Officer, Global Partnerships and Grand Challenges - Seattle, United States - Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

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 (GP&GC) Program, within DTS, seeks to go further and faster together to achieve the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's mission by building a network of global health and development scientists, innovators, and leaders centered in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Through the flagship Grand Challenges program and other relevant programs, we help fund science and innovation projects around the world, build funding partnerships among key health and development institutions, track and analyze R&D-related expertise and resources in LMICs to maximize collective impact, and cultivate a community of innovators and innovation champions focused on addressing issues that affect the world's most vulnerable people.

Your Role

You are responsible for supporting strategic planning and implementation of the Grand Challenges Annual Meeting (GCAM), the Foundation's flagship scientific collaborations & platform for global health advocacy conference. The meeting alternates its location to ensure representation of low and middle income as well as high income countries. It is a partnership between multiple teams across our foundation (Global Health and beyond) along with key external partners. You will oversee a set of interrelated projects ensuring successful delivery of the overall annual meeting.

What You'll Do

Grand Challenges Annual Meeting (GCAM): Program Management

Program Development:

• Serves as a primary contact for gathering agenda and additional session requests from internal program teams across the Foundation & key partners as they consider how to leverage the Annual Meeting to advance strategic priorities.
• Shepherd the agenda development journey through consistent and effective communications to ensure stakeholder priorities are reflected in the planning & implementation of the Annual Meeting
• Manage interactions with the Global Grand Challenges Network & key partners, making room for independent and synergistic topics to advance the Global Health agenda.
• Manage the communication & coordination to ensure effective and timely information flow between all stakeholders.

Business Operations:

• Project Manage the full cycle of scope definition and budget allocation process.
• Develop and maintain a comprehensive program plan and track progress ensuring that project is complete within scope, on time and within budget.
• Lead changes to project scope & schedule flagging cost implications using appropriate verification techniques including timely escalation to upper management.
• Maintain Risk Management registry & hold regular meetings to align all stakeholders and proactively work to address areas of concerns.
• Consult and strategize with program teams to maximize impact of investment and financial processes and ensure optimal learning, decision making, and collaboration.
• Act as a bridge between program teams and the Events team to translate program agenda into business operations and logistics needs.
• Manage3rd party consultants, provide ongoing guidance to ensure alignment.
• On an-going basis refine operation model for managing the meeting by documenting processes, fine-tuning efficiencies, and continuous improvement.
• Continue to evolve virtual, hybrid, and in-person conference rotating in different cities around the world.
• Organize and prepare for internal and external meetings, contributing to background documents, articles, and presentations.
• Organize and lead advance and planning venues/site visits to align agenda and logistics.
• Promote efficiency and productivity by providing leadership and support in process development and improvement, implementation and improvement of tools, analysis, reporting, and change management.
• Develop an on-the-ground execution plan including staffing plan.
• Be present at the venue throughout the entire meeting to handle needs, queries and problem solve so conference runs smoothly.
• Engage, onboard and support speakers and panelists for specific sessions.
• Support an inclusive culture through modeling behaviors and actions.

Your Experience

• A bachelor's degree is required
• Personal qualities of integrity, empathy, credibility, and a commitment to the Gates Foundation's mission
• Demonstrated program management skills of complex multi-stakeholder agenda execution planning and business redesign projects and a successful track record of leading multiple projects at the same time
• Deep expertise in successfully developing and executing business operations of large and complex international conference
• Demonstrated ability to work with efficiency, diplomacy and flexibility particularly as part of cross teams and cross-organizations project team
• Excellent problem-solving ability, capable of managing crises as and when they arise; demonstrated flexibility and adaptability in the face of changing priorities
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate with, convene, and coordinate diverse teams comprised of individuals from many different professional and cultural backgrounds
• Detailed ability to create structures and develop frameworks to increase clarity and transparency of decisions, trade-offs, and impact on resources.
• Experience developing, forecasting, tracking and reporting program budget contributed from multiple internal and external partners
• Manage a portfolio of investments including contracts with 3rd party vendors and consultants
• Experience managing multiple projects simultaneously and leading initiatives involving multiple stakeholders.
• Strategic mindset, strong leadership skills, and the ability to manage and inspire teams towards delivering the desired results
• Great written and verbal communication skills
• Experience managing large multi-day multi-track international conference

The salary range for this role is $137, ,200 USD. We recognize high-wage market differences where our offices are located, in Seattle, Washington D.C., and Boston (Cambridge). The range for this role in these locations is $149,800 to $224,600 USD. As a mission-driven organization, we strive to balance competitive pay with our mission and new hires are typically brought into the organization at a salary range between the minimum and the midpoint salary range. 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.