Director, Global Program Advocacy and Communications, Health

Gates Foundation•Seattle, WA

About The Position

The Director, Global Program Advocacy and Communications (Global PAC), Health provides strategic leadership for the Foundation’s global health advocacy during a period of change in development assistance, health financing, global health institutions, and government leadership. The Director leads the Global PAC Health team, including Program Partner teams aligned with the Global Health, Global Development, and Gender Equality divisions, and Health Communications. The team develops global narratives, public goods, evidence, and specialized policy expertise to help make market- and country-led advocacy more effective. Its work supports the Foundation’s and GPA’s priorities in Maternal & Child Survival, Health Research and Development, Innovation Introduction, and Health Financing. The Director translates Foundation health priorities into political will, financing, and policy change, and helps advance health financing and policy systems that countries own and can sustain. The role works across Foundation program strategy teams and division leadership, and with GPA’s market-led regional and country teams, Development Policy and Finance team, and philanthropic partnership team. The Director leads GPAC Health as GPA’s primary point of connection to program teams and aligns advocacy capabilities behind the Foundation’s highest-impact priorities. A central part of the role is making the partnership between global and regional or country teams effective. The Director co-designs strategies with Africa and India colleagues, shares intelligence in both directions, brings country priorities into Foundation decisions, and guides global work where a centralized team can add value. The role also advances policy and financing alignment, resource mobilization, health-system financing owned by countries, global health architecture reform, advocacy coalitions, AI for health, and issue communications. The Director partners with the Director, Global PAC Global Growth and Opportunity (GGO), to co-lead the overall Global PAC team and reports to the President, GPA. Locations considered are Seattle, Washington; Washington, D.C.; and London, United Kingdom. The role requires at least 30% travel, much of it in Africa and Asia.

Requirements

Master’s degree or equivalent demonstrated experience; preferably in public policy, public health, health economics, international relations, or international development.
15 or more years of progressive, senior-level experience leading and developing senior teams and leading policy, advocacy, and financing initiatives in global health and global development, or equivalent.
Experience working in or with governments in low- and middle-income countries, ideally in Africa or South Asia, and with multilateral agencies, development banks, and global health institutions.
Professional or lived experience of health systems in low- and middle-income countries, with credibility among leaders of governments and institutions in the Global South.
Deep knowledge of health financing and health systems, including how budgets are set, released, and spent; domestic resource mobilization; and how global health initiatives finance and deliver programs.
Demonstrated record of mobilizing resources across bilateral, multilateral, development bank, and philanthropic funders, ideally in global health.
Mastery-level expertise in advocacy and influencing related to resource mobilization, policy analysis, communications, coalition building, and partnership development with diverse constituencies.
Ability to turn data, economic analysis, and implementation evidence into investment cases and policy proposals that decision-makers act on.
Hands-on advocacy credibility, including the ability to discuss advocacy tactics, strategy, and partners in detail and steer multiple complex, interdependent workstreams while maintaining command of the detail.
Experience in strategy development and execution, impact measurement, portfolio management, and prioritization in a changing resource environment.
Working knowledge of digital public infrastructure, data, and AI, and the policy, financing, and governance questions they raise for health systems.
Ability to learn technical health subject matter quickly, earn the respect of program strategy teams and technical and program experts, and navigate complex, politically sensitive environments.
Excellent written and oral communication skills and ability to translate technical program strategy into compelling asks for different audiences and cultures.
Proven ability to build trusted relationships and drive outcomes within a complex, matrixed organization; define what can and cannot be achieved; and challenge senior colleagues constructively while preserving partnerships.
Excellent leadership, judgment, intellectual curiosity, and diplomacy; ability to lead through influence, build and develop high-performing inclusive teams, and lead through change.
Willingness to travel at least 30%, much of it in Africa and Asia.

Nice To Haves

Campaign or strategic communications experience.
Professional working proficiency in French or Portuguese.
Experience spanning multiple parts of global health, such as government, multilateral, academic or research institutions, civil society, or industry.

Responsibilities

Set and implement the Global PAC Health strategy, focusing on cross-market, technically complex, or politically sensitive work and reusable global assets for regional and country teams.
Own the quality and outcomes of the strategy and the team’s contribution to GPA priorities in Maternal & Child Survival, Health R&D, Innovation Introduction, and Health Financing.
Develop integrated advocacy, financing, policy, and communications plans for priority issues with program strategy teams, regional and country advocacy teams, and GPA colleagues.
Translate technical program priorities into clear policy and financing asks; align partners, coalitions, and donors; use global moments to build political commitment and mobilize resources; and hold the team accountable for measurable progress.
Lead Program Partner leaders representing GPA on program strategy teams and division leadership teams, serving as a strategic partner and bridge between program teams and GPA capabilities.
Bring regional and country perspectives into program strategy early and provide hands-on advocacy expertise to strengthen engagement and GPA counsel.
Co-design advocacy strategies, asks, and plans with Africa Policy, Government Relations and Partnerships and India PAC teams; clarify roles, share intelligence, and establish joint accountability with regional and country teams and donor-market government relations teams.
Bring country evidence and leadership into global platforms and decisions, including replenishments, the G20, the UN General Assembly, and the World Health Assembly.
Broker South-South exchange and support sharing proven approaches, including AI tools, regulatory reform, and economically viable local manufacturing.
Define policy and financing asks for program strategy team priorities and lead PAC contributions to replenishments, pledging moments, and deal teams by coordinating advocacy, strengthening positioning, and aligning partners and communications.
Work within the GPA Resource Mobilization Hub model with teams responsible for funder relationships, opportunity development, deal brokerage, financing visibility, deal ownership, and escalation.
Support domestic resource mobilization, stronger budget execution, and blended and innovative finance with DPAF, the Resource Mobilization Hub, and regional teams; engage multilateral development banks and newer sources of finance.
Help shape Foundation positions on global health architecture reform, consistent with the Lusaka Agenda and country-led platforms, and promote one national plan, budget, and accountability framework in each country.
Steward a focused portfolio of health advocacy partners, guide engagement with disease-specific institutions and communities, convene partners around shared goals, and maintain accountability for results.
Lead advocacy and partnerships on AI for health, advancing policy, financing, and governance for proven tools in government-owned health systems, including procurement pathways, data and compute foundations, and safety, equity, and evidence standards.
Lead Health Communications by overseeing evidence-based narratives and communications assets, strategic media engagement, campaigns, and communications and reputational risk management with the Communications division and regional teams.
Work with the GGO team to make the case for health, nutrition, and human capital as drivers of productivity, jobs, and economic growth.
Partner with the Director, Global PAC GGO, to set Global PAC direction, operating model, and standards; align budget and portfolio decisions; and co-lead portfolio and strategy reviews.
Pilot new advocacy approaches, narratives, and engagement models; measure results, including value for money and defense of past gains; document learning; and share it across PAC and GPA.
Lead, coach, develop, hire, and onboard team members across time zones and geographies; set expectations, provide and seek feedback, support development, and hold people accountable.
Build an inclusive, energized team culture and lead people with care and clarity through organizational change.