Program Officer, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (11-month LTE*)

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 Global Growth and Opportunity (GGO) division focuses on creating and scaling market-based innovations to stimulate inclusive and sustainable economic growth. We seek to catalyze sustainable transformative change in the face of inequities and market failures, to realize the potential of untapped markets, and to see the economic and social benefits of including everyone. Core areas are Agricultural Development; Digital Public Infrastructure; Global Education; Inclusive Financial Systems; Nutrition; and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. We seek solutions that are sustainable, transformative, and inclusive with an eye toward applying technology innovations as well as data evidence to inspire change in the world’s developing countries.

Water, Sanitation & Hygiene
The Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WSH) team’s vision is to enable widespread use of safely managed, sustainable sanitation services, contributing to positive health, economic, and gender equality outcomes for the world’s poorest. Unsafe sanitation is a massive problem that is becoming more urgent as our global population increases and trends like water scarcity and urbanization intensify. About 3.6 billion people—almost half the world’s population—either practice open defecation or use unsafe sanitation facilities and services.

The focus of the team’s strategy is on developing and commercializing transformative sanitation technologies, in particular the Reinvented Toilet (an innovation that doesn’t require a connection to a water pipe or a sewer line and kills all of the pathogens in human waste). We collaborate with technologists, the private sector and government officials to advance these transformative technologies that have high potential to improve sanitation conditions for underserved communities in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The Market and Industry Development portfolio builds the commercial and institutional foundations that allow RT solutions to reach scale in LMICs. It works on two fronts: strengthening the industry (commercial partners, certification platforms, and enabling standards that de-risk supply) and catalyzing early market formation by enabling first movers to deploy at scale. Through these first deployments, the WSH team intends to generate the operating evidence and business model learning needed to drive down total cost of delivery and make RT solutions viable for broader adoption.

Application Deadline: Monday, November 16, 2026

Your Role

The Program Officer (PO), Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WSH) will lead priority investments and support strategic execution across the WSH Market segment identification and Industry Development portfolio, working alongside senior program officers and deputy directors to backstop day-to-day portfolio management. The PO will advance the WSH strategy to commercialize and scale transformative sanitation technologies by managing a portfolio of grants and contracts, working closely with industry partners (commercial partners, certification platforms, and standards development bodies) and early market first movers to translate strategic priorities into action, and finding opportunities to strengthen industry partnerships, accelerate early market formation, and generate the operating evidence needed to drive down delivery costs, while improving alignment, collaboration, and impact across investments and partners.

This role requires strong critical thinking and rigorous portfolio management, combined with deep partner engagement and day-to-day grant management. The PO will synthesize input and learning across the portfolio to inform decisions and next steps; track progress and performance across individual investments and the broader portfolio; and collaborate with foundation colleagues across program, country offices, legal, communications, finance, and other functions to enable effective execution. The role requires a thoughtful, pragmatic, and agile working style, detail-orientation, and the ability to navigate ambiguity and complex partner conversations while maintaining trusted relationships.

This position will work across the market and industry development portfolio, and report to the Deputy Director, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, who leads the identification of priority market segments in LMICs.

*This is an 11-month limited-term opportunity located in Seattle, WA with Foundation benefits and flexible / hybrid work schedule. Please note that relocation assistance is not available for this position.

What You'll Do

• Backstop portfolio leads in day-to-day portfolio management and execution. Partner with senior program officers, deputy directors, and program leadership to translate market and industry development priorities into investments, partner engagement, and clear next actions. Provide seamless project and portfolio management: coordinate deliverables and partners, and run the processes that track progress, performance, learning, and follow-up across the portfolio and individual grants.

• Lead your own grants and contracts from development through closeout. Manage them day to day, review progress and performance, and make recommendations that increase impact across individual investments and the broader portfolio.

• Build and sustain trusted partner relationships. Align partners with differing priorities around shared goals, public goods, and assets, and navigate challenging conversations with candor and respect. Find opportunities for collaboration, learning, and greater portfolio-level impact.

• Synthesize input, evidence, and learning across partners and investments. Surface portfolio-level implications, support decision-making, and define clear next steps for alignment and execution.

• Collaborate across the foundation and represent it externally. Work with communications, legal, finance, regional offices, and other program teams, and represent the foundation in relevant external meetings and forums.

*This role will require up to 25% travel.

Your Experience

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience, with a background in project or portfolio management and partner- or client-facing work. A track record of translating strategy and the big picture into concrete execution.

• Strong strategic and analytical thinking, with the ability to take a rigorous, pragmatic, portfolio-level view; synthesize broad input and evidence; and translate it into clear implications, decisions, and next steps.

• Strong grant, portfolio, and project management skills, including managing multiple investments and partners, tracking progress and performance, and keeping work moving.

• Demonstrated ability to build and sustain trusted relationships with external partners, including those with differing priorities, by presenting publicly and engaging them in the work, impact, and results. Comfortable giving candid feedback and holding difficult conversations to channel partnerships toward shared outcomes.

• Strong collaboration and influencing skills, with experience working across internal functions (e.g., legal, finance, communications), differing work styles, and complex customer dynamics. Thrives as an enabler and provides productive thought partnership, including a willingness to challenge assumptions.

• Calm, adaptable, and constructive through ambiguity and setbacks.

• Familiarity with the dynamics of bringing new products or technologies to market, such as partnerships, market conditions, and pathways to scale, is a plus, particularly in emerging markets.

• Experience working across countries and cultures preferred; French-language proficiency is a plus.
  

**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.).

#LI-TL1

The salary range for this role is $143,000 to $214,400 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 $157,300 to $235,900 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.