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 mission of the Global Policy & Advocacy (GPA) division is to understand and shape the public policy debates affecting the foundation’s work, build support for its major program and policy priorities, and develop partnerships that advance our global objectives. Because the foundation’s resources alone are not enough to solve the challenges ahead, GPA supports advocacy efforts that engage diverse stakeholders and promote innovative solutions to improve outcomes at scale. We work in close partnership with grantees, colleagues across Global Health, Global Development, Global Growth & Opportunity, U.S. and Gender Equality programs, and Foundation Communications to ensure all people have the opportunity to lead healthy and productive lives.

Your Role

As the Deputy Director, Leadership Engagement (Office of the President, Global Policy & Advocacy), you will report to the Director, Strategy, Planning & Management and Chief of Staff, and are able to work in a hybrid work arrangement from our Washington DC office. You will serve as the strategic architect and steward of the GPA President’s internal and external leadership presence. You will ensure the President’s voice, relationships, and engagement are deployed in service of GPA’s division-wide goals and the foundation’s strategic priorities.

You will lead the GPA President’s leadership engagement agenda—cultivating community inside and outside of the organization, advancing the division’s visibility across the foundation, and strengthening high-impact external advocacy and partnership engagement. As a trusted advisor to the GPA President, you will oversee the planning, strategy, and execution of executive engagement, ensuring coherence, strategic alignment, and excellence in delivery.

This role requires exceptional judgment, political and organizational awareness, and the ability to mobilize diverse colleagues across a highly matrixed environment. You will manage GPA’s role in Chair and CEO external engagement - including advocacy trips, use of their voice and other related activities- and coordinate and drive GPA’s role in executing the foundation’s annual Advocacy and Voice Plan (AVP), which identifies, prioritizes, and confirms opportunities where the foundation should invest one of its most valuable yet limited resources: Chair and CEO time and voice.

This full-time role is located in Washington, DC. Relocation support is available to a finalist candidate not located in the DC metro area needing to relocate there upon hire. This role is ineligible for remote work. Applications accepted until 4 PM Pacific Time on Thursday, February 26, 2026.

* Must be able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship.

What You'll Do

I. Steward the GPA President’s leadership presence and visibility

• Shape and manage the President’s internal and external engagement agenda to advance GPA priorities and strengthen community across the division.

• Oversee the planning and execution of the President’s high-profile engagements—including major global convenings (e.g., UN General Assembly, World Economic Forum), strategic advocacy trips, and foundation-sponsored events.

• Manage internal engagements across the Global Policy & Advocacy division, including the design and production of quarterly All-Staff meetings, the annual division retreat, monthly newsletters from the Chief of Staff, and various other tent-pole “culture” moments for the division throughout the year.

• Partner with Communications to develop speeches, talking points, op-eds, and digital visibility strategies that amplify GPA priorities with clarity and impact.

• Ensure alignment of the President’s time, messaging, and relationships with strategic objectives and emerging opportunities.

• Travel 20% (domestic and international) of the time as needed.

II. Manage GPA’s role in Chair and CEO external engagement, including advocacy trips, use of voice and other related activities.

• Coordinate GPA’s strategic contributions to Chair and CEO advocacy engagement, including major conferences, political forums, and high-level partner dialogues.

• Identify opportunities for principal engagement that elevate advocacy efforts, build relationships, strengthen coalitions, and enhance the political salience of GPA’s work.

• Ensure GPA input is well-coordinated, timely, and strategically positioned across the foundation’s leadership engagement mechanisms.

III. Coordinate and drive GPA’s role in the execution of the foundation’s annual Advocacy and Voice Plan (AVP)

• Lead the development of GPA’s Advocacy and Voice Plan, consolidating insights, opportunities, and advocacy priorities from across GPA teams.

• Work with internal partners to develop the foundation-wide calendar of priority themes and engagement moments.

• Monitor AVP implementation, ensuring responsiveness to emerging policy windows and opportunities for high-impact engagement.

IV. Lead cross-cutting advocacy initiatives, special projects, and manage external strategic advisory group

• Stand up and manage a new external Strategic Advisory Group that provides forward-looking strategic counsel, guidance on emerging opportunities, and coordinated insights to support the GPA President’s decision-making and leadership agenda.

• Lead cross-cutting advocacy initiatives and special projects that fall outside existing structures and require rapid response, integrated execution, or executive sponsorship.

• Work closely with the GPA president and divisional leadership to identify advocacy opportunities that the foundation could play an important role in driving impact.

V. Strengthen coordination with Communications and Executive Trips teams

• Serve as GPA’s key liaison to Foundation Communications and the Executive Trips team, ensuring seamless coordination across messaging, planning, and delivery.

• Respond to requests for GPA engagement and ensure GPA priorities are well-represented in organizational communications, visibility plans, and executive travel agendas.

• Help maintain unified, consistent external narratives across leadership platforms.

VI. Lead and develop the Leadership Engagement team

• Hire, develop, and manage a small team responsible for delivering leadership engagement, communications oversight, event strategy, and cross-GPA coordination.

• Build systems and routines that support high-quality planning, strong information flows, and reliable execution in a fast-paced environment.

• Foster a culture of collaboration, learning, and operational excellence.

Your Experience

• An advanced degree with 15+ years of experience or equivalent combination.

• Significant experience global advocacy, policy and issue communications, external/internal communications, executive office and principal management, and/or leadership advance and support.

• Excellent coordination skills with shown ability to drive collaboration across divisions, including with executive leadership. Tried effectiveness and interest in leading and coordinating colleagues from across a variety of fields in a complex organization.

• Experience with advocacy and leadership engagement, including operationalizing and implementing agendas and managing cross-divisional advocacy activities.

• Expert-level project management abilities, including critical path thinking to set and thoughtfully adhere to priorities in a resource-constrained setting.

• Shown ability to lead and impact others, including strong experience managing teams with diverse cultural and professional backgrounds.

• Demonstrated ability to work with efficiency, diplomacy, and flexibility particularly as part of a team.

• Functional expertise in one or more fields related to the work of GPA, including government relations, policy research and analysis, advocacy, issue communications, or leadership advance and support.

• Intellectual quickness, curiosity, rigor, and resourcefulness.

• Demonstrated excellent judgment and calm under stressful conditions.

• Experience working in a highly matrixed environment.

• Ability to work in a hybrid office environment, including on-site presence as business needs dictate. 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 country where this position is located without visa sponsorship.

The salary range for this role in Washington, DC is $262,200 to $406,400 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

We’re committed to providing an inclusive and accessible hiring experience for all candidates. If you have a disability or medical condition and need an accommodation at any stage of the application or interview process—such as an ASL interpreter, alternative interview format, or physical accessibility support—we’re happy to help. Please contact HR@gatesfoundation.org with the position number and a brief description of your accommodation needs. Requests will be handled confidentially.

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.