Senior Program Officer

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

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 the Global Policy & Advocacy (GPA) division is to understand and shape the public policy debates affecting the foundation’s work, build support for its major program and policy objectives, and develop partnerships and alliances that can advance the foundation’s objectives nationally and globally. Because the foundation’s resources alone are insufficient to solve the challenges ahead, GPA also supports advocacy efforts to engage diverse stakeholders and promote innovative solutions that advance our program goals. We work in close partnership with grantees, our colleagues in the Global Health, Global Development, Global Growth & Opportunity, U.S., Global Education, Gender Equality programs, and Foundation Communications to build an environment where all people can lead healthy and productive lives.

Application Deadline: 9/27/2024

Your role

The Senior Program Officer, Program Advocacy, and Communications - Gender Equality will be a key member of the program advocacy communications, external communications, and philanthropic partnerships team cluster within the India Country Office (ICO). The SPO will lead, build, and implement the foundation’s gender equality (GE) program advocacy and communication strategy, anchor key relationships, and build an investment portfolio passionate about bringing to bear a range of tactics such as policy analysis, budgeting, and financing, partnerships, resource mobilization, and communications, etc. with a focus on women’s economic empowerment, women in leadership, and digital connectivity portfolios. The SPO will work closely with the Gender Equality (GE) team in the India office and GE PAC teams in other global and regional offices to advance the GE foundation goal.This role will report to the Deputy Director, Program Advocacy and Communications, External Communications, and Philanthropic Partnerships, India Country Office.

What You’ll Do

• Strategy Development and Execution: Responsible for identification, development, and successful implementation of the GE Program Advocacy and Communications (PAC) strategies and priorities by using a range of foundation tactics and approaches (for example, developing policy briefs, undertaking policy and budget analysis, building partnerships, generating evidence, building champions and coalitions, mobilizing resources, communications, strengthening domestic institutions, and other tactics or approaches to effectively deliver on ICO’s GE goals.
• Relationship and Stakeholder Management: Lead relationships with key government departments, institutions, quasi-government bodies, industry associations, institutions, and other critical stakeholders at the national and state levels and track progress on priority policy issues related to the foundation’s GE strategy.
• Grantmaking: Refine and implement a grantmaking strategy that complements programmatic team efforts to accelerate GE goals, specifically focusing on Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE), Women in Leadership (WIL), and Digital Connectivity (DC). Key levers to focus on include access to capital, access to markets, inclusive digital ecosystem, and childcare and care infrastructure. This includes management of existing investments and identifying new investments in partnership with country and global teams to advance the goals.
• Diffusion and Evidence Generation: Develop policy briefs, undertake financing analysis, bring together and share insights and innovations, and generate evidence in partnership with the measurement learning and evaluation (MLE) team to diffuse and accelerate impactful interventions at the national level and state level and help drive the creation of global public goods (e.g. reports, briefs, decks) that benefit the GE and other collaborators and policymakers.
• Cross-Team Engagement and Collaboration: Work closely with the GE and other teams (e.g. Inclusive Financial Services, Agricultural Development, Development Policy, and Finance), other geographies, and the global GE PAC team to identify relevant policy opportunities and needs and to get evidence ‘off the shelf’ by making it widely accessible, and applicable to local contexts. Actively provide technical leadership to help key internal and external collaborators understand the context and country perspective.
• Leadership Voice: Support the Deputy Director and leadership on high-level leadership visits and/or other critical advocacy/voice initiatives requiring in-country inputs and engagement. Focus on getting evidence off the shelf by making it widely accessible, and applicable to local contexts, helping key partners adapt and adopt findings while exploring local barriers to scale-up of successful programs.
• Partner Engagement: Lead communications with grantees, partners, and collaborators (e.g. government, donors, implementation partners), represent the foundation’s perspective, and work on WEE, WIL, and DC in external meetings and committees, as appropriate and related to area of expertise and responsibilities of the position. This role is responsible for high-quality interactions and clear and consistent communications with grantees and partners in the field.

Your Experience

• Advanced degree in public policy, or a related field (e.g. economics, development studies, gender studies, sociology, etc.)
• A minimum of 8 years of experience working in government, public affairs, multilateral institutions, civil society organizations, and/or corporate roles with experience in program design, and strategy execution in the area of development, with gender equality as a thematic area of interest.
• Strong advocacy and influencing ability for resource mobilization, policy analysis, communications, coalition building, and partnership development.
• A breadth of knowledge and experience working with a range of key partners working to advance GE in India on the range of key gender, business, finance, and economic policy issues related to WEE, WIL, and Digital Connectivity.
• Experience developing and implementing campaigns and advocacy strategies that support the policy and financing goals.
• Proven track record of government relations and partnership management that focuses on Gender Equality and having in-depth experience and knowledge of India’s political economy.
• Strategy development and execution expertise with the ability to guide implementation, delivery, and impact measurement.
• Ability to navigate a complex network of partners both internally and externally.
• Ability to communicate and translate data and evidence to a variety of audiences and team members.
• Excellent written, facilitation, and oral communication skills to produce and share evidence-based materials and recommendations clearly and quickly.
• Ability to combine a strategic vision with day-to-day management using an evidence-based approach to substantiate progress
• Experience in a role requiring collaboration within an organization, as well as a demonstrated ability to work with efficiency and diplomacy as a team effort.
• Proven track record in achieving results and driving multiplex work to conclusions, including getting results through others.
• Ability to build collaborative relationships and trust with many different partners internally at the foundation.

Other Attributes

• Calm under pressure with the capability to lead and inspire confidence through ambiguity or change.
• Comfortable in a wide range of cultural, geographic, and operational situations, and demonstrate culturally sensitive behavior.
• Ability to travel up to 25% domestically and internationally.

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

Candidate AccommodationsIf 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.