Executive Assistant, Foundation Strategy Office and Africa & India Offices

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation•Seattle, WA

5d•$47 - $70•Onsite

About The Position

This role provides high-level, strategic administrative support to Ankur Vora, Chief Strategy Officer and President of the AIO, ensuring seamless daily operations and alignment with organizational priorities. The Executive Assistant (EA) manages complex calendars, coordinates executive travel and meetings, and serves as a key liaison across internal teams and external partners. This role is responsible for overseeing logistics for division events and retreats, supporting high-level communications from the Executive’s office, tracking key deliverables, and representing the assistant community in division-wide initiatives. The EA may also be included as a member of the division’s leadership team, contributing perspective and insight to support divisional priorities and decision-making. The EA plays a critical role in optimizing the executive’s time and impact, offering sound judgment, discretion, and proactive problem-solving to support the success of both individual leaders and the broader team. Ideal candidates are self-motivated, proactive, and dedicated to supporting their leader in everything they do—with excellent attention to detail, responsiveness, and accuracy. They bring experience in executive support, sound judgment on tough tradeoffs, and a commitment to strong team culture. Given the nature of this role, candidates must be skilled at seamlessly switching context between two teams, exercising sound judgment on prioritization, and maintaining the highest level of discretion and confidentiality across both. Above all, they provide unwavering, dedicated support to their executive, proactively protecting their time and priorities and helping them optimize every move they make.

Requirements

A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent demonstrated experience.
Deep knowledge of foundation mission, values, resources, culture, systems, and business strategies.
Ability to prioritize effectively, utilize time precisely, communicate decisions and process to execution in a clear effective manner.
Advanced knowledge of how to best make decisions on behalf of leaders, speaking in the voice and to the key messages/vision/goals agreed upon by the leadership team.
Capability to lead and build relationships to gain the respect and trust of others.
Advanced knowledge of adopting approach, goals, and methods to achieve solutions and results in dynamic situations, helping others deal with the ongoing demands of change.
Experience in an administrative job supporting senior management or executives.
Experience maintaining an organized system of tracking, monitoring, and prioritizing materials management.
Proficient in working with MS Office suite, especially Outlook, and including CoPilot, ChatGPT and other AI tools is strongly preferred.
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

CoPilot, ChatGPT and other AI tools is strongly preferred

Responsibilities

Provide executive-level administrative leadership by anticipating needs, navigating competing priorities with sound judgment, managing high volumes of complex correspondence, orchestrating travel and expense operations, driving business rhythm alignment, and building influential partnerships across internal and external networks.
Coordinate across stakeholders to ensure executive’s calendar is aligned with priorities and all preparation documents are delivered in a timely manner, tracking deliverables, and following up on outstanding action items.
Represents the assistant community to leadership. Acts as a consultant on policies and decisions impacting the assistant community.
Monitor executive engagement and organizational dynamics, providing insights and escalating issues as needed. Lead or support high-level visit planning and execution and contribute strategic input during leadership meetings to support team goals.
Leverage technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI), automation and digital tools to streamline support, ensuring efficiency and accuracy.
Participate actively in leadership meetings, offering strategic insights to support division objectives and deliverables.
Deliver high-level, comprehensive support to an executive team member, with potential to also support the division’s Chief of Staff or other key team leaders as needed.
Independently manage a complex executive-level calendar, strategically aligning the principal’s schedule with key priorities and overarching division objectives.
Coordinate and schedule a high volume of complex meetings across multiple time zones, seamlessly managing internal and external stakeholders in a fast-paced environment that demands constant re-prioritization.
Support principals in managing their time, priorities, and communications by providing sound judgment and confidentiality, appropriately escalating decisions, and often serving as a representative of the principal’s voice and perspective on matters related to the calendar, travel, and meeting preparation.
Act as a key liaison between the President, Chief of Staff and division to ensure smooth communication and workflows.
Lead coordination with the broader assistant team, in service of organizing meetings and activities in alignment with team goals.
Ensure proper onboarding for new assistants.
Support initiatives to promote team culture in collaboration with principals as needed.
Lead or support the planning and execution of division-wide and leadership retreats to promote team engagement and alignment. May include team retreats, events, and internal and/or external convenings.
Provide strategic support for the Chief/President’s role in team events by coordinating briefings and materials. Serve as a thought partner in event planning to align with leadership priorities and division culture.
Support and coordinate division/team in-country visits and associated onsite meetings.
Assist in managing division-wide, leadership, OoP and all-staff retreats, ensuring seamless planning and execution to foster team engagement and alignment.
Manage and own all aspects of principal travel, including logistics, visas, and security, by working with internal and external partners to ensure seamless execution of trips through stakeholder coordination and oversight of complex itineraries. Execute leadership-level trips through comprehensive planning, preparing detailed materials, scheduling meetings, and providing on-site assistance when required.
Serve as a liaison with trip coordinators for leadership-level travel, actively participating in planning calls and promptly addressing requests.
Prepare and deliver comprehensive travel materials, covering both logistical details and content, to ensure the principal is fully equipped.
Coordinate on-the-ground meetings, venues, and travel timings to optimize efficiency during trips.
Exercise exceptional judgement and executive-level professionalism by serving as a trusted advisor in all communications with principals and stakeholders. Anticipate needs and ensure that leaders are equipped with the right information at the right time to drive strategic decision-making. Manage highly sensitive information with absolute discretion, while ensuring timely escalation, transparency, and knowledge sharing across the team and the foundation.
Lead proactive, high-impact communications by delivering clear, timely, and audience-specific messaging in response to inquiries and requests from principals. Maintain strong, consistent engagement with internal and external partners to reinforce alignment, strengthen relationships, and advance organizational priorities.
Demonstrate understanding of the importance of being seen as a representative and extension of the Executive and the Executive’s office at all times both internally and externally, both in in-person and written communications.
Drive optimization and effectiveness for division and team by tracking and coordinating rhythm of the business (ROB) processes in collaboration with SPM and OoP roles, while leading or contributing to knowledge management systems and assistant cohort process improvements.
Ensure principal is attending and prepared for chair, board, and CEO engagement by coordinating with key division and foundation stakeholders.
Coordinate with internal stakeholders on planning and execution of annual governance processes, including coordination with the OCEO and CEO Strategy Team to schedule preparatory meetings and ensuring principal is both briefed in advance and supported during governance time periods.