Senior Strategy Officer, Exemplars in Global Health

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

The Global Development Division (GD) works with partners to expand access to life-saving health products and services in under-resourced communities, supporting countries in strengthening health systems and advancing essential services for women, children, and families. The division includes teams focused on Emergency Response, Exemplars in Global Health, Global Health Agencies and Funds, Immunization, and Polio – stewarding approximately $1.5 billion in annual grant funding across a team of roughly 185 staff.

The Exemplars in Global Health (EGH) team equips decision-makers with the evidence, insights, and practical “know-how” needed to accelerate and scale interventions that improve the health of the world’s most vulnerable populations. Working with a global network of partners, EGH identifies and studies exemplars and standard methodologies across health outcomes, primary health care systems, and service delivery strategies.

Through rigorous research, evidence synthesis, and timely analysis, EGH translates lessons from what works into actionable insights that help policymakers, practitioners, and funders strengthen systems, improve service delivery, and address pressing global health challenges.

We pursue this through:

• The study of “positive outliers”—identifying countries or regions that have achieved exceptional progress in health outcomes and analyzing the drivers behind their success;
• The study of emerging practices with global learning value, using prospective research and real-time analytics alongside implementation to meet the ambition of ‘learning by doing’;
• The provision of internal advisory services to support teams in pursuit of the foundation’s three goals toward 2045; and
• External partnerships to scale exemplary practices with governments, policymakers, global health initiatives, and multilateral development banks.

Your Role

The Senior Strategy Officer (SSO), EGH provides programmatic strategy leadership for the team. This role is focused on shaping EGH’s programmatic direction — leading and supporting initiative-level strategy development, defining and prioritizing EGH’s Bodies of Work, and preparing and orchestrating engagement with the foundation’s most senior decision-makers — the GD President, the CEO, and the Chair — on EGH strategy.

This role partners closely with EGH leadership, with Program Strategy Teams (PSTs) and Regional and Country Offices (RCOs), and with strategy, planning, and operational colleagues across the foundation. It requires someone who can operate at a topline strategic level and translate strategy into concrete, prioritized, well-sequenced Bodies of Work (BoWs) and decision-ready materials. This role reports to the Deputy Director for Strategy, Planning and Management (DDSPM) in EGH.

What You’ll Do

• Lead iterative definition and refinement of EGH’s program strategy. Working with the Director and DDSPM, support iterative adaptation in response to changes in the internal and external environment, and lessons learned from our investments and research.
• Develop initiative-level strategies and BoWs, in partnership with EGH’s leadership team (EGH LT). Ensure initiative-level strategies and BoWs are analytically rigorous, logically sound, and tied to foundation goals and to PST and RCO priorities.
• Lead a collaborative process to develop materials for portfolio reviews, strategy reviews, annual planning, and other leadership engagements. In partnership with EGH LT, this will include defining objectives, shaping content, and synthesizing complex evidence into clear, decision-oriented recommendations. This will include reviewing content from EGH programmatic team members and external partners and setting the bar for quality and rigor.
• Scope and lead other discrete, time-bound critical initiatives, in collaboration with EGH LT, and other internal and external partners. This may be at the investment level, body of work level, strategy level, and/or may include division- and foundation- wide strategic priorities that cut across multiple teams.
• Provide thought partnership and trusted-advisor counsel to EGH LT across a breadth of strategic issues, including those beyond any single project.
• Proactively identify cross-cutting opportunities across the foundation (e.g., with PSTs and RCOs), to identify and develop initiatives to integrate and scale EGH insights.
• Support high priority external partnerships and strategic initiatives for the EGH team. While this role will not involve grant-making, you will partner with program officers to support design and execution of complex external partnerships and strategic initiatives.
• Build internal networks to surface decision-maker needs and translate EGH’s evidence into uptake by foundation leadership, governments, and scaling partners.
• Depending on project needs, this may require the ability to travel internationally up to 20–25%.

Your Experience

• A minimum of 10+ years of progressive experience, with dual experience in leading strategy projects at a leading consulting/advisory firm and delivery/implementation experience in the private or non-profit sector; 5+ years in senior strategic-planning functions preferred.
• MBA, MPH, PhD, or other advanced degree or equivalent experience in a relevant field preferred but not required.
• Proven strengths in structured problem solving and strategic business planning, with the capability to easily develop and communicate frameworks to simplify and analyze core issues.
• Strong quantitative and financial fluency — including building and interrogating models — and the ability to convey complex information through clear tables, charts, and other visual representations.
• Demonstrated ability to bring new frameworks and tools to the strategy-development process, and to improve the design of annual strategic-planning processes for large organizations.
• Ability to learn new content quickly, identify connections and second-order implications, and synthesize and triangulate complex qualitative and quantitative data to support data-driven decisions and identify data gaps. Strong pattern recognition grounded in relevant global health and/or development knowledge.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and a demonstrated ability to rapidly build trusted-advisor relationships with the most senior leaders, and to question and challenge colleagues — including managers, partners, and clients — in a constructive manner.
• Deep knowledge of end-to-end complex project and partner management, including process design, team structure, partner mapping, communication, leadership engagement, and change management.
• Comfort with highly unstructured and ambiguous situations, with the ability to proactively bring structure and resolution.
• Knowledge of LMIC governments, and/or global health/development institutions and partners (e.g., WHO, the Global Fund, Gavi, UNICEF, multilateral development banks) preferred.
• Experience living and working in low- and middle-income countries preferred.
• Excellent organizational, facilitation, oral, and written communication skills. Ability to work effectively and with sensitivity across barriers such as language, culture, and distance, with excellent listening skills and compassion.
• Ability to work with flexibility, efficiency, diplomacy, and enthusiasm in a fast-paced environment, as a member of an integrated team.

Must have unrestricted work authorization in the country where this position is located. The Foundation does not provide immigration-related sponsorship for this role. This includes direct company sponsorship and any work authorization requiring a written submission or other immigration support from the company (e.g.: H-1B, O-1, L-1, E, OPT, STEM-OPT, CPT, TN, J-1, etc.).

The salary range for this role is $190,100 to $294,700 USD. We recognize high-wage market differences in Seattle and Washington D.C., where our offices are located. The range for this role in these locations is $209,100 to $324,100 USD. As a mission-driven organization, we strive to balance competitive pay with our mission. New hires salaries are typically between the range minimum and the salary range midpoint. Actual placement in the range will depend on a candidate’s job-related skills, experience, and expertise, as evaluated during the interview process.

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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

We’re committed to providing an inclusive and accessible hiring experience for all candidates. If you have a disability or medical condition and need an accommodation at any stage of the application or interview process—such as an ASL interpreter, alternative interview format, or physical accessibility support—we’re happy to help. Please contact HR@gatesfoundation.org with the position number and a brief description of your accommodation needs. Requests will be handled confidentially.

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.