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).
Responsibilities:
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.
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.
Requirements:
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.
