Senior Program Officer, GPGC NGO Job Gates Foundation

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Your Role

As a key member of the GPGC team, the Senior Program Officer is accountable for a portfolio of investments focused on both science projects to support immediate programmatic needs and ecosystem strengthening to promote sustainable R&D in foundation priority areas. The Senior Program Officer’s work will be organized across all four pillars of the GPGC strategy—innovation platforms (identifying innovators and innovative institutions), convenings (bringing innovators together), knowledge integration (identifying resource and knowledge gaps), and partnerships (identifying and nurturing relationships with potential partners across the continent, including major international funders and technical partners, national and regional government bodies, and academics and science institutions).

To help fulfill the foundation’s commitment to work with a more diverse group of grantees and partners and but also work closer to the geographies we seek to impact, while continuing to shift the center of gravity of its work to low- and middle-income countries, the Senior Program Officer will also help internal teams make connections and build strong relationships with African scientific community. The Senior Program Officer will be based in the foundation Nairobi, Kenya office and will report to the Deputy Director, Health Delivery & Systems with dotted line to the GPGC Deputy Director.

What You’ll Do

• In collaboration with local African partners and internal foundation partners including our Africa Regional Health team, shape and manage a portfolio of grants in line with the GPGC dual strategy, contribute to crafting the Science and Research workstream, support the Gates Foundation’s scientific programmatic priorities while strengthening the R&D ecosystem.
• Negotiate, implement, and manage a targeted portfolio of grants or performance-based contracts, including alignment of internal and external stakeholders, review of letters of inquiry and grant proposals, and clear, concise, and insightful written analyses and recommendations for funding
• Consult, provide thought partnership, and support grantees and other partners to build a well-integrated execution strategy for R&D ecosystem strengthening, thereby increasing the impact of GP&GC’s investments
• Actively search for and create opportunities and bring forward innovative ideas to develop new partnerships that will advance program goals
• Strengthen communities of practice on the continent and opportunities for intra-Africa collaborations by convening key stakeholders in creative ways that forge sustainable collaborations
• Work with African national governments and regional partners interested in joining existing Grand Challenges initiatives.
• Collaborate internally and with foundation partners to build & maintain measurement and evaluation systems to track and capture impact.
• Represent the foundation and program to the external world as follows:
• Serve as the main point of contact and grant officer for some key grants in Africa
• Forge collaborations with key global partners
• Represent foundation interests in development networks
• As requested, represent the foundation in relevant R&D and innovation-related meetings, committees, and task teams.
• Collaborate with other members of the GPGC team to maximize strategic coherence and ensure that investments in each sub-domain are mutually reinforcing.
• Stay informed and participate in complementary global, regional, or national initiatives to guide or support GPGC goals, including STISA 2034
• Liaise with other foundation teams as they consider investments that might advance or interact with GPGC partners or priorities.
• Organize and prepare for high-level internal and external meetings; contribute to writing background documents, briefs, articles, and presentations, including relevant literature reviews, landscape analyses, and data analysis.
• Identify and assess key portfolio risks and develop and manage mitigation/contingency plans at the portfolio level.
• Contribute to conceptualizing, planning, executing, and evaluating the impact of the Grand Challenges Annual Meeting, a 1,000+ person scientific gathering that also attracts key decision-makers, with specific emphasis on LMIC (broadly) and African (specifically) participation.

Your Experience

• We are looking for people who enjoy working on complex projects and collaboratively creating solutions that have the potential to drive transformational change. We seek self-starter who can integrate a diverse set of perspectives to build consensus, structure and drive forward progress on complex topics, and provide both strategic and operational capacity to the GPGC team.
• PhD in biomedical science
• Minimum 10 years’ directly relevant professional experience in academia and Africa-based innovation & science programs
• Personal qualities of integrity, empathy, credibility, and commitment to the Gates Foundation ‘s mission
• Passion for and demonstrated expertise in low- and middle-income country R&D ecosystem strengthening
• Experience in coalition-building, transformational partnership and experience in putting together creative initiatives is a plus
• Tolerance for ambiguity and ability to apply structure to simplify complex problems
• Experience with grantmaking to scientific organizations, including identifying appropriate partners, setting ambitious but achievable goals, evaluating technical proposals, and operating as co-grantor with other organizations
• Significant experience working closely with partners in Africa including governments, bilateral and multilateral donors, implementing agencies, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, and academic institutions.
• Proven track record of adapting to the networking and coalition-building demands of a highly matrixed organization and collaborate in multi-disciplinary, diverse, and dynamic teams
• Strong judgment with a demonstrated ability to handle complex issues, multiple tasks and competing priorities with skill, discretion, strong attention to detail, flexibility, and diplomacy
• Exceptional listening, verbal, and written communication skills, able to effectively calibrate input and synthesize information to connect with diverse audiences
• Significant knowledge of the African Union’s innovation and health strategies and organs
• Knowledge of the prevailing funding ecosystem in Science, Research and Policy in one or more of the following African countries: Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Ethiopia, Tanzania, or Senegal
• Ability to staff and advise senior leadership, being responsive to their concerns while giving them clear advice on the best courses of action.
• Project Management skills, including an ability to handle and prioritize a varied workload and strong organizational skills and attention to detail

Other Attributes

• Fluency in English required, proficiency in French is a plus.
• Willingness to commit up to 30% travel, both international and domestic
• Comfortable in a wide range of cultural, geographic, and operational situations, demonstrating culturally sensitive behavior
• Strong interpersonal and diplomatic skills.
• Commitment to transparency and real-time information sharing
• Demonstrated passion for the foundation’s values and commitment to deliver results

How to Apply

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