Program Officer, Vaccine Impact Optimization and Surveillance (12-Month LTE)

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation•Seattle, WA

11d

About The Position

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. Our Global Health (GH) Program harnesses advances in science and technology to save lives in poor countries. We focus on the health problems that have a major impact in developing countries but get too little attention and funding. Where proven tools exist, we support sustainable ways to improve their delivery. Where they don’t, we invest in research and development of new interventions, such as vaccines, drugs, biologics, and diagnostics. Our work in infectious diseases focuses on strategies to fight and prevent HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, neglected tropical diseases, enteric and diarrheal diseases, and pneumonia. These strategies are supported by functional and cross-cutting teams that focus on Discovery & Translational Sciences, Vaccine Development, Surveillance, Integrated Development, and Diagnostics. With a focus on low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the Pneumonia & Pandemic Preparedness (PPP) Team works to accelerate reductions in childhood deaths from pneumonia, meningitis, and neonatal sepsis; improve public health surveillance for action; minimize mortality and transmission during epidemics and pandemics; and prevent deaths due to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) risk pathogens. Our work combines prevention, innovation, and surveillance to guide global health interventions based on mortality estimates and disease burden. We accelerate the development and commercialization of novel and lower-cost vaccines and monoclonal antibodies for target populations, focusing on key pathogens including pneumococcus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), group B streptococcus (GBS), meningococcus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and E. coli. Because a growing proportion of deaths in young children occur before they can be immunized, we are advancing maternal immunization strategies that allow vaccines to be delivered safely during pregnancy, protecting infants in their first months of life through antibodies transferred from their mothers. We also prioritize antimicrobial resistance as an increasing global health threat that disproportionately contributes to neonatal sepsis deaths. To better guide and prioritize these interventions, the PPP team strengthens surveillance systems to more accurately define global disease burden. This includes generating high-quality primary mortality data; supporting countries to implement innovative surveillance approaches such as sample registration systems, multi-pathogen serosurveillance, and maternal immunization safety surveillance; integrating data across surveillance platforms, and advancing global coordination. As a member of the Pneumonia & Pandemic Preparedness (PPP) team, the Program Officer will have grant management responsibilities in several areas: pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (optimal dosing and impact assessment), multi-pathogen serosurveillance, and maternal immunization safety surveillance. This role reports to the Deputy Director, Deputy Director, Pneumococcal and Meningococcal Programs and and has a secondary reporting line to the Deputy Director, Surveillance and Epidemiology. Application Deadline: April 24, 2026, at 11:59pm PDT This position is a limited-term position for 12 months.

Requirements

MPH and/or PhD preferred with at least 5 years of relevant professional experience
Experience working in epidemiology, surveillance, and vaccine development required.
Strong portfolio and project management skills, including experience designing and implementing strategic frameworks, aligning goals and tactics, and tracking progress against programmatic and operational objectives.
Proven ability to build and manage strong partnerships with internal and external stakeholders and work collaboratively across teams and organizations.
Excellent analytical, writing, and communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex information for diverse audiences.
Experience working independently and collaboratively in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams; experience working in low- and middle-income countries preferred.
Demonstrated passion for Foundation’s mission and values.
Ability to travel domestically and internationally up to approximately 20%
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.).

Nice To Haves

Experience in project management, new vaccine introduction, safety surveillance, optimization of vaccine programs is preferred.

Responsibilities

Plan and execute activities in support of the pneumococcal and surveillance initiatives as described above.
These include strategic planning, grant management and external relationship management.
Review letters of inquiry and grant proposals; develop clear, concise analyses and funding recommendations, and draft investment summaries and progress reports for leadership.
Consult with grantees to maximize impact by refining approaches, providing technical guidance, convening meetings, conducting site visits as appropriate, and monitoring performance against milestone-based objectives.
Identify strategic gaps and emerging opportunities in pneumonia research and multi-pathogen surveillance program progress, and guide development of new investments and requests for proposals.
Manage internal processes and portfolio progress while ensuring appropriate documentation, grant budgeting and reporting while improving internal efficiency and effectiveness.
Synthesize literature, evidence, and health and economic data to produce briefs and strategic insights relevant to the PPP team.
Cultivate and manage relationships with grantees, partners, and collaborators; monitor the field for emerging opportunities and coordinate stakeholder engagement to advance shared priorities.
Foster a collaborative and inclusive team environment by modeling appropriate behaviors and escalating issues in a timely manner.