Senior Officer, Advocacy, International Relations and Policy Planning, North America Team (16 month LTE)

Gates Foundation•Seattle, WA

About The Position

The Senior Officer, Advocacy, International Relations and Policy Planning (IRPP), North America Team, translates foundation strategies and priorities into policy-relevant arguments and advocacy opportunities across priority IRPP markets, including Canada and the United Nations. The role leads special advocacy initiatives to advance maternal and child survival through sport and new partnerships, and supports advocacy partnerships related to global AI governance. Working with the Deputy Director, Canada and UN leads, the AI policy lead, and teams across the foundation, the Senior Officer supports a collaborative, One Foundation approach to market engagement. The position requires strong political and institutional judgment, the ability to synthesize complex global health and development strategies, and experience connecting programmatic priorities to the political economy and institutional context of government and multilateral audiences. It is a 16-month limited-term employment role, located in Seattle, WA or Washington, DC. Salary and benefits are provided. Relocation assistance and employer visa support are not available, and applicants must have unrestricted work authorization in the country where the role is located. The foundation offers comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with no premiums, generous paid time off, paid family leave, a foundation-paid retirement contribution, regional holidays, and opportunities to engage in employee communities.

Requirements

At least 10 years of experience in advocacy, government relations, public policy, multilateral engagement, or strategy.
Demonstrated experience translating complex global health or development strategies into clear policy arguments, market-specific asks, and practical advocacy approaches.
Ability to combine broad policy understanding with in-depth engagement in technical subjects.
Proven ability to develop big-picture strategic direction and execute flexible, practical implementation plans.
Experience engaging external partners and managing contracts, including scopes of work, budgets, timelines, and deliverables.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex concepts, evidence, political context, and recommendations succinctly and persuasively.
Ability to lead ambiguous or emerging workstreams, assess competing priorities, and deliver high-quality analysis and products for multiple internal collaborators.
Highly collaborative, low-ego approach.
Unrestricted work authorization in the country where the position is located; the foundation does not provide immigration-related sponsorship or other immigration support.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree.
Experience in a nonprofit, governmental, philanthropic, or international setting.
Knowledge of global health, Canada's development policy and political ecosystem, and the UN system.

Responsibilities

Lead development of a strategic approach to better leverage sport to advance maternal and child survival.
Support operationalizing new ideas and engagement models, connecting efforts and learning across IRPP markets.
Lead an emerging initiative to build a global political coalition supporting maternal and child survival through a new partnership.
Help shape the coalition's advocacy approach, develop relationships with new champions, and connect the initiative to foundation and market priorities.
Support emerging AI global governance advocacy partnerships.
Build effective working relationships with program, policy, communications, and other relevant teams to combine technical expertise and market insight, align priorities, and coordinate contributions.
Work with program and issue advocacy teams to understand foundation priorities, global development challenges, strategic solutions, and intended impact.
Work with Canada and UN leads to assess political economy, institutional mandates, priorities, capabilities, and constraints, including Canadian interests and the forward-looking agenda of the UN ecosystem in New York.
Work with market leads to identify how each market could advance foundation priorities and the expected impact of its contributions.
Develop market-specific policy proposals, arguments, and concrete asks with relevant foundation teams, and support market leads in developing advocacy approaches.
Partner with the Deputy Director on policy and development architecture questions, including global cooperation trends and system reforms, and assess how global trends and institutional changes affect foundation priorities and IRPP markets.
Engage and manage external partners and consultants, including developing scopes of work, managing contracts, overseeing deliverables and budgets, and coordinating with internal teams to keep work aligned with agreed objectives.