JOB DESCRIPTION

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 mission of Discovery & Translational Sciences (DTS) is to catalyze innovation for the discovery and translation of transformative solutions to global health and development inequity. As such, the primary role of D&TS is to enable the foundation to achieve its ambitious global health equity goals as articulated by the disease-specific strategy teams (Program Strategy Teams; PSTs). For this, we exploit a unique advantage of the foundation in general and DTS in particular: the ability to invest in high-risk and/or long-timeline initiatives with potential for truly disruptive change. We channel resources into creating more practical (affordable, scalable, deliverable) versions of existing tools, develop transformative new tools where none exist, and speed the translation of scientific discovery into implementable solutions, seeking better ways to evaluate and refine potential interventions before they enter costly and time-consuming late-stage clinical trials.

Key functions in support of this R&D mission include identifying and filling gaps in scientific knowledge, creating or implementing new technology platforms that can accelerate research in support of our goals, investing in potentially transformative ideas, continuous surveying of an ever-changing scientific and technological innovation space, and the fostering of an effective ecosystem of global health innovation, funding, and partnership to advance the foundation’s mission. Our areas of focus include vaccines, biologics, drugs, microbiome interventions, and reproductive and sexual health.

The Global Partnerships & Grand Challenges (GPGC) Program, within DTS, has a dual strategy to support the Gates Foundation’s mission. GPGC sources and seeds innovations and innovators to advance the foundation’s programmatic work today while at the same time strengthening the R&D ecosystem in low- and middle-income countries to support the foundation’s impact over the long term. GPGC is built on 4 inter-connected and mutually reinforcing strategic pillars:

1. Grand Challenges Innovation, our RFP platform to source and seed innovations & identify and support innovators. Some examples of past RFP here.
2. Convenings, which include the flagship Grand Challenges Annual Meeting and other regional & strategic meetings.
3. Knowledge & network integration, a portfolio of work to support an enabling R&D ecosystem in low- and middle-income countries.
4. Partnerships, which focuses on leveraging the power of the Grand Challenges global network and pursuing new partnership opportunities.

Application Deadline: 02/10/2025

Your Role

As a key member of the GPGC team, the Senior Program Officer is accountable for a portfolio of investments focused on both science projects to support immediate programmatic needs and ecosystem strengthening to promote sustainable R&D in foundation priority areas. The Senior Program Officer’s work will be organized across all four pillars of the GPGC strategy—innovation platforms (identifying innovators and innovative institutions), convenings (bringing innovators together), knowledge integration (identifying resource and knowledge gaps), and partnerships (identifying and nurturing relationships with potential partners across the continent, including major international funders and technical partners, national and regional government bodies, and academics and science institutions).

To help fulfill the foundation’s commitment to work with a more diverse group of grantees and partners and but also work closer to the geographies we seek to impact, while continuing to shift the center of gravity of its work to low- and middle-income countries, the Senior Program Officer will also help internal teams make connections and build strong relationships with African scientific community. The Senior Program Officer will be based in the foundation Nairobi, Kenya office and will report to the Deputy Director, Health Delivery & Systems with dotted line to the GPGC Deputy Director.

What You’ll Do

In collaboration with local African partners and internal foundation partners including our Africa Regional Health team, shape and manage a portfolio of grants in line with the GPGC dual strategy, contribute to crafting the Science and Research workstream, support the Gates Foundation’s scientific programmatic priorities while strengthening the R&D ecosystem.

• Negotiate, implement, and manage a targeted portfolio of grants or performance-based contracts, including alignment of internal and external stakeholders, review of letters of inquiry and grant proposals, and clear, concise, and insightful written analyses and recommendations for funding
• Consult, provide thought partnership, and support grantees and other partners to build a well-integrated execution strategy for R&D ecosystem strengthening, thereby increasing the impact of GP&GC’s investments
• Actively search for and create opportunities and bring forward innovative ideas to develop new partnerships that will advance program goals
• Strengthen communities of practice on the continent and opportunities for intra-Africa collaborations by convening key stakeholders in creative ways that forge sustainable collaborations
• Work with African national governments and regional partners interested in joining existing Grand Challenges initiatives.
• Collaborate internally and with foundation partners to build & maintain measurement and evaluation systems to track and capture impact.
• Represent the foundation and program to the external world as follows:
  • Serve as the main point of contact and grant officer for some key grants in Africa
  • Forge collaborations with key global partners
  • Represent foundation interests in development networks
  • As requested, represent the foundation in relevant R&D and innovation-related meetings, committees, and task teams.
• Collaborate with other members of the GPGC team to maximize strategic coherence and ensure that investments in each sub-domain are mutually reinforcing.
• Stay informed and participate in complementary global, regional, or national initiatives to guide or support GPGC goals, including STISA 2034
• Liaise with other foundation teams as they consider investments that might advance or interact with GPGC partners or priorities.
• Organize and prepare for high-level internal and external meetings; contribute to writing background documents, briefs, articles, and presentations, including relevant literature reviews, landscape analyses, and data analysis.
• Identify and assess key portfolio risks and develop and manage mitigation/contingency plans at the portfolio level.
• Contribute to conceptualizing, planning, executing, and evaluating the impact of the Grand Challenges Annual Meeting, a 1,000+ person scientific gathering that also attracts key decision-makers, with specific emphasis on LMIC (broadly) and African (specifically) participation.

Your Experience

We are looking for people who enjoy working on complex projects and collaboratively creating solutions that have the potential to drive transformational change.  We seek self-starter who can integrate a diverse set of perspectives to build consensus, structure and drive forward progress on complex topics, and provide both strategic and operational capacity to the GPGC team.

• PhD in biomedical science
• Minimum 10 years’ directly relevant professional experience in academia and Africa-based innovation & science programs

• Personal qualities of integrity, empathy, credibility, and commitment to the Gates Foundation ‘s mission
• Passion for and demonstrated expertise in low- and middle-income country R&D ecosystem strengthening
• Experience in coalition-building, transformational partnership and experience in putting together creative initiatives is a plus
• Tolerance for ambiguity and ability to apply structure to simplify complex problems

• Experience with grantmaking to scientific organizations, including identifying appropriate partners, setting ambitious but achievable goals, evaluating technical proposals, and operating as co-grantor with other organizations
• Significant experience working closely with partners in Africa including governments, bilateral and multilateral donors, implementing agencies, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, and academic institutions.
• Proven track record of adapting to the networking and coalition-building demands of a highly matrixed organization and collaborate in multi-disciplinary, diverse, and dynamic teams
• Strong judgment with a demonstrated ability to handle complex issues, multiple tasks and competing priorities with skill, discretion, strong attention to detail, flexibility, and diplomacy
• Exceptional listening, verbal, and written communication skills, able to effectively calibrate input and synthesize information to connect with diverse audiences
• Significant knowledge of the African Union’s innovation and health strategies and organs
• Knowledge of the prevailing funding ecosystem in Science, Research and Policy in one or more of the following African countries: Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Ethiopia, Tanzania, or Senegal
• Ability to staff and advise senior leadership, being responsive to their concerns while giving them clear advice on the best courses of action.
• Project Management skills, including an ability to handle and prioritize a varied workload and strong organizational skills and attention to detail

Other Attributes

• Fluency in English required, proficiency in French is a plus.
• Willingness to commit up to 30% travel, both international and domestic
• Comfortable in a wide range of cultural, geographic, and operational situations, demonstrating culturally sensitive behavior
• Strong interpersonal and diplomatic skills.
• Commitment to transparency and real-time information sharing
• Demonstrated passion for the foundation’s values and commitment to deliver results

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.