Gates Foundation Senior Program Officer - NTD, 2019

Senior Program Manager, Neglected Tropical Disease

Employer: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, USA

The Neglected Tropical Diseases program strategy team (NTD PST) plays a lead role in advancing the Global Health Division’s goal of addressing diseases that have a major impact on people in the developing world but get little attention and funding. Where proven tools exist, they support sustainable ways to improve their delivery. Where they don’t, they invest in research, development, and deployment of new interventions, such as vaccines, drugs, diagnostics, and vector control. They also support efforts to accelerate progress through coordinated, mass drug administration (MDA) interventions, public-health surveillance, screen and treat programs and vector control.

Position Summary

The London Declaration is one of the largest ever public-private initiatives, and it includes the donation by major pharmaceutical companies of $2-3 billion per annum in medications targeting five preventive chemotherapy (PC) NTDs (lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, trachoma, schistosomiasis, and the soil-transmitted helminths).  The Gates Foundation NTD team focuses on supporting sustainable approaches to improve and expand the implementation of NTD programs, assisting countries in taking full advantage of the extraordinary opportunity of the 2012 London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases. They are actively engaged in implementing a strategy that increases the efficiency of accessing and delivering the donated medicines committed to accelerate impact for the control and/or elimination of the five PC-NTDs.  

This role will be responsible for leading our lymphatic filariasis (LF) and onchocerciasis (oncho) initiatives. The successful candidate will work in close collaboration with the NTD Director and team, as well as the broader global LF and oncho communities of WHO, USAID, DFID, and other key partners to evolve the vision for the most impactful way for BMGF to serve endemic countries’ ambitions for control and elimination of LF and oncho.  S/he will decide what investments can most effectively reach these ambitions and which partners are the right partners in whom to invest.  S/he will subsequently partner, develop, and manage a portfolio of grants and contracts to accomplish the global goals for these diseases in an end-to-end way, from project conception to implementation, and from basic research to development to operations research and ultimately implementation. This position requires expertise in NTDs and global health challenges, high-level strategic vision skills, grant-making and management skills, as well as expertise in program and project monitoring and evaluation. As a key member of the NTD leadership team, s/he will contribute to the continued development of the team’s vision, team culture, and team structure, while partnering closely with team leadership to contribute and set the overall strategy and goals for the Gates Foundation’s strategy on NTDs.

The successful candidate will utilize a unique blend of rigorous technical expertise, global strategic visioning, keen skill in partnership at all levels, and detailed attention to execution.

Find out more and how to apply here.