Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Mark Suzman, under the direction of co-chairs Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates and the board of trustees.

Group Summary

The Global Development Program includes a diverse range of program areas aimed at finding creative ways to ensure solutions and products get into the hands of people in low-income countries who need them most. We focus on areas with the potential for high-impact, sustainable solutions that can reach millions of people. Our program strategies include: Emergency Response; Family Planning; Maternal Newborn & Child Health; Nutrition; Polio Eradication. A common theme across these programs is focus on innovative delivery, including an emphasis on strengthening primary health care systems. The Global Development Program also encompasses our India Country Office and Africa Team, with physical offices in Johannesburg, Addis Ababa, and Abuja. Our Program Strategy Teams work in close partnership with these Country Office Teams to align the foundation’s health and development equity agenda with the government’s broader priorities.

Leadership and Culture

Our culture shapes our choices about what we do and how we do it. We believe that energized people, working well together, fueled by great leadership in an inclusive environment can do extraordinary things. We expect foundation employees to intentionally and consistently embody our values of optimism, collaboration, rigor, innovation and inclusion.

Position Summary

In Ethiopia, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)’s health portfolio works focuses on strengthening national and regional-level institutions to improve district level service delivery, including reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child, and adolescent health care (RMNCAH) and nutrition (NUT)-related services . To this end, the portfolio includes investments in service delivery; data systems; supply chain; health financing; research, innovation, and scale; and nutrition (health and non-health). Overall, BMGF strives to support the Government of Ethiopia (GOE) to achieve its Health Sector Transformation Plan II (HSTP II).

To further this country-led approach, the foundation’s Ethiopia Integrated Health Team (EIHT) works to craft investments that are in alignment with government priorities while considering BMGF’s proficiencies, values (including a “One Foundation approach” that emphasizes strong internal coordination across teams), and mandates, such as diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as gender-sensitive programming. As such, the EIHT works with government, development partners and other collaborators: to support health sector governance, and accountability at the national and regional levels, and to deliver evidence-based, high impact health and nutrition services using a systems lens.

The Senior Program Officer (SPO)will be a key part of the EIHT and an important member of the wider Africa team at BMGF. The SPO will help operationalize BMGF’s systems-strengthening-focused country health plan and focus on its service delivery component that promotes innovative, high-quality care across the RMNCAH-NUT continuum. In addition, the candidate will contribute to programming in research, innovation and scale of new and proven health interventions in the sector.

Per the focus areas above, the candidate will strategically develop and lead one or more portfolio of grants and contracts requiring high-level grant management skills, monitoring and evaluation. As a key advisor on strategy initiatives, the SPO will identify key issues and priorities emerging from Ethiopia’s health sector context – through coordination, collaboration, and partnerships with GOE, development partners, NGOs, research institutions, and other partners. In doing so, the SPO will partner closely with team leadership to refine the overall strategy and goals so that BMGF is responsive to the country’s health sector needs. Finally, the candidate is encouraged to be self-sufficient and able to deliver on required results with minimal direction.

Core Responsibilities

• Implement BMGF’s integrated country health plan in close partnership with fellow EIHT members – to ensure responsiveness to the Ethiopian context and HSTPII.
• Inclusively lead BMGF’s programming in service delivery, across the RMNCAH-NUT continuum, using a health system strengthening lens. This includes both facility based and community health aspects.
• Help shape BMGF’s support of research, innovation, and scale of new and proven health interventions (including products and approaches) in Ethiopia – using a data-driven approach to improve service accessibility, cost-effectiveness, higher quality, and client-centered provision.
• Partnerships: Ensure that networks of partners inside and outside the foundation are enabled toward a collective outcome.
  • Coordinate closely with Seattle-based BMGF delivery teams and as needed – the research and product development teams – to ensure that support to Ethiopia is tailored to the local context and aligned to GOE priorities.
  • Work collaboratively with and offer technical assistance services to the GOE and other stakeholders to promote impactful health programs.
• Stay abreast of relevant health sector developments and BMGF program progress in order to recommend strategies to improve investment performance against the agreed upon results framework.
• Work on complex problems in a dynamic environment to assess short and long-term needs related to national health goals; craft creative strategies that promote health sector resilience to chronic and acute shocks.
• Co-create (with internal and external partners), operationalize and measure progress of portfolio(s) of grants or performance-based contracts. Review letters of inquiry and grant proposals and provide clear, concise and insightful written analyses and recommendations for funding.
• Support grantees to measure progress towards collective outcomes strategy goals. This may include – site visits, providing operational guidance and convening meetings of key partners.
• Operationalize core BMGF principles as part of grant management duties – such as capacity strengthening of local organizations, promotion of gender-sensitive designs.
• Represent the foundation to key program-related external constituencies, as appropriate, on committees related to responsibilities of the position.
• Travel up to 25% domestically and internationally (as allowed by BMGF travel policy).

Core Knowledge And Skills

• Expertise in health-related program development, project management and implementation
• An excellent teammate with strong interpersonal skills
• Technical resource to teams and leadership on impact, cost effectiveness and decision analyses.
• Demonstrated knowledge and understanding in health care quality improvement and measurement processes
• Strong leadership and management skills
• Proven ability working with a range of government officials, donors, local NGOs, and academia – for impact
• Shown ability to lead and influence others in a constructive manner and to build and sustain collaborative relationships.
• Proven success working with, and as a part of, cross-cultural teams
• Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, able to effectively synthesize information to reach diverse audiences and build consensus.
• Language:
  • Ability to operate effectively in English, including clearly conveying technical analyses to support strategic decision-making.
  • Verbal Amharic skills is preferred.
• Knowledge methods of impact evaluation, operational research, and modeling. Strong quantitative analytic skills.
• Handles complexity and ambiguity effectively: able to be flexible, efficient, diplomatic in a fast-paced environment.
• Able to rebound from setbacks and adversity. Self-motivated and self-managing
• Comfortable in diverse geographic and operational situations, demonstrating culturally-sensitive behavior.

Education And Experience

• Advanced degree in public health, epidemiology, social sciences, health care management, medicine, nursing, or related field
• Ideally, with 10 years of proven experience in public health or specific areas therein. Experience in low-income country settings and RMNCAH-NUT are preferred.
• Demonstrated experience in shaping service delivery programs at scale and/or introducing new therapeutic interventions – is preferred.
• Clinical and/or implementation science research experience is a plus.

As part of our standard hiring process for new employees, employment with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will be contingent upon successful completion of a background check.