skills, experience, and expertise, as evaluated during the interview process.

Hiring Requirements

As part of our standard hiring process for new employees, employment will be contingent upon successful completion of a background check.

Candidate Accommodations

If you require assistance due to a disability in the application or recruitment process, please submit a request here.

Inclusion Statement

We are dedicated to the belief that all lives have equal value. We strive for a global and cultural workplace that supports ever greater diversity, equity, and inclusion — of voices, ideas, and approaches — and we support this diversity through all our employment practices.

All applicants and employees who are drawn to serve our mission will enjoy equality of opportunity and fair treatment without regard to race, color, age, religion, pregnancy, sex, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, and prior protected activity.