The Senior Program Officer (SPO) has primary responsibility for leading and steering the planning process for co-chair and CEO engagements and trips, managing their schedules for these engagements on behalf of the foundation, and guiding them through the various activities done during trips. The role works with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders to ensure consistently successful outcomes for all external engagements at the highest level of foundation leadership.
This includes working with foundation teams to successfully plan and execute activities; advancing locations domestically and internationally; representing the foundation externally with partners; acting as liaison between the foundation, private offices and personal offices ensure proposed activities are feasible from an operational, security, contextual, and principal preference perspective.
- Lead the planning and execution of all foundation co-chair trips domestically and internationally. Manage the planning and execution of foundation CEO trips as requested by their office. As such, plan, lead, handle, and execute activities in support of and following leadership trips (i.e., internal planning meetings, coordination with internal and external partners, advance trips, correspondence, debrief/feedback sessions).
- Serve as the trip director for the co-chairs and CEO ensuring that their time is well spent and their needs (e.g. briefing/intelligence, preparation time, and other) are met.
- This role is responsible for high quality interactions and clear and consistent communications with external stakeholders from affiliated entities (Gates Ventures, Pivotal Ventures, etc.), grantees, government officials, and partners in the field. As well as cultivating decisions, communication, and analysis pertaining to the planning and execution of trips with internal partners including, but not limited to, the SP&E team, Offices of the President (OoPs), Program Strategy Teams (PSTs), Regional Offices, Donor Government Relations (DGR), Events, Legal, Security, and Program Advocacy & Communications (PAC).
- Collaborate with the co-chairs’ security teams and private travel offices to ensure efficient operations, in particular with issues of overlapping relevance (e.g. risk assessments, reputation, logistics, travel schedules, operational security etc.)
- Participate in special projects for the SP&E team as needed.
We believe that energized people, working well together, fueled by great leadership in an inclusive environment in which they thrive, will do phenomenal things.
Core Knowledge and Skills
- Strong analytical, writing, editing, and verbal skills for communicating with broad and diverse stakeholders.
- Experience with and knowledge of high profile event and trip planning as a discipline.
- Excellent time management, project management, and interpersonal skills with demonstrated effectiveness and interest in leading and coordinating across a variety of disciplines in complex organizations.
- Ability to credibly convene and influence diverse partners, filter information, frame issues, and facilitate high-quality decision-making around multiple priorities in a dynamic environment.
- A deep commitment to the overall mission of the foundation, its programs, and an approach consistent with the foundation’s guiding principles. Committed to delivering results against the mission and holds self to the highest ethical standards.
- Demonstrated critical thinking and business judgment; able to work with efficiency & diplomacy, and able to handle sensitive and confidential information appropriately.
- Ability to work effectively and thoughtfully across barriers such as language, culture, and distance.
- Intellectual quickness, curiosity, discipline, and resourcefulness. Proven strong judgment and calm under stressful conditions.
- International, particularly developing country, work experience and multilingual skills are strongly preferred.
- Technological proficiency.