Deputy Director, Strategic Planning & Management

Gates Foundation • Seattle, WA

2d • Onsite

About The Position

The U.S. Program (USP) is pursuing Ambition 2045, an initiative to accelerate progress toward equitable upward mobility through educational attainment. This requires a significant shift in how the division aligns strategy, prioritizes investments, allocates resources, and drives coherence across a complex portfolio. The Office of the President (OOP) plays a crucial role in enabling the U.S. Leadership Team (USLT) to function effectively. Within OOP, the Strategic Planning & Management (SPM) function is a key capability that supports division-wide strategy integration, planning, governance, and organizational coherence. SPM ensures that strategic priorities are translated into actionable plans, decision forums, and operating rhythms that facilitate high-quality, timely, and accountable leadership decisions across the division.

Requirements

• Advanced degree in public policy, business, organizational leadership, education, management, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Significant leadership experience (typically 12+ years) in strategy, planning, operations, management consulting, organizational effectiveness, or related functions.
• Demonstrated success leading enterprise-wide strategic planning, governance, operational integration, and prioritization efforts in complex organizations.
• Proven ability to translate strategy into actionable plans, management systems, and decision-making processes while navigating ambiguity and organizational complexity.
• Strong track record influencing senior leaders, facilitating cross-functional collaboration, and driving alignment across diverse stakeholder groups.
• Experience leading high-performing teams and fostering collaborative, inclusive cultures.
• Enterprise mindset with strong systems thinking, strategic judgment, and operational problem-solving capabilities.
• Excellent facilitation, communication, and executive storytelling skills.
• Ability to build trust, influence without direct authority, and balance strategic rigor with practical execution.
• Demonstrates intellectual curiosity, humility, integrity, and a commitment to collaboration, equity, and inclusion.
• Comfortable operating at both strategic and operational levels, with a passion for improving outcomes in education and upward mobility.
• Must have unrestricted work authorization in the country where this position is located.
• Successful completion of a background check.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in philanthropy, education, economic mobility, the public sector, or related mission-driven fields.
• Experience supporting executive leadership teams, organizational transformation, or enterprise operating models.
• Familiarity working across strategy, operations, finance, talent, and learning functions within multi-portfolio organizations.

Responsibilities

• Drive division-wide strategy development and ongoing refinement in partnership with OOP leadership and the USLT.
• Structure annual and multi-year planning, budgeting, and prioritization processes across portfolios.
• Design and facilitate leadership governance forums and decision-making processes that enable timely, high-quality, and actionable decisions.
• Surface cross-portfolio tradeoffs, resource implications, sequencing considerations, and operational interdependencies.
• Translate strategic priorities into clear division-wide guardrails, standards, and execution expectations.
• Strengthen organizational alignment and coherence through shared planning norms, communication mechanisms, and cross-functional coordination.
• Build and support a division-wide community of practice across SPM leaders to reinforce strategic integration, operational excellence, and shared accountability.
• Partner closely with OOP Measurement, Learning & Evaluation (MLE) leadership to ensure evidence and insights are integrated into prioritization, planning, and resource allocation decisions.
• Lead the design and stewardship of division-wide strategic planning processes aligned to Ambition 2045.
• Structure and facilitate annual and multi-year planning, prioritization, and budgeting processes across the division.
• Translate division strategy into actionable operational guardrails, sequencing frameworks, and execution expectations for PSTs/FSTs.
• Develop division-wide approaches for evaluating tradeoffs, prioritization decisions, and resource allocation options.
• Ensure planning and governance systems enable alignment across strategies, portfolios, and leadership priorities.
• Support integration between division-level goals and portfolio-level Bodies of Work (BoWs).
• Design and facilitate leadership forums, governance structures, and operating rhythms that enable effective decision-making.
• Structure division-wide decision-making processes that clarify ownership, escalation pathways, accountability, and follow-through.
• Surface cross-portfolio implications, operational dependencies, and risks to inform leadership decisions.
• Partner with finance, talent, and operational teams to align planning, resourcing, and execution processes.
• Develop standards and expectations for core division-level planning and management deliverables, including dashboards, planning materials, and review processes.
• Ensure leadership decisions are translated into actionable next steps, sequencing plans, and operational coordination mechanisms.
• Strengthen division-wide coherence through integrated planning, communication, and coordination mechanisms.
• Facilitate cross-portfolio collaboration forums that surface interdependencies, enable alignment, and support shared problem-solving.
• Reinforce operating norms that prioritize enterprise thinking, transparency, early escalation, and shared accountability.
• Support organizational change efforts by aligning management systems, communication rhythms, and stakeholder engagement approaches.
• Embed Targeted Universalism principles into strategy integration, planning, governance, and operational decision-making processes.
• Foster strong partnerships across OOP, PSTs/FSTs, HR, FP&A, and other operational teams to support division effectiveness.
• Build and support a community of practice across SPM leaders within the division to strengthen strategic planning, governance, and management capabilities across the division.
• Identify opportunities to improve planning systems, operational coordination, and enterprise management practices.
• Support capability-building efforts related to strategic planning, prioritization, governance, and organizational effectiveness.
• Influence talent development, role clarity, and performance expectations related to planning and management capabilities.
• Model and reinforce a one-division mindset while balancing enterprise coherence with portfolio autonomy and context.
• Operate effectively in a highly matrixed environment, influencing without direct authority across distributed teams.

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with no premiums.
• Generous paid time off.
• Paid family leave.
• Foundation-paid retirement contribution.
• Regional holidays.
• Opportunities to engage in several employee communities.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director