Deputy Director - Strategy, Planning & Management (Policy, Government Relations, & Partnerships and Ethiopia Country Office )
Sales & Business Development
Ethiopia · Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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
The Foundation’s Africa work is focused on partnering with regional institutions, national governments, private-sector actors, and civil society to strengthen systems, expand opportunity, and deliver sustainable impact. Ethiopia is home to some of the most significant opportunities for reducing infectious disease burden, strengthening health systems, and advancing economic opportunity.The Africa team works to enable the foundation’s ambitious goals of scaling evidence-based interventions that target a range of diseases and socio-economic conditions which are endemic across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The team drives its responsibility through direct continental, regional, and country engagement to deploy interventions and delivery models, and by building the partner architecture to influence policy shifts, replicate successful interventions and models across multiple countries, and enhance partnerships.
The focus of foundation’s work in Ethiopia is in health, nutrition, agricultural transformation and financial services for the poor as well as some gender equality and water, sanitation and hygiene goals. Our cross-cutting advocacy portfolio includes gender, private sector, governance and financing, and policy and advocacy capacity building. The Policy, Government Relations, and Partnerships team leads government relations, technical advocacy, and partnerships in Africa, focusing on health and economic opportunity, in alignment with the Foundation’s goals and the priorities of government partners.
This role sits within the Africa Team and links closely with strategy, program, and functional teams across the Foundation, ensuring that program investments in advocacy and government relations across the continent, and country strategies in Ethiopia, are data-driven, strategically aligned, and operationally executable.
Application Deadline: July 21st, 2026
Your Role
The Deputy Director, Strategy, Planning & Management provides regional and strategic programmatic leadership, operational excellence, and integrated portfolio management across the Continental Policy, Government Relations, and Partnership (PGRP) strategy, including regional support in East, West/Central, and Southern Africa, as well as strategic and operational support for the Ethiopia Country Office. The role anchors strategy development and execution, program support, annual and multiyear planning, budgeting, monitoring & evaluation, learning, and organizational effectiveness.
This position serves as a thought partner to Directors, Deputy Directors, Program Officers, and Africa Regional Leadership, providing the link between strategy, delivery, and business operations. The DDSPM leads an SPM team supporting country and regional programs.
The role reports dually to the Ethiopia Country Office Director, with a dotted line to the Director, PGRP and will be based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
What You’ll Do
Strategy Development, Refinement and Management:
Lead and continuously refine continental and regional strategy development processes, ensuring alignment with division-wide and foundation-wide priorities.
Translate strategy into clear execution plans at initiative and country levels, including roles, responsibilities, outcomes, and resources.
Serve as a strategic partner to Directors and program teams, providing structured problem solving, analytical insight, and strategy monitoring.
Design and evolve analytical models to define strategic and operational metrics; set targets and refine data systems and performance dashboards.
Generate insights and synthesize regional narratives that clearly communicate progress, risks, and opportunities to senior leadership.
Regional Leadership, Integration & Cross-Foundation Alignment
Anchor the Foundation’s Africa strategic priorities within the region, ensuring coherence in delivery across health, growth & opportunity, and advocacy portfolios.
Work closely with Directors and DDSPMs across Africa to harmonize strategies, support cross-country learning, and strengthen “one Africa team” ways of working.
Facilitate alignment between global programs and regional priorities, bridging scientific/technical program teams with country implementation realities.
Provide insights on how regional strategies and investments contribute to the Foundation’s global priorities, especially maternal and child survival, infectious disease eradication, and economic opportunity.
Portfolio, Financial Management & Investment Advisory
Lead integrated portfolio management across multiple Foundation teams investing in Africa and the region, ensuring effective stewardship, resource allocation, and risk management.
Partner with Finance and Grants & Contracts Services to develop regional budgets, forecasts, and long-range planning.
Develop systems and tools to strengthen grant pipeline management, monitoring, and reporting.
Advise Program Officers and leadership teams on grant development, execution planning, portfolio reviews, and performance management.
Ensure investment decisions reflect strategic priorities, integrate learning from other Africa geographies, and maximize impact.
People Leadership, Team Development & Organizational Effectiveness
Lead and manage an SPM team, including recruitment, onboarding, coaching, feedback, and performance management.
Shape team culture, values, and rhythm of business across the regional team and continental strategy, including meeting structures, retreats, and team health checks.
Support workforce planning and talent development across the Africa Team.
Promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, ensuring regional strategies, processes, and decision-making reflect the Foundation’s DEI commitments.
Measurement, Learning & Evaluation (MLE)
Lead the design and refinement of MLE frameworks that articulate metrics, learning agendas, and progress monitoring for continental and regional programs.
Translate insights from MLE processes into adjustments in strategy or delivery plans.
Promote data-driven decision-making across regional teams and ensure timely, accurate reporting for portfolio reviews and strategy refresh cycles.
Partner, Grantee, and Stakeholder Engagement
Ensure clear, consistent, and high-quality engagements with governments, grantees, private sector partners, and regional institutions.
Strengthen alignment between Foundation investments and country/government strategies, supporting effective implementation and learning partnerships.
Represent the Foundation in regional forums, partner engagements, and coordination platforms as appropriate.
Continuous Improvement & Change Management
Lead or support cross-foundation initiatives that enhance strategy execution, operational efficiency, system improvements, and new process design.
Advance organizational learning, sharing best practices across Africa teams and contributing to global DDSPM communities of practice.
Support implementation of change management initiatives related to new systems, processes, or organizational adjustments.
Your Experience
MBA or other advanced degree, with 10+ years of professional experience in strategy, business management, public health, development, or related fields.
Demonstrated success leading strategy development, execution planning, and performance management in a matrixed environment.
Strong technical and financial acumen, including experience managing complex budgets, portfolios, and analytical models.
Experience working with or advising governments, multilaterals, or large-scale implementation partners in Africa.
Strength in structured problem solving, synthesis, and communication of complex information to senior leaders.
Demonstrated ability to lead and develop teams, foster a healthy team culture, and manage talent.
Experience working across diverse cultures and geographies; ability to build trusted relationships with senior leaders.
Ability to travel up to 40% across the region.
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
We’re committed to providing an inclusive and accessible hiring experience for all candidates. If you have a disability or medical condition and need an accommodation at any stage of the application or interview process—such as an ASL interpreter, alternative interview format, or physical accessibility support—we’re happy to help. Please contact HR@gatesfoundation.org with the position number and a brief description of your accommodation needs. Requests will be handled confidentially.
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.