Job Description
Deputy Director, Women In Leadership, Gender Equality
Seattle, WA
Role Title: Deputy Director, Women in Leadership, Gender Equality
Division: Gender Equality
Location: Seattle
Travel Requirements: Up to 20% after travel restriction is lifted
Reports To: Director, Gender Equality Division /Office of the President
Posting Close Date: 4/6/21
At the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation we believe that by creating an environment for our employees to personally and professionally thrive, we will have maximum impact toward our missions to achieve our vision. To learn more about our vision and missions, please visit our website at www.gatesfoundation.org.
Group Summary
In 2020, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced the creation of a new division, Gender Equality (GE), driven by our determined leadership and partnership to accelerate progress for women and girls globally.
The past two years have seen an unprecedented confluence of energy on this issue, and we have a greater understanding than ever before on the centrality of gender to all development outcomes embodied in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Created to capitalize on the belief that we are at a pivotal point in history for gender equality, the division is comprised of the Gender Equality Office of the President team, Women’s Economic Empowerment program team, and Gender Equality program advocacy and communications team. This new division signals our intent to fully maximize our voice and our co-chair’s commitment to accelerate impact under the leadership of a dedicated Gender Equality President. Additionally, we will continue our broader gender integration agenda, working with and across all global program teams to ensure gender is being incorporated in an intentional way to increase impact.
Leadership & 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 four agreements; show respect, offer trust, be transparent, and create energy.
This individual will play a key role in the founding year of this new division and as such, we expect foundation leadership to demonstrate our leadership principles & management expectations. As a people leader, you are responsible for:
Creating a culture for impact by shaping an environment where your team thrives, and their unique perspectives and identities are valued
Strategy development, refinement, and management to ensure your team goals align with overall foundation strategies
Nurturing people and building great teams by prioritizing collective success, team development, setting expectations and assessing performance
Position Summary
We seek a Deputy Director, Women in Leadership to the play a leadership role shaping and executing the foundation’s new investment portfolio aiming to improve women’s representation and influence in the fields of health, law, and economics in our priority geographies. Building on learnings from the private sector, the ingoing hypothesis of this ten-year learning initiative is that more women with power and influence in these sectors will lead to better development outcomes, in particular for women and girls. This includes increasing the:
Number of women with stronger leadership skills rising faster in their fields
Number of young women selecting into non-traditional career pathways and number of mid-career women facing fewer obstacles because of the presence of more senior women in leadership,
Evidence base around effective interventions at the individual, organizational and societal level to advance women’s representation and influence
Field-leading organizations improving their institutional cultures, evidence of influence on other organizations
As the Deputy Director you shape the strategic direction and investment planning and execution and shape a team through creative resourcing with full-time, part-time, and outsourced team members. You will guide team members in the management of the Women in Leadership portfolio of foundation investments (grants and contracts), and work with external partners to drive impact and generate learnings and evidence. As part of this responsibility, this role will manage relationships with grantees, contractors, and key partners to achieve the foundation's desired impact, provide project briefings and updates to foundation leadership, and represent the foundation in meetings with external stakeholders, as well as at conferences and workshops. lead activities related to portfolio management, division design, launch, and execution, and enablement of an effective division. This is a new role with people management responsibilities and needs an entrepreneurial-minded individual to establish the role.
You will be expected to partner with GE team members in establishing division direction, identifying interdependencies, communicating program requirements, tracking progress, making decisions, identifying, and mitigating risks and resolving conflicts and/or issues. You will also partner with the Gender Equality program policy advocacy and communications team to turn programming insights into advocacy and communications opportunities to achieve our Women in Leadership goals. This role builds strong relationships with internal partners, external partners, resource providers and effectively interacts with senior-level audiences.
Core Responsibilities
Accountability for the Women in Leadership strategy and execution which aims to increase the number of women leaders in the health, law, and economic sectors in the foundation’s priority geographies; this includes the development and management of the strategy, leading a team of resources to operationalize the strategy, and ultimately tracking progress and course-correcting to achieve our desired impact goals
Bring your knowledge and experience in leadership principles, leadership resources, and leadership development execution to the foundation to inform and influence the operationalization of the Women in Leadership strategy; bring to bear experience in complex systems-change, sectoral-change, and organizational-change which is key to driving forward the overall strategy
Build a small team to conduct the day-to-day execution of the strategy, including mini-portfolios of research and evidence for Women in Leadership, programmatic grant-making, and learning capture
Lead partnerships with external partners/grantees to advance the foundation’s priorities for Women in Leadership – in particular working closely with one significant partner to enable them to meet their own goals and targets, experiment with new investment vehicles for Women in Leadership, and capture outcomes and learnings to share with the sector
Collaborate across the Gender Equality Division and the rest of the foundation with teams and individuals to identify advocates for and other investment opportunities in Women in Leadership relevant across the foundation (e.g., working with the foundation’s Legal team for opportunities for Women in Leadership in law)
Facilitate development of annual investment plans and budgets, develop, modify and implement strategy under the leadership of the Director. Work with foundation leadership as requested to address cross-cutting issues and improve functions and performance.
Provide strategic guidance in crafting grants and contracts that require complex research or analytics. Oversee strategy measurement and impact activities.
Accountable for the identification and assessment of key portfolio risks, and the development and management of mitigation/contingency plans at the portfolio level.
Advise, mentor, and support colleagues within the foundation and their grantees in the design, enhancement, and execution of Women in Leadership strategy, initiatives, and engagements
Serve as a foundation global spokesperson on Women in Leadership priorities for the Gender Equality Division and related issues internally to foundation Co-Chairs and leadership and externally to industry and global development stakeholders.
Responsible for hiring the talent needed to achieve our goals, ensuring successful employee onboarding, communicating performance expectations, creating goal alignment, integrating project and change management, giving and seeking feedback, providing coaching, measuring progress and holding people accountable, supporting employee development, and recognizing achievement and lessons learned.
Design and execute key division-level strategy projects and development and articulation of program strategy; leads the preparation of materials for the annual planning process, strategy reviews, learning sessions, briefings, and submissions to GE President, CEO, and Co-Chairs
Serve as an active listener across the Division to keep pulse on team health and effectiveness
Other specials projects as assigned
Core Knowledge & Skills
You are a creative, thoughtful, and curious leader who has an excellent track record of achievement in roles of increasing responsibility. You should be prepared to work across a diverse set of disciplines, bridging a wide range of expertise, with a demonstrated ability to work with agility, efficiency, and diplomacy in a dynamic environment. Additionally, we seek:
Demonstrated experience and expertise in leadership development theory, practices, and application in the academic, business, and/or philanthropy sectors
Experience designing, building, launching, and managing leadership development programs; ideally experience based in health, law, or economics sector through personal lived experience in a priority geography for the foundation in Africa and/or South Asia
Understanding of how to bring intersectional-problem solving approaches to strategies; working to lead with a diversity, equity, and inclusion mindset and application
Experience directly conducting or managing/overseeing individual, organizational, and sector-wide leadership development and change; knowledgeable/conversant in the evidence base and have experience in direct programming
Self-starter with an ability to work with flexibility, efficiency, and enthusiasm in a fast-paced and complex internal and external environment
Proven program management skills: successful track record of leading or managing multiple projects simultaneously, ability to coordinate inputs from many people, to track progress against targets and identify barriers to progress, to plan agendas and facilitate meetings that involve group problem-solving
Experience in the implementation of creative solutions to guide group processes (e.g., managing conflict and encouraging alignment)
Demonstrated strength in structured problem solving and strategic business planning, with the capability to easily identify and communicate frameworks to facilitate strategy creation and analyze core issues
Knowledge of strategy development and implementation, design of performance management systems of goals, and targets and monitoring process
Tolerance for ambiguity and ability to apply structure to simplify complex problems
Demonstrated excellence in influence and leadership, ability to build trust, is a team leader and player who motivates and educates other team members and understands the value of interpersonal relationship building
Ability to get up to speed quickly on new content areas and build new relationships
Interest in the gender equality program strategy and the ability to learn new content quickly, identify connections and second-order implications and demonstrate proficiency with internal/external teams
Strong listening, verbal, and written communication skills, able to effectively calibrate input and synthesize information to connect with diverse audiences
Ability to work in a self-guided manner, manage multiple priorities and execute to demanding timelines
Ability to work effectively and with sensitivity across barriers such as language, culture, and distance.
Broad understanding of global health and development issues; some direct experience is preferable
Commitment to our core values, mission and programs with an approach that is consistent with the foundation’s guiding principles while holding oneself to the highest ethical standards Sense of humor
Education & Experience
Experience leading others in a direct reporting relationship and creating a coaching environment for people to test, learn, and grow
Bachelor’s degree or other advanced degree with 10+ years of experience, or equivalent experience
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.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is dedicated to the belief that all lives have equal value. We’re committed to creating a workplace where employees thrive both personally and professionally. We also believe our employees should reflect the rich diversity of the global populations we aim to serve—in race, gender, age, cultures and beliefs—and we support this diversity through all of our employment practices.
All applicants and employees who are drawn to serve the mission of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will enjoy equality of opportunity and fair treatment without regard to: