Deputy Director, Family Health – Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Application deadline 4th November 2022

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation We are the largest nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world. Founded on a simple premise: that people everywhere, regardless of identity or circumstances, should have the chance to live healthy, productive lives. By building a global and cultural workplace that supports greater diversity, equity, and inclusion — of voices, ideas, and approaches — together with our employees and partners, we can help all people improve their lives from poverty and health to education. As an organization we offer full healthcare premiums coverage, generous paid time off, contribution to your retirement fund, several employee communities, and a commitment to embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion into everything we do.

Your Role
The Deputy Director, Family Health (DD-FH), is expected to advance the foundation’s Family Health goals in India. India bears a large and disproportionate share of the global maternal, neonatal, infant, and under-5 mortality and morbidity burden, with the Foundation’s focus states of UP and Bihar contributing significantly to this burden.  Investments under the National Health Mission (NHM) focused on health systems strengthening, have led to improved outcomes over the last decade, but many barriers remain, especially around quality of care, Human Resources for Health, Health Management Information Systems, and procurement and distribution systems for medicines and consumables.   India has also recently introduced a comprehensive primary health care platform, with increased human resources, through which interventions for reproductive, maternal, new-born, child, and adolescent health are to be delivered. Nonetheless there are persistent challenges in achieving National Health Policy goals and Sustainable Development Goals in many parts of the country, including in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh

The DD-FH oversees three strategic pillars of the FH cluster, comprising three direct reports: the program staff overseeing MNCH, Family Planning, and Nutrition, including Anaemia, whose responsibilities are to translate the foundation’s global strategy into India country strategy and support implementation through strategic partnerships at national and state levels. The partnerships of the FH cluster include central and state governments, local and international institutions and implementing partners, with a preference on identifying and strengthening local partners to aid transition, sustainability, and diffusion to other non -focus states.  The aim of the FH cluster is to support advancement towards national goals and contribute to progress against the Foundation’s global goals in the areas described above.

The DD-FH will set overall strategic direction for the cluster, and will guide and be accountable for strategy implementation and progress across the FH cluster.  As well, DD-FH will identify alignments and trade-offs across Family Health strategies and grants/contracts in India and will find opportunities to leverage foundation investments in upstream discovery, science, surveillance, and data & analysis to drive progress towards goals.  In addition, about ten percent of the DD-FH’s time is expected to be committed to engage in selected countries in the South/South-East Asia Region for FH related interventions, as appropriate and determined by the India Country Office (ICO) and FH leadership.

This position reports to Director of Health, India, and is considered an integral part of the leadership team for the foundation’s health strategy in India. This position partners closely with Deputy Directors and Program Officers in the State Health Systems and Infectious Diseases Clusters and is a member of a matrixed team, requiring collaboration with cross-domain program and functional teams in India and other Foundation Offices.

This position reports to the Director Health.

What you’ll do

• Lead and manage a team of MNCH, Family Planning, and Nutrition SPOs, ensuring that each is pursuing robust, data-driven, solution oriented, innovative portfolios that span Research and Development through Delivery to deliver impact goals in India.
• Provide expert input on foundation investments in upstream and downstream science and programmatic and policy efforts to improve progress toward the foundation’s Family Health goals in India.
• Liaise closely with foundation program teams in the Seattle office to ensure alignment between global and ICO strategies and effectively advocate for contextual modifications based on evidence.
• Provide in depth support to the UP and Bihar state health systems programmes through oversight of state family health portfolios and identifying and facilitating opportunities for cross learning, or necessary trade-offs among interventions targeting similar channels and/or beneficiaries.
• Oversee the development and management of portfolios of investments and activities in support of programmatic and policy goals and monitor progress towards goals.
• ·        Document, monitor and evaluate, and synthesize results and lessons from grants and contracts and lead contributions to portfolio reviews and presentations to leadership.
• Plan and coordinate periodic partner consultations and meetings to inform and refine strategy and progress on existing portfolios.
• Develop and nurture relationships, support programmatic efforts, and engage as needed with government officials and technical divisions in relevant national ministries and state departments to advance program goals; track policy evolution and programme modifications and find opportunities for strategic support through evidence generation, data analysis, and expert opinion on questions on policy in MNCH, family planning, and/or nutrition space.
• Establish and nurture the external partnerships that will contribute to advance progress towards program goals in India, including with donors/philanthropies, multi-lateral agencies, public health institutions, NGOs, private sector organizations, etc.
• Recruit and develop talent, act as mentor and coach to direct reports and other foundation staff as a key member of the India Country Office management team.
• Serve as a partner and resource to grantees and foundation program teams to facilitate accomplishment of strategic objectives.
• Conceptualize, lead and contribute to writing background documents, briefs, and presentations, including strategy briefs, literature reviews, landscape analyses, and data analysis.
• Undertake and lead special projects and initiatives, as requested.

Experience
We are looking for people who are extraordinary strategists, oriented towards innovative solutions, problem-solvers, and leaders. We want people who enjoy solving complex problems in the health sector, using hypothesis- and data-driven approaches and working through matrixed teams to deliver break-through solutions, with an experience of 15+ years working in health systems at state and national levels.

The qualified candidate should have the following competencies and experience:

• Senior leadership experience in a health organization, either public or private, including responsibility for program strategy, design, and implementation, preferably in the areas of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health.
• Deep, technical knowledge of family health domains, in Indian and global contexts
• Demonstrated experience building and leading strategic partnerships with collaborators from diverse sectors including NGOs, government, and the private sector
• Proven success using and communicating (verbally and in writing) evidence and data to inform policy, programming, and management decisions.
• Superior skills in critical thinking and planning
• Strong ability to work with efficiency and diplomacy, particularly as part of a multi-disciplinary team effort. Demonstrated ability to work in productive collaboration with diverse teams including scientists, business analysts, program implementers, and developing country partners
• Demonstrated curiosity and comfort in areas beyond current areas of expertise with proven ability to rapidly acquire knowledge and implement good judgment in a variety of scientific and political areas.
• Ability to plan, organize, and prioritize work of self and others in fast-paced environment with multiple and competing demands, which requires ability to see critical path, measure and mitigate risk, make trade-offs
• Proven ability to structure and manage high-return, well-risk-mitigated investments, with clear benchmarks and outcomes; with experience in developing this skill in others.
• Success in nurturing people and building great teams
• Role model for courageous inquiry and intellectual integrity
• Willingness to prioritize collective success over self
• Ability to travel locally and internationally, up to 30%.

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

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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.

Depending upon your work location, we may require proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 and any recommended booster doses. All employees based in the United States are to provide proof of full vaccination upon hire and any recommended boosters, subject to applicable laws.

Accommodations

If you require assistance due to a disability in the application or recruitment process, please submit a request to hr@gatesfoundation.org.

Inclusion Statement

We are dedicated to the belief that all lives have equal value. We’re committed to creating a workplace where employees thrive both personally and professionally. We also believe our employees should reflect the rich diversity of the global populations we aim to serve—in race, gender, age, cultures and beliefs—and we support this diversity through all of 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.