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

Vaccines are a core priority of the Gates Foundation and can save millions of lives a year when delivered effectively. The mission of our Immunization Program Strategy team is to urgently reach children, adolescents, and adults — no matter where they live — with the vaccines they need. Our goal is a world free of vaccine-preventable diseases, and we do this by working with countries, development partners, and civil society organizations, to make sure that vaccines and immunization are effectively prioritized and delivered. Robust and resilient immunization programs are critical to achieving the promise of vaccination and are a cornerstone of primary health care, and we work to ensure that there are sufficient, affordable supplies to meet demand. We seek to bring new perspectives to challenging problems as we focus on results that can be delivered at scale. All our work on vaccines and immunization contributes to the Immunization Agenda 2030, which is a vision and commitment by the global community to extend the full benefits of immunization to all by 2030.

This role sits on the Immunization Platforms sub-team, which focuses on developing approaches to reaching communities and adolescents with routine immunization services informed by in-depth understanding of the social-behavioral, system, and service delivery barriers. We have a particular focus on:
• Communities and children who are entirely left out of immunization and other services
• 9-month-olds needing their first measles vaccine
• Priority communities who can benefit from effective and integrated campaigns

This role is a limited-term position for 11 months starting in March, with salary and foundation-provided benefits. No foundation-sponsored relocation support will be offered.

Your Role

The Senior Program Officer (SPO), Immunization system strengthening and reaching the unreached (LTE), Despite impressive progress in increasing access and coverage with life-saving vaccines worldwide, there remain millions of children who are still left behind. It’s estimated that over 12 million children in lower-income countries did not receive a single vaccine, leaving them as the most vulnerable to some of the world’s deadliest diseases. These “zero dose” children often live in communities where many are not only missed for immunization, but also other important health services. As a Senior Program Officer on the Immunization Program Strategy team, you will report to the Deputy Director, Vaccine Platforms, to support implementation of the Foundation’s ‘zero dose’ strategy and support other efforts for routine immunization strengthening. You will manage and coordinate complex partnerships and manage a portfolio of investments to support countries and Gavi Alliance partners to successfully connect immunization and other health services with zero dose communities. To be effective, you will have demonstrated ability to influence others, work with agility and diplomacy in a dynamic environment and link to other key PST priorities including efforts to improve routine immunization strengthening in polio risk countries. You are a creative, thoughtful, and curious leader that has a track record as a problem solver, trusted collaborator, and subject matter expert in health and immunization systems and pro-equity approaches in low-income countries, including fragile and conflict settings. You will have experience in implementing and measuring agile learning approaches.

What You’ll Do

• You will be responsible for leading a portfolio of work leveraging Foundation influence and investment in order to advance the Immunization Program Strategy Team’s “zero-dose” agenda and other efforts to strengthen routine immunization systems in low-income countries. You will successfully engage, contribute to, and positively influence Gavi Alliance efforts towards achieving the goal of reducing zero dose children by 50% by 2030 and increasing full immunization coverage.
• You will collaborate with the Gavi Alliance, regional bodies, Foundation country offices, grantees and national governments in support of country program implementation for reaching zero dose communities and increasing full immunization coverage. Priority focus countries likely to include Pakistan, DRC, Nigeria, India, and Ethiopia.
• Partnering with BMGF country offices, Gavi Alliance, and priority country leads to identify and provide support to countries to complement the efforts of the Gavi Alliance.
• You will manage a portfolio of investments in priority countries that are designed to support local rapid, iterative learning approaches that understand root causes and in turn innovate and test strategies to address those causes and reach zero dose communities with durable solutions.
• You will ensure measurement of investment portfolio impact to generate learnings that feed into the Gavi zero dose learning agenda and other dissemination platforms that can influence similar efforts by other actors.
• Working with other Foundation teams, including Program Advocacy and Communications, to ensure support is strategically aligned and seamless across teams and topic areas.
• You will establish and maintain collaborative and healthy partnerships with priority country officials, Gavi staff, grantees, partners, and other Foundation teams supporting efforts to reach zero dose communities and strengthen routine immunization.
• You will consult with grantees to achieve desired impact of grants; conduct site visits when appropriate, provide technical guidance, convene meetings and apply and evaluate milestone-based performance objectives.
• Prepare and write briefs and synthesize existing literature. Provide written analysis of key topics for foundation management. Fulfill data requests from leadership.
• This position involves travel of up to 25%.

Your Experience

• Advanced degree (Ph.D. or Masters) in a health-related field
• 7+ years experience strengthening health and/or immunization systems in LIC/LMICs Experience communicating and translating analyses and results to decision making and strategy
• Experience with a range of global health partners (country, regional and/or global level) a plus
• In depth understanding of global health across global, regional, and country levels with insight into intrinsic institutional motivations and incentives. Desirable candidates will also have experience with fragile and conflict settings and working with the humanitarian response system.
• Experience with health system strengthening and pro-equity approaches in low-income countries with a preference for technical expertise in immunization/vaccine preventable diseases.
• Demonstrated leadership with proven ability to work across multiple stakeholders (e.g. government, donors, grantees, and other partners) to build and sustain collaborative relationships. Ability to influence and move large institutions and bureaucracies over time.
• Able to apply strategic approaches that address root causes, define priorities, and create a clear vision leading to effective and implementable solutions to complex problems.
• Ability to manage complex projects and programs, including strong quantitative analytic and scenario planning skills.
• Experience with research methodologies and deployment of data strategies, particularly pro-equity approaches
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills for communicating with a broad and diverse audience; able to effectively synthesize information to build consensus.
• Comfortable in a wide range of cultural, geographic and operational situations, demonstrating culturally sensitive behavior with a diverse range of people.
• Comfortable with making decisions in the absence of perfect data and pivoting an approach when new information is known to achieve maximum impact
• French language skill desired

The salary range for this role is $186,400 to $288,800 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 $203,100 to $314,900 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.

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.