Job Description

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 TeamDivision Summary: 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. Please note this position is ideally located in Washington, DC.

Your Role

We are seeking a Senior Program Officer, Payments, to lead our work on digitizing government-to-person (G2P) and wage payments globally. In this role, you will work across the foundation and the industry to manage and further develop a portfolio of investments that align to our strategy, pushing the bounds of our thinking on how to drive digitization of these payments uses cases and to further integrate low-income people into the digital economy, while continuing to build the foundation’s role as a leader with vision in the industry.

This role reports to the Deputy Director, DFS Usage. The role does not have people management responsibilities.

This role is a full-term position, ideally based in Washington, DC or Seattle. However, we are open to other Gates Foundation offices as well.

What You’ll Do

• Continue to iterate and improve upon the existing G2P and wage digitization strategies in a way that improves our potential for impact and balances innovation, scaling, and learning, while focusing especially on how to drive impact for low-income women
• Develop a portfolio of investments largely in collaboration with our focus country programs that aligns to the strategy and that results in measurable financial inclusion impact, especially for women
• Establish and manage an ambitious but achievable road map for all G2P and wage-related work, forging globally partnerships with the public, private, and social sectors to achieve scale
• Set and meet or exceed clear, measurable critical metrics for the G2P and wage portfolio
• Manage the portfolio of investments for on-time completion of targets and results
• Identify key portfolio risks, and develop, communicate, and implement mitigation strategies
• Lead a process of systematic learning from successes and failures in the portfolio
• Manage the annual budgets to avoid over/underspending while ensuring the highest impact return on investment
• Exercise thought leadership within the IFS team and actively partner with colleagues leading on, for example, other payments use cases, productive credit, agent networks, women’s financial inclusion, DFS policy and regulation, consumer protection, and focus country programs
• Collaborate beyond IFS with other foundation program strategy teams – especially Gender Equality and Agricultural Development – to co-design investments aligned to each team’s strategies
• Continually hone your expertise in payments by monitoring emerging evidence, innovation, and trends
• Serve as a spokesperson and represent IFS’s interests as they relate to G2P and wage digitization to achieve financial inclusion both internally with other teams and externally with partners, peers, and other key collaborators
• Work with foundation leadership as requested to address cross-cutting issues and improve functions and performance
• Lead the preparation of materials for the annual planning process, strategy reviews, learning sessions, briefings, and submissions to the GGO President, CEO, and Co-Chairs, and other results as required

  Your Experience

  • Validated expertise in the design and/or delivery of innovative digital financial services, especially payments, ideally gained as an operator, investor, or consultant. A minimum of 12 years of professional experience is preferred.
  • Extensive domain expertise in G2P and/or wage digitization is required
  • Experience in grantmaking is preferred
  • Practical experience working with the foundation’s target populations to achieve impact in the form of increased incomes and resilience; extensive operational experience gained in the field with our target populations, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa or South/Southeast Asia, is strongly preferred
  • Experience leading ambitious targets, preferably with P&L responsibility
  • Ability to develop a clear strategy and follow through; dedicated to achieving goals and making necessary decisions within a complex organizational structure
  • Demonstrated capacity to use data and evidence as a tool for problem solving
  • Experience building partnerships with cross-sectoral, cross-functional teams to tackle complex and dynamic problems, including with the private sector, government agencies, and civil society
  • Exceptional communication skills – ability to translate complex ideas into a coherent message for diverse audiences. In addition to general communication skills, the ability to communicate in a local language in any of our focus countries is highly valued
  • A highly cultivated sense of resilience. You can accept and recover from setbacks quickly, adapt well to change, and drive forward in the face of adversity with a positive attitude and sense of humor.
  • Advanced degree in Finance, Economics, Business, or related field from a top university preferred.
  • Ability to travel ~30% domestically and internationally
  • Demonstrated commitment to the foundation’s core values and mission

    The salary range for this role is $137,500 to $206,200 USD. We recognize high-wage market differences where our offices are located, in Seattle, Washington D.C., and Boston (Cambridge). The range for this role in these locations is $149,800 to $224,600 USD. As a mission-driven organization, we strive to balance competitive pay with our mission and new hires are typically brought into the organization at a salary range between the minimum and the midpoint salary range. Actual placement in the range will depend on a candidate’s job-related skills, experience, and expertise, as evaluated during the interview process.

    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.

    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.

Job Tags

Local area, Worldwide,

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