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

In June 2020, the foundation hired a Chief Communications Officer and established a new Communications Division to oversee the foundation’s global communications strategy. The division brings together internal and external communications to advance the foundation’s mission of a more equitable world. The Communications division employs staff distributed across North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Application Process

This leadership opportunity is located in Seattle, Washington and will be open from October 18 – 24. Current employees and alumni are eligible to apply.

Your Role

In this role, you will champion the division’s vision of using the foundation’s voice and human stories to inspire global change. As a strategic communications leader, you will drive our global communications strategy to protect and enhance its brand and reputation both internally and externally. You will manage key relationships, guiding stakeholder engagement and ensuring communications align with strategic priorities. You will lead global initiatives including Goalkeepers, strengthen our reputation through proactive issues management and media relations, and leverage data to inform policy decisions. Amplifying our voice, you will ensure leadership messaging is cohesive and impactful! You will also advance the global brand strategy, ensuring trust and credibility among diverse audiences. Internally, you’ll foster a culture of collaboration, inclusion, and employee engagement to strengthen the internal culture. Ultimately, you’ll oversee all communications efforts to ensure alignment with broader goals and measurable results.

What You’ll Do

You will join the foundation at a critical inflection point, with the exciting launch of our 25th anniversary and greater resources to achieve our bold ambitions, but also an increasingly challenging external environment in which our brand and credibility are more important than ever! As CCO, you will lead the development and execution of a comprehensive global communications strategy that enhances our reputation and credibility and drives programmatic impact and employee engagement across all initiatives.

Specifically:

• Work closely with the CEO and Chair to lead the positioning of the foundation and its leaders through the 25th anniversary and the next major phase of our lifespan.
• Inform and implement Board and Chair guidance to optimize our impact with diverse global collaborators. Bring creativity and energy to develop strategies that advance the foundation’s work at a time when salience, visibility, and champions for our priorities are challenged.
• Deepen and strengthen collaboration with the Global Policy & Advocacy (GPA) division to develop and implement external communications strategies that advance the foundation’s advocacy priorities.
• In collaboration with GPA, support media partnerships that advance the foundation’s program work and positioning.
• Advance the foundation’s proactive global brand strategy, endorsed by the Board, through strong collaboration with regional communications colleagues to ensure local alignment and relevance.
• Develop and implement strategic voice plans for the Board, Chair, CEO, and Executive Leadership Team (ELT), in partnership with other divisions, for maximum impact with internal and external audiences.
• Drive content and channel strategies that engage target audiences and advance advocacy and brand goals, using audience research to inform messaging and storytelling.
• Inform and lead strong partnership development with key partners.
• Work closely with Chair’s private office to ensure coherent communications and positioning across Chair’s foundation and non-foundation work.
• Oversee media relations, including proactive and reactive issues management.
• Represent the foundation externally in the media and non-profit sectors.
• Oversee employee communications function that connects colleagues to our work and impact; inspires trust, credibility, and pride in our mission by engaging diverse leadership voices; and cultivates the organization’s culture and reputation via the employee experience.
• Lead measurement and insights for the division, overseeing development and refinement of reputation tracking approaches, audience targeting, message testing and impact metrics to inform strategies.
• Manage and develop a high-performing team, hiring top talent, fostering continuous improvement, and ensuring alignment with divisional goals through effective coaching, feedback, and accountability.
• Implement strategies that apply enhancements, but also mitigate risks, associated with AI technologies.
• Serve as a key member of the ELT and contribute to the Employee Experience Action Group, enhancing employee engagement through alignment of expectations and experiences. You will also serve on the ELT’s Executive Program Action Group, ensuring alignment and prioritization of our programmatic priorities across divisions.

Your Experience

• Able to develop complex, multi-stakeholder global communications strategies using sophisticated data and insights to inform approaches and target audiences
• Understand global communications trends, including evolutions in digital and paid media, brand management, storytelling, audience research and employee engagement.
• Ability to work in a highly dynamic environment, with proven judgment and decision-making under pressure
• Demonstrated skills for leadership and development of strong teams
• Strong relationship management skills and proven experience collaborating within a matrixed organization and across a diversity of working styles,
• Strong communications across multiple modalities
• Strong demonstrated skills and behaviors aligned with our values and value-based behaviors: collaboration, inclusion, rigor, innovation, optimism.
• Possess and champion an environment of learning and a growth mindset.

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

The salary range for this role is $500,000.00 to $850,000.00 USD. We recognize high-wage market differences in Seattle and Washington D.C., where our offices are located. As a purposeful organization with a clear mission, 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.

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.