Coordinator, Business Project Management (Convenings) (LTE until 31 December 2027)

Gates Foundation•Seattle, WA

6d•Onsite

About The Position

The Foundation is 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 Gender Equality Division’s mission is to ensure women and girls in Africa and South Asia can enjoy good health, make their own choices, earn their own money, and be leaders in their societies. When women and girls have an equal chance to thrive and lead, everyone benefits. The Gender Equality Office of the President creates an enabling environment and a strong business engine that drives forward the achievement of the GE Division’s goals. This is achieved through four core pillars: President Enablement & Engagement (includes the Division’s Strategic Partnership and the GE Presidents external and internal engagement), GE Division Experience & Engagement (includes president support, executive and leadership team engagement, division communications, and division culture, norms, and DEI efforts), Centralized Business Capabilities (includes rhythm of the business, division guidance for Strategy Reviews and Annual Planning, and knowledge management), and a Strategic Advisory Function whose primary remit is to provide timely, responsive strategy and decision support capabilities to the GE President and to cross-division strategic areas of work in alignment with division impact goals. The Coordinator, Business Project Management (Convenings) is a newly established role within the GE Division’s Office of the President (OOP), created to execute on supporting the division with convening event coordination and visa supplemental document preparation as part of the division’s redesigned business administration operating model. This role sits on the Divisions Operations team and will partner closely with Deputy Directors, Senior Program Officers, and Program Assistants across the division to ensure delivery of high-quality, dedicated support of convenings (e.g. managing logistics, scheduling, and planning of events including coordinating arrangements for participants). This role is expected to travel domestically and internationally up to 20-25%. At times, there may be need for flexible hours during events, which will be discussed and agreed upon with the manager ahead of time as needed. This is a limited-term position until 31 December 2027 , based at the foundation office in Seattle . Relocation will not be provided.

Requirements

Demonstrated experience in either project coordination, business operations, event management, executive administration, or a related role within and fast-paced environment.
Strong initiative, organizational skills, and ability to work autonomously and cross-functionally while remaining flexible to changing tasks, priorities, and roles and responsibilities.
Broad job knowledge of basic project management practices and tools.
Demonstrated conflict resolution and on the fly solutioning – a keen solution finder & executer.
Practical knowledge of how to synthesize multiple data sources and manage personalities while keeping tasks and projects on time.
Practical knowledge of setting priorities and meeting deadlines while balancing the needs of multiple projects and delivering high-quality work.
Practical knowledge in conducting minor AV troubleshooting.
Excellent attention to detail.
Ability to anticipate needs and provide suggestions related to logistic planning.
Demonstrated emphasis on continuous process improvement.
Demonstrated knowledge of how to build and maintain productive working relationships in matrixed environments.
Experience leading multiple projects simultaneously, including project definition, planning and scoping the work, and coordinating and developing appropriate solutions.
Excellent oral and written communication skills; must be able to communicate effectively with internal and external contacts and can adjust to a wide variety of working styles.
Comfortable in a wide range of cultural, geographic and operational situations, demonstrating culturally sensitive behaviour with a diverse range of people and a deep commitment to development issues and high standards of personal integrity.
Must have unrestricted work authorization in the country where this position is located.
The Foundation does not provide immigration-related sponsorship for this role. This includes direct company sponsorship and any work authorization requiring a written submission or other immigration support from the company (eg: H-1B, O-1, L-1, E, OPT, STEM-OPT, CPT, TN, J-1, etc.).
As part of our standard hiring process for new employees, employment will be contingent upon successful completion of a background check.

Nice To Haves

Experience planning and executing events across diverse international environments while accounting for local customs, infrastructure, and stakeholder needs is desirable.

Responsibilities

Provide seamless project management, planning, coordination, and preparation for multiple convenings/events.
Coordinate all logistical support steps from start to finish for convenings/events, partnering closely with investment owners across the division.
Serve as point of contact for both internal and external collaboration and resolution.
Support continuous improvement approach to produce creative, inclusive, and impactful experiences for all foundation-hosted offsite events.
Engage with cross-functional teams (e.g. events team, events registration, travel, and expense) and program teams to ensure events deliver the expected scope and business value and are delivered with quality aligned to programmatic goals.
Project manage effective partnership with the Foundation’s Travel and Visa team; conduct research on latest country-specific requirements for visa applications, preparing checklists for staff.
Using foundation templates and resources, draft visa support documents and acquire appropriate signatures for a subset of principals across seven teams.
Triage, manage, and prioritize tasks to drive timely completion of tasks and deliverables related to convening and visa support responsibilities.
Work with flexibility, efficiency, enthusiasm, and diplomacy both individually and as part of a team effort.
Address issues in an open, constructive, and professional manner.
Work independently and maintain composure while working within ambiguity and tight deadlines engaging with different work and learning styles.
Other responsibilities as assigned.
Created and maintained guidance materials, SOPs, FAQs, and other resources on convenings and visa processes for division staff.
Developed and maintained a stakeholder engagement plan and partnership touchpoints with programmatic convening owners across the division.
Completed and documented convening and visa support requests, including project tracking, service metrics, and outcomes demonstrating support provided to division staff.
Produced recurring workload reports and analysis, including capacity trends, service metrics, and recommendations for workload calibration and resource planning.