Senior Officer, Strategy, Planning, & Management

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 Gates Foundation’s U.S. Program (USP) works to ensure all students in the US have access to educational opportunities, from Pre-K to postsecondary, that enable them to develop the knowledge, skills, and agency needed thrive as adults and contribute to their communities. Our goal is to make sure more students are on track to obtain a postsecondary credential with labor market value such that race/ethnicity and income are no longer predictors of student success.

Within USP, the Pathways strategy works to support all students – particularly Black, Latino, and Indigenous students and students from low-income backgrounds – to access the learning opportunities, mentorship, and navigation supports to transition successfully from high school to postsecondary education, and then acquire credentials of value and gain professional skills, agency, and social capital needed to thrive in the workforce.

Our culture shapes our choices about what we do and how we do it. We believe that energized people, working well together, fueled by great leadership in an inclusive environment can do extraordinary things. We expect foundation employees to intentionally embody our core values: optimism, collaboration, rigor, innovation, and inclusion.

*Applications close at 11:59pm PDT on April 15, 2025.

Your Role

The Senior Officer is a key member of the USP Pathway’s Strategy, Planning & Management (SPM) team and will sit on the Pathways Leadership team, responsible for supporting the strategic and operational aspects of the team. This includes oversight of strategic planning, annual planning and budgeting processes, investment pipeline and portfolio management, business analysis, and reporting of progress towards program goals. This also includes helping to define, refine, and shape strategies, including execution planning. The Senior Officer must engage effectively at all levels of the organization; collaborate productively with peers, partners, leaders, staff, and consultants while exercising good judgment.
 

*This position is a limited-term position for 12 months. Relocation will not be provided.

What You’ll Do

• Develop and oversee portfolio strategic planning, investment, financial, and operational processes which may include the full investment development process, annual planning, strategy review, decision support, rhythm of business, and budget management and forecasting.
• Provide Deputy Director for Strategy, Planning & Management and program strategy team leadership with critical, transparent, challenging thought partnership. Consult/strategize with program leadership to maximize impact of investment and financial processes and ensure optimal learning, decision making, and collaboration.
• Provide support to program leadership in translating strategy goals into strategic bodies of work and investment plans. Guide program officers to ensure that portfolio investments are strategically aligned, and outcomes are defined that will lead to impact on key strategy goals.
• Contribute and participate in ongoing iterative improvement of the program strategy, refine approach as learning from early execution, and respond to changes in the internal and external environment.
• Monitor grant and contract pipeline to manage budget and produce accurate forecasts. Set up processes to monitor performance against key milestones and outcomes to facilitate management decision-making.
• Articulate strategy and progress narratives, initiative strategy development, annual plans, and execution planning against theory of action. Update strategy database with current year goals and targets and performance ratings and support dashboards for performance management.
• Promote efficiency and productivity on the team by providing leadership and support in process development and improvement, implementation and improvement of tools, analysis, reporting, and change management.
• Plan team meeting cadence and agendas; ensure meetings are designed with clear objectives and facilitated to enable cross-portfolio learning, decision-making, and clear communication.
• Maintain understanding of and connections with teams across the US Program (e.g. Postsecondary Success, K-12, USP Data) and US Policy, Advocacy, and Communications. Maintain understanding of and alignment with cross-foundation operational initiatives and integrate program team members and processes to maximize impact. Responsible for being the primary liaison between the program and business partners including Financial Planning & Analysis, Grants & Contracts Services, and Legal—regarding business processes, financial reporting, forecasting, and related systems and tools required for business and operational success.
• As needed, design and manage special projects in support of team operations and/or in support of programmatic investments and portfolios.
• Foster diverse, equitable and inclusive practices to create a work environment where everyone can do their best work in contributing towards our impact. Seeks input from and values the uniqueness of people of different groups and cultures. Challenge practices or policies that may be exclusionary.
   

Your Experience

• We are looking for individuals who enjoy working on complex problems and collectively creating solutions. You must be prepared to work with flexibility, efficiency and diplomacy in an exciting and challenging environment.
• Demonstrated complex project management skills, particularly for strategy execution planning and business process redesign projects, and a successful track record of leading or managing multiple projects simultaneously.
• Strong consultative and advisory skills. Demonstrated excellence in influence and leadership, ability to build trust, be a team leader and player who motivates and educates other team members and understands the value of interpersonal relationship building.
• Outstanding relational and collaboration skills - comfortable working within a team that values collaboration and agility.
• Ability to act independently to determine methods and processes on assignments, to prioritize in a dynamic and complex environment, and to alternate between thinking strategically and executing at high quality.
• Ability to effectively facilitate, manage and summarize divergent points of view to advance the thinking of the group, synthesize and extract meaning from complex bodies of work and effectively communicate key takeaways for diverse audiences.
• Experience creating analytical models/tools and ability to communicate results to inform sound strategic and tactical decisions.
• Technically proficient and creative; successful in both collaboration and as an independent problem solver.
• Financial savvy plus budget development, financial analysis, and operational management skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communications skills with the ability to effectively synthesize information to reach a diverse audience.
• Bachelor's degree with 7+ years of experience or equivalent experience required. MBA or equivalent advanced degree in public administration, economics, or other relevant master's degree preferred.

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

The salary range for this role is $169,700 to $254,500 USD. We recognize high-wage market differences in Seattle and Washington D.C., where our offices are located. The salary range for this role in these locations is $185,000 to $277,400 USD. As a mission-driven organization, we strive to balance competitive pay with our mission. New hire salaries are typically between the salary range minimum and midpoint. Actual placement in the range will depend on a candidate’s job-related skills, experience, and expertise, as evaluated during the interview process.

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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.