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

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation•Washington, DC

23h•$234,000 - $362,800

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 also leads special advocacy initiatives to advance maternal and child survival through sport and new partnerships. Working closely with the Deputy Director and Canada and UN leads, and in partnership with program, policy, communications, and other teams, 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. This is a 16-month limited-term employment role. The role may be located in Seattle, Washington, or Washington, DC. Relocation assistance and employer visa support are not available. The position requires unrestricted work authorization in the country where it is located.

Requirements

At least 10 years of experience in advocacy, government relations, public policy, multilateral engagement, or strategy, ideally in a nonprofit, governmental, philanthropic, or international setting.
Experience translating complex global health or development strategies into clear policy arguments, market-specific asks, and practical advocacy approaches, combining broad policy understanding with engagement in technical subjects.
Ability to set big-picture strategic direction and develop 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 approach and low ego.
Unrestricted work authorization in the country where the position is located; the employer does not provide immigration-related sponsorship or other immigration support.

Nice To Haves

An advanced degree.
Knowledge of global health, Canada’s development policy and political ecosystem, and the UN system.

Responsibilities

Lead development of a strategic approach for leveraging sport to advance maternal and child survival, and support implementation of new ideas and engagement models across IRPP markets.
Lead an emerging initiative to build a global political coalition supporting maternal and child survival through a new partnership; shape its advocacy approach, develop relationships with champions, and connect it to foundation and market priorities.
Support emerging advocacy partnerships related to global AI governance.
Build working relationships with program, policy, communications, and other teams to bring technical expertise and market insight together, align priorities, and coordinate contributions.
Work with program and issue advocacy teams to understand the foundation’s global development challenges, strategies, proposed solutions, and intended impact.
Work with Canada and UN leads to assess each market’s political economy, institutional mandates, priorities, capabilities, and constraints, including Canadian interests and the UN ecosystem’s forward-looking agenda in New York.
Identify how each market can advance foundation priorities and the expected impact of its contributions; develop market-specific policy proposals, arguments, and concrete asks with relevant 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’ roles.
Engage and manage external partners and consultants; develop scopes of work, manage contracts, oversee deliverables and budgets, and coordinate with internal teams to keep work aligned with objectives.