Strategy Officer, Innovation Introduction

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation•Seattle, WA

2d•$173,100 - $259,700•Remote

About The Position

The Strategy Officer, Innovation Introduction will be an anchor member of the cross-GPA team, including the Africa Regional Office (ARO), supporting the foundation's global advocacy and communications strategy for introduction of complex products with high potential global health impact, including novel vector control products for use in malaria control and elimination efforts. You will combine strategic coordination, operational rigor, and stakeholder alignment to advance a complex, multi-altitude portfolio spanning global, continental, regional, and country-level efforts and to keep the foundation's commitments sequenced and moving during a critical period for the field. This role serves as a central mission integrator who, operating without direct authority over workstreams, will remain responsible for ensuring that cross-team scientific, policy, advocacy, and country engagement efforts are highly coordinated, include close partnership with the countries and communities that might benefit, and are coherent, sequenced, and responsive to evolving political, institutional, and operational realities. This is a limited-term position through December 2027.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience; advanced degree in public policy, international affairs, global health, communications, or a related field preferred.
Demonstrated experience in strategy, policy, advocacy, program management, regulatory systems, or a related field, ideally within a global health, international development, or public sector context.
Demonstrated experience managing complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives with multiple workstreams, partners, and deliverables running concurrently.
Experience with grant portfolio management, including investment oversight, grantee engagement, and internal reporting processes, either as a grant manager or senior program contributor.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex information into clear briefings, strategy documents, and stakeholder communications for senior audiences.
Ability to work with flexibility, efficiency, and diplomacy in a fast-paced, matrixed environment with a high degree of ambiguity and competing priorities.
Demonstrated ability to build trust and sustain collaborative working relationships across internal teams and with diverse external partners, including across cultural, geographic, and organizational boundaries.
Ability to travel up to 25% domestically and internationally.
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 working within or alongside global health advocacy, multilateral policy engagement, or science communications initiatives, particularly those involving African institutional actors or multilateral organizations.
Experience connecting technical, policy, and communications workstreams in complex environments.
Familiarity with the political economy of health technology adoption in sub-Saharan Africa, including regulatory pathways, civil society ecosystems, and mis/disinformation dynamics.
Prior experience in a philanthropic, international NGO, or multilateral organization with exposure to cross-divisional coordination and investment management.
Demonstrated ability to engage constructively with senior internal and external stakeholders, including preparing leadership for high-stakes engagements and translating strategic priorities into action.
Experience with advocacy campaign strategy, stakeholder mapping, or communications strategy development and implementation.

Responsibilities

Monitor the external landscape — including policy windows and the evolving political economy in partner countries — and synthesize insights to inform portfolio adjustments and leadership decisions.
Identify emerging risks and opportunities (e.g., regulatory shifts, political signals, narrative inflection points) and ensure they are surfaced early and acted upon across relevant teams.
Draw on political economy analysis, stakeholder mapping, and advocacy strategy inputs to assess portfolio coherence and identify gaps or emerging risks.
Contribute to the refinement and documentation of strategy as new investments launch and the landscape evolves through 2026 and into outyears.
Design and oversee analytical approaches and dashboards that track decision-relevant indicators (e.g., regulatory progress, country demand signals, narrative shifts) to support leadership alignment.
Coordinate and support day-to-day management of investments related to novel vector control engagement, advocacy, and communications. This will include grantee engagement, investment reviews, and budget oversight.
Connect insights from malaria program teams, ARO, and advocacy and communication teams to ensure that investment decisions reflect both scientific priorities and country realities.
Co-lead or support grant development activities including scoping new investments, identifying potential partners, reviewing proposals, and preparing clear, concise written analyses and recommendations for leadership, in partnership with colleagues on the Africa team.
Coordinate with ARO on investment transitions, ensuring continuity across jointly managed grants.
Establish and maintain KPIs and performance tracking mechanisms for the advocacy-related novel vector control portfolio, synthesizing progress against milestones and investment outcomes to support leadership reporting and ongoing strategic prioritization.
Convene and facilitate coordination across central and regional teams to ensure planned advocacy and communication activities are integrated, sequenced, and appropriately aligned at each altitude (global, continental, regional, country).
Act as a bridge across teams, translating priorities, constraints, and timelines so that workstreams remain aligned despite differing incentives and perspectives.
Identify and help resolve misalignments or gaps across teams, ensuring that critical dependencies are addressed in a timely manner.
Support foundation engagement with key external partners, including multilateral institutions, African regional bodies, civil society organizations, and implementing partners across the portfolio.
Prepare and deliver clear, high-quality briefings, strategy updates, and stakeholder communications for foundation leadership and senior colleagues.
Represent the Hub in cross-team working groups, planning sessions, and partner convenings as needed.
Work closely with Africa-based teams to ensure that country perspectives, political dynamics, and demand signals are reflected in strategy and investment discussions.
Help ensure that global and central efforts are grounded in country realities and aligned with government priorities, without duplicating the work of other team members.
Support coordination between advocacy and communications teams to ensure consistent, context-appropriate narratives across countries and platforms.
Help connect scientific developments with communications strategy, ensuring that messaging reflects both evidence and local context.
Maintain and update portfolio tracking systems, investment pipelines, and budget monitoring processes to support efficient grant and budget management across multiple teams.
Drive coordination of planning processes, including working group sessions, team retreats, and milestone reviews tied to engagement, advocacy, and communications efforts for novel vector control approaches.
Support the Mission Priority team in preparing materials for leadership engagement, investment reviews, and internal and external reporting.