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

Global Growth and Opportunity
The Foundation partners with people and organizations worldwide, through grant making, to tackle critical problems across various program areas and divisions. Our Global Growth & Opportunity (GGO) Division focuses on creating and scaling market-based innovations to stimulate inclusive and sustainable economic growth. GGO focuses on the areas of Agricultural Development, Global Education, Inclusive Financial Systems (IFS), Nutrition, and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WSH). We believe that people are poor because markets do not work for them, and we promote innovative products and policies that can break down barriers to economic opportunity, help people lift themselves out of poverty, and deliver sustainable and inclusive growth that benefits everyone.

The Inclusive Financial Systems (IFS) team believes that valuable, low-cost financial products have the potential to offer a pathway out of poverty, and that digital financial systems can enable the private sector’s delivery of such products to the poor sustainably and at scale. IFS supports the buildout of inclusive digital financial services (DFS) systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) by (i) enabling the right policy and regulatory environment, (ii) supporting the implementation of inclusive digital payments systems, (iii) driving scale and economic sustainability by promoting pro-poor use cases; and (iv) closing the gender gap in the usage of formal financial products.

Your Role

The Senior Program Officer (SPO) will ensure continuity of leadership on gender-focused financial inclusion, with responsibilities centered on:

• Leading and supporting new IFS gender-related investments

• Managing the existing IFS Gender portfolio

• Overseeing and contributing to gender mainstreaming efforts across IFS

The SPO will play a crucial role in ensuring continuity of the Women’s Financial Inclusion (WFI) agenda during the parental leave period. The goals of the backfill are to:

• Maintain momentum on existing WFI investments, ensuring projects stay on track.

• Advance new gender-focused investment opportunities that are already in the pipeline.

• Provide leadership on gender mainstreaming across IFS, sustaining alignment with broader foundation commitments.

Context: This interim period comes at a time when the IFS team is scaling its efforts to integrate gender into digital financial systems work, while also ensuring a strong pipeline of investments to support women’s financial inclusion globally. The interim SPO will provide stability, continuity, and ensure knowledge transfer until the permanent SPO returns.

This role reports to the Deputy Director, Usage, Gender, and Distribution, Hillary Miller-Wise.

*This position is a limited-term employment (LTE) position for 9 months. Relocation will not be provided.

*Must be able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship.

*This position is located in Seattle, WA. While our preference is for a Seattle, WA based candidate, we are open to considering applications from remote individuals in US states only.

What You'll Do

IFS Gender New Investments

• Develop and manage new investments aligned with IFS’s WFI strategy.

• Find opportunities for collaboration with other teams and external partners.

• Ensure new investments are designed to drive impact at scale for women’s economic empowerment.

Portfolio Management

• Manage the current WFI portfolio to ensure projects are delivered on time, within budget, and aligned with strategy.

• Monitor risks, identify areas for improvement, and work collaboratively with partners to address issues.

• Lead preparation of portfolio-related materials for reviews, planning processes, and leadership updates.

Gender Mainstreaming in IFS

• Oversee and support efforts to integrate gender considerations across the IFS portfolio.

• Contribute to the monitoring and evaluation of gender intentional investments.

• Maintain and strengthen IFS’s knowledge management on gender integration.

• Collaborate with IFS leadership and embedded gender leads to advance team-wide gender commitments.

Your Experience

• Advanced degree required in Economics, Business, Finance, or related field preferred.

• 8–10+ years of relevant professional experience.

• Proven expertise in women’s economic empowerment and/or financial inclusion, with preference for experience in Africa or South/Southeast Asia.

• Strong investment and portfolio management experience.

• Ability to build partnerships and work across a complex matrix of partners.

• Demonstrated ability to integrate gender considerations into program design and implementation.

• Excellent communication and synthesis skills.

*Must be able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship.

The salary range for this role is $169,700 to $254,500 USD. We recognize high-wage market differences in Seattle, WA and Washington D.C., where our offices are located. The range for this role in these locations is $185,000 to $277,400 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.

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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

If you require assistance due to a disability in the application or recruitment process, please submit a request here.

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.