Senior Officer, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation•Seattle, WA

About The Position

The Foundation 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. The Team The People team is a strategic partner in shaping a thriving, inclusive, and high-performing organization. We steward the employee experience across the full talent lifecycle—from attracting and developing exceptional talent to strengthening culture, supporting well-being as well as impact, and aligning people strategies with our mission. The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) team within the Office of the Chief People Officer is a central functional team made up of advisors, strategists, and enabling partners (i.e., subject matter experts, analysts, communications experts, project managers, and external consultants) to provide foundation-wide direction, governance, tools, and resources to drive the foundation’s DEI strategy and impact. As a foundation, we are working – to integrate and include a wide variety of voices, ideas, and approaches that will enable our mission to help all people improve their lives. Our renewed DEI strategy focuses on three priorities: • Engaging more effectively across differences and contexts. This includes strengthening competencies, tools, and support needed to collaborate inclusively, whether navigating cultural differences or working across our global matrixed organization. • Better equipping our organization to forge partnerships for impact. We will strengthen that impact by providing clearer guidance and resources for investment makers and by ensuring that our partners feel supported, valued, and respected and that communities get what they need to thrive. • Shared expectations. Clarity on commitment to drive impact, recognize and value all backgrounds, voices, roles, and contributions, and regularly reflect and learn to sustain progress towards our organizational goals and commitments. Application Deadline: Wednesday, November 5, 2025 Your Role The Senior Officer, DEI is a Subject Matter Expert (SME) who will be responsible for developing and implementing strategies to activate, engage, elevate, and enable our communities of change makers to accelerate impact. You will partner closely with our Employee Resource Groups (ERG), DEI and Gender Leads, and other key stakeholders like the Human Resource Business Partners (HRBPs), Partnerships for Impact, and strategy, planning, and management teams. This role requires in-depth knowledge and experience advising leaders, executives, and community members on strategy, initiatives, and activations. This role will drive collaboration, structure, and apply governance throughout the landscape of internal communities.

Requirements

Degree or equivalent experience in relevant field with 10+ years’ experience as a DEI or change management professional.
Deep subject matter expertise in DEI and/or change making in a multinational and multicultural context.
Ability to balance critical, strategic thinking with an orientation toward action and results.
Ability to build strategies that guide senior leaders towards building a more inclusive culture that drives impact.
Experience working with HR Business Partners and other DEI-related stakeholders.
DEI learning and development experience with demonstrated presentation and facilitation skills.
Excellent verbal and written skills with an ability to communicate effectively at various levels.
Strong interpersonal skills, relationship-building, and collaboration skills to work with diverse groups and stakeholders across the organization at all levels.
Ability to manage multiple projects and competing priorities in a fast-paced, fluid environment, and to function well under pressure.
Consistent exercise of independent judgement and discretion in matters of significance.
Ability to travel, and to work variable schedule(s) as necessary to support initiatives and stakeholders.
Must be able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

Experience driving change in philanthropic/non-profit sector preferred with an understanding of how to leverage philanthropic investments to advance strategic equity goals.

Responsibilities

Manage, advise, and support the staff that coordinate DEI engagement and learning.
Enable and support the ecosystem of DEI leaders across the foundation (i.e. ERGs, Division DEI and gender leads, etc.).
Manage and facilitate DEI planning for teams and divisions in collaboration with the people team and the foundation’s ecosystem of DEI leaders.
Implement DEI learning and development opportunities (including design and facilitation).
Drive the planning, design, development, and management of DEI tools, resources, and events that support our objectives, aligning and guiding teams to drive effective execution.
Ensure measurement for effectiveness, in partnership with our measurement, learning, and evaluation team members.
Collaborate with partners across DEI, Partnerships for Impact, the People team, Legal, Communications, Global Policy and Advocacy, and gender integration in development of solutions that will contribute to greater collaboration and organizational effectiveness.