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

Our Malaria PST invests in innovation to reduce the burden of and eradicate malaria worldwide. Annually, malaria causes 250M+ cases and 500k+ deaths, and our strategy is to enable countries and the global community to achieve eradication in a way that saves as many lives as possible on the way. This means we 1) invest early in long-term development and deployment of new tools and capabilities to shorten the endgame, 2) partner with others to introduce innovations at-scale to drive down burden more aggressively in the short-term, and 3) support countermeasures to the evolution of biological resistance, which threatens the effectiveness of our diagnostics, drugs, and insecticides. We focus on high-burden countries and invest in the innovation to improve the performance, coverage, and targeting of interventions for all three, including ‘moonshots’ like genetically modified mosquitoes and vaccines. A fundamental enabler of interventions is accurate, timely, and geo-localized targeting. To improve this, we advocate for and support countries in their use of data, as well as invest in the roll-out of next-generation technologies, like molecular surveillance and digital transformation of country programs.

Your Role  

This Strategy Implementation Officer role works with the Malaria R&D team and facilitates planning of our pipeline and portfolio. Products in the pipeline span the categories of drugs, diagnostics, vaccines, biologics, insecticidal vector control (e.g., bed nets), and genetically modified mosquitoes (e.g., gene drive mosquitoes). In this role, you will collaborate with and help the technical team to keep our product strategies current and aligned to overall malaria eradication use cases and evolving scientific data and then monitor there is a healthy portfolio/pipeline of product candidates in place to balance timeline, probability of technical & regulatory success (PTRS), launch readiness & deliverability, and internal and external funding considerations. Throughout, you will synthesize information around and facilitate end-to-end roadmap discussions on product candidates and portfolio mix needed over the next 10-12 years To facilitate these functions, you will work with the internal Malaria team, cross-functional teams, external partners to maintain target product profiles (TPPs) and integrated product development plans (IPDPs) across the R&D portfolio, build data packages and leadership communication materials to drive stage-gate decisions, and ensure R&D portfolio management data systems stay current. You will work with and coordinate multi-disciplinary teams, including disease specialists, biopharma/AgChem functional experts [clinical, chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC), regulatory, launch, etc.] toward these goals.  

 

In addition to focusing on the aforementioned strategy implementation activities focused on our R&D investment portfolio, you will contribute to the broader Malaria Strategy, Planning, and Management (SPM) team. This will include providing structured problem solving and rapid qualitative/quantitative analytics, secondary research and synthesis of strategic and technical information for leadership and external advisory board discussions, and building and validating reasons for resource planning decisions. You will report to the Senior Strategy Officer and be guided by the Deputy Director for Strategy, Planning and Management (DDSPM), and as needed, you will function as a delegate for them within the Malaria PST and across the broader Gates Foundation. The role is based out of Seattle, WA and may involve international and domestic travel 20% of the time.  

 

*This position begins as a limited-term position for 24 months based in our Seattle, WA office that, during that time, may be converted to 36 months total or full-time depending on performance and business needs. Relocation will be provided. 

 

What You’ll Do  

 

Malaria product R&D investment strategy implementation  

Collaborate with the technical team (e.g., program officers with responsibilities and expertise for each of product and functional area) to:  

Develop and vet long-term and end-to-end R&D portfolio optimization, product development and launch readiness plans aligned with product strategies and the overall malaria eradication strategy. 

Map out and maintain a view on long horizon decision points and resourcing needs across a product portfolio/pipeline and the resultant scenarios and dependencies for discovery, development, and launch  

Work collaboratively across the foundation to develop and implement target product profiles (TPPs) integrated product development plans (IPDPs) with foundation partners and grantees. 

Liaise closely with internal subject matter experts to co-develop and test R&D strategy implementation plans and facilitate change management through effective communication and relationship management. 

Maintain awareness of and recommend coordination with other related efforts within the organization and partner ecosystem (such as mRNA vaccine platform efforts)  

Provide an independent perspective on potential R&D timeline acceleration opportunities, based on experience and secondary research 

Identify and assess key risks at both the portfolio and product level (e.g., manufacturing and IP risks) while also developing and leading mitigation and contingency plans. 

Work closely with key external partners to keep plans current, well vetted, and shared with key collaborators, such that there is timely visibility of acceleration opportunities and/or risks. 

Propose to the team and partners internal/external analysis from subject matter experts to ensure acceleration opportunities and risks are managed (e.g., drug synthesis and formulation analysis to drive down costs of goods) 

Conduct ad hoc Excel-based (‘back of the envelope’) quantitative analysis and literature reviews as needed to guide strategic decision making 

 

Overall Malaria Strategy, Planning, and Management (SPM)  

Work with the team’s SSO and DDSPM to contribute to malaria program team vision, goals, and resource allocation decisions  

Support the leadership team with analytics and thought partnership to enable complete portfolio management, ensuring alignment across efforts within the team, and with the foundation's malaria eradication goals. 

Identify resource trade-off decisions and recommend options for leadership decision-making, including assessing large, long-term investments for efficiencies (in partnership with Financial Planning & Analysis) 

Support the technical program team in developing high-quality memos and meeting materials for executive leadership (i.e., foundation co-chairs and CEO). 

Gather and synthesize relevant data, insights, and program updates into clear, executive-level communications.  

 

Your Experience  

We are looking for team members who enjoy working on complex problems and collaboratively crafting R&D strategy and implementation plans that have the potential to transform the lives of people around the world. Candidates must be excellent team players who are excited to work across a diverse set of disciplines and issue areas. 

 

Bachelor’s degree required, preferably in a STEM field. Advanced degree (PhD, MPH) or equivalent experience preferred. 

Minimum 7 years of experience preferred focused on pharma & life sciences R&D strategy and operations, at either a pharma, life sciences, and/or AgChem company and/or top-tier management consulting firm.  

Understanding and experience with lessons learned in taking products through stages of development, including clinical/field trials, manufacturing, regulatory approval, and/or launch 

Familiarity with industry standard practices, such as use case and TPP development, cross-functional/integrated product planning, and stage-gate decision-making 

Demonstrated experience with critical thinking in new and ambiguous situations; ability to learn new content quickly, identify connections and second-order implications, and establish credibility with internal/external teams. 

Ability to work in a self-guided manner, in highly unstructured and changing situations, and can multitask across priorities; self-starter with a bias for action, thought partnership, efficiency, humility, intellectual curiosity, and investing in relationships  

Ability to question and challenge colleagues including managers, senior leaders, and partners in constructive manner 

Core professional services skillset is critical to be successful in this role: Excellent organizational, facilitation, verbal, and written communication skills. Ability to work effectively and with sensitivity across barriers such as language, culture, and distance. Excellent software skills with Microsoft Office applications, including a demonstrated ability to convey complex information using supporting tables, graphs, and other visual representations 

Excellent listening skills and empathy 

Ability to travel up to 20% domestically and internationally 

Commitment to our core values, mission, and programs with an approach that is consistent with the foundation’s guiding principles and holding self to the highest ethical standards 

*Must be able to legally work in the US without visa sponsorship. 

#LI-SC2  

The salary range for this role is $154,200.00 to $231,400.00 USD. We recognize high-wage market differences in Seattle and Washington D.C., where our offices are located. The range for this role in these locations is $168,200.00 to $252,200.00 USD. As a mission-driven organization, we strive to balance competitive pay with our mission. New hires salaries are typically between the range minimum and the salary range midpoint. Actual placement in the range will depend on a candidate’s job-related skills, experience, and expertise, as evaluated during the interview process. 

Hiring Requirements

As part of our standard hiring process for new employees, employment will be contingent upon successful completion of a background check.

Candidate Accommodations

If you require assistance due to a disability in the application or recruitment process, please submit a request here.

Inclusion Statement

We are dedicated to the belief that all lives have equal value. We strive for a global and cultural workplace that supports ever greater diversity, equity, and inclusion — of voices, ideas, and approaches — and we support this diversity through all our employment practices.

All applicants and employees who are drawn to serve our mission will enjoy equality of opportunity and fair treatment without regard to race, color, age, religion, pregnancy, sex, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, and prior protected activity.