Senior Officer, Life Sciences, Strategic Investment Fund (SIF)

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

Established in 2009, the Foundation’s Strategic Investment Fund (SIF) advances the Foundation’s philanthropic mission through the use of investment tools including equity, debt, guarantees, and other innovative financing structures. SIF partners closely with the Foundation’s Program Strategy Teams to identify opportunities where investment capital, private-sector capabilities, and market-based approaches can accelerate progress toward the Foundation’s strategic objectives. SIF operates at the intersection of philanthropy, science, technology, and private capital. The team works with entrepreneurs, biotechnology and healthcare companies, investors, research institutions, and other partners to develop and finance solutions capable of delivering meaningful and sustainable impact for populations that have historically been underserved by commercial markets.

This role will be based out of Seattle, Washington

Your Role
The Strategic Investment Fund is seeking a Senior Officer, Life Sciences to help identify, develop, execute, and manage investments and strategic partnerships that advance the Foundation’s global health priorities.  This individual will serve as a senior life-sciences investor and strategic partner to teams across the Foundation, bringing together deep scientific understanding, investment judgment, company-building experience, and knowledge of the biotechnology and healthcare ecosystem.

 

The Senior Officer will work closely with Foundation scientists, program officers, investment colleagues, legal partners, entrepreneurs, academic researchers, biotechnology companies, and investors to identify areas where investment capital and private-sector innovation can accelerate the development and delivery of technologies with the potential for significant global health impact.

 

The successful candidate will be comfortable moving between scientific and investment discussions—from evaluating emerging biology and technology platforms to developing investment theses, assessing companies, structuring transactions, working with management teams and boards, and helping translate promising innovations into sustainable products and companies.

 

Importantly, this role will be highly collaborative and opportunity-oriented.  The Senior Officer will work proactively with teams across the Foundation to understand their strategies and scientific priorities, identify opportunities where SIF can add value, and help translate those opportunities into actionable investment or company-creation strategies

What You'll Do

• Partner with Foundation teams to develop investment strategies.  Work closely with Program Strategy Teams and technical experts to understand their scientific and impact objectives; identify areas where private-sector investment, company creation, or strategic partnerships could accelerate progress; and translate those opportunities into actionable investment theses.

• Originate and develop high-impact partnerships.  Build relationships with biotechnology and healthcare companies, venture investors, academic medical centers, research institutions, entrepreneurs, and other ecosystem participants to identify technologies and investment opportunities aligned with Foundation priorities.
• Evaluate emerging science and technology.  Apply deep scientific and industry knowledge to assess early-stage therapeutic, vaccine, diagnostic, platform, and other health-related technologies, working shoulder-to-shoulder with Foundation scientists and external experts to evaluate scientific differentiation, development risk, translational potential, and potential global health impact.
• Lead investment evaluation and execution.  Lead or play a senior role in sourcing, diligence, financial analysis, valuation, investment structuring, negotiation, and execution of transactions. Work across a range of investment instruments, including preferred equity, convertible securities, debt, and other structures appropriate to achieving the Foundation’s charitable objectives.
• Help create and build companies.  Evaluate Foundation-supported science, technologies, and other opportunities to identify where the creation of a new company, spinout, or other organizational structure could accelerate development and impact.  Where appropriate, proactively help translate these opportunities into viable new ventures—working alongside Foundation teams, scientific founders, entrepreneurs, venture investors, accelerators, and other partners to develop company strategies, assess business and financing models, assemble founding teams and capabilities, attract capital, and facilitate company formation and launch.  Bring an entrepreneurial, hands-on mindset and a willingness to roll up your sleeves to help promising Foundation-supported innovations progress from scientific concept through company formation, financing, and early development.
• Drive value creation across the portfolio.  Partner with CEOs, management teams, boards, co-investors, and Foundation colleagues to advance portfolio company objectives, address strategic and operational challenges, facilitate partnerships, and maintain alignment between company development plans and the Foundation’s impact objectives.
• Support portfolio governance.  Represent the Foundation as appropriate in interactions with portfolio company leadership and potentially serve as a board member or board observer. Proactively identify strategic, scientific, financial, governance, and execution risks and opportunities and ensure that SIF leadership and the Investment Committee remain appropriately informed.
• Serve as a life-sciences thought partner.  Act as a trusted internal resource on biotechnology, healthcare innovation, venture formation, and relevant scientific and market trends. Bring external perspectives and emerging opportunities into Foundation strategy discussions while helping external partners understand the Foundation’s objectives and capabilities.
• Build and activate networks.  Develop and maintain a strong network of scientific founders, biotechnology executives, investors, academic leaders, technologists, and company builders who can be mobilized around global health challenges and Foundation priorities.
• Bring global health considerations into investment decisions.  Evaluate opportunities not only through a scientific and commercial lens but also with an understanding of affordability, access, delivery, regulatory pathways, manufacturing, and other constraints affecting adoption in low- and middle-income countries.
• Contribute to SIF strategy and team development.  Share investment and sector insights across the SIF team, contribute to portfolio and strategy reviews, mentor more junior colleagues, and help strengthen SIF’s capabilities and reputation as a leading mission-oriented investor.

Your Experience

We anticipate that the successful candidate will bring a distinctive combination of life-sciences expertise, investment experience, entrepreneurial orientation, and strategic judgment, along with the ability to work effectively across scientific, investment, and business communities.

 

Ideal qualifications include:

 

• 8+ years of relevant professional experience, with a demonstrated track record at the intersection of life-sciences investing, scientific innovation, and company building.  Relevant backgrounds may include life-sciences venture capital, biotechnology investing, corporate or business development, company creation, or closely related fields.  Exceptional candidates from life-sciences operating or strategy consulting roles with substantial investment, transaction, and company-building experience will also be considered.
• Advanced scientific training is strongly preferred, including a Ph.D., M.D., PharmD, Master’s degree, or equivalent training in a life-sciences, biomedical, engineering, or related discipline.  Candidates with equivalent demonstrated scientific depth and relevant experience will also be considered.
• Strong scientific and technical judgment, with the ability to identify and evaluate promising technologies and engage credibly with leading scientists, physicians, scientific founders, entrepreneurs, and R&D executives.
• Demonstrated investment experience across sourcing, diligence, valuation, transaction structuring, negotiation, and portfolio management.  Familiarity with a range of investment structures—including preferred equity, convertible securities, debt, and other structured approaches—is highly desirable.
• Experience working with early-stage biotechnology or healthcare companies, ideally including board or board-observer experience and direct engagement with senior management teams.
• Company-building and entrepreneurial experience strongly preferred, including direct, hands-on operating experience within an early-stage company and/or meaningful involvement in the formation and launch of new ventures.  Relevant experience may include founding or helping build a start-up, working alongside scientific founders and management teams during company formation, spinning technologies out of academic or corporate environments, or creating companies through accelerators, venture studios, or similar models.  The ideal candidate will understand firsthand the practical realities and challenges of building an early-stage life-sciences company and bring both practical judgment and empathy for the founders and management teams undertaking that journey.
• Demonstrated ability to operate effectively in a highly collaborative, matrixed organization, working across disciplines and organizational boundaries and influencing outcomes without relying on formal authority.
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to translate complex scientific, investment, and strategic concepts for senior executives, technical experts, investors, and other stakeholders.
• Strong strategic and analytical capabilities, intellectual curiosity, sound judgment, and comfort making decisions amid scientific uncertainty and incomplete information.
• Deep commitment to the Foundation’s mission, with an interest in applying private-sector capabilities, investment approaches, and entrepreneurial thinking to improve outcomes for populations underserved by traditional commercial markets.

Additional Experience

 

• Experience in mission-driven investing or global health, including prior work with a foundation, global health organization, impact investment fund, venture philanthropy organization, or other mission-driven institution.
• Experience applying private-sector investment and biotechnology practices in a philanthropic or impact-oriented context, including navigating situations where impact objectives and traditional commercial incentives may not fully align.
• Experience developing or investing in products and technologies intended for low- and middle-income countries, with an understanding of the challenges associated with product development, regulatory pathways, manufacturing, affordability, market access, and health-system delivery.
• A strong network across the life-sciences innovation ecosystem, including relationships with scientific founders, biotechnology executives, academic researchers, entrepreneurs, venture investors, and other stakeholders who could be engaged around Foundation priorities.
• Breadth across therapeutic areas and technology platforms, gained through investing, operating, or company-building experience, with the ability to quickly develop informed perspectives beyond a single scientific specialty.
• Experience building partnerships across sectors, including working with public-sector, nonprofit, academic, and global health organizations alongside biotechnology companies, entrepreneurs, and investors.

 

This position is based in Seattle, Washington.  Given the highly collaborative nature of the role, the successful candidate will be expected to work regularly with the SIF team and colleagues across the Foundation.  Some flexibility regarding location may be considered for exceptional candidates, provided they are able to maintain a regular presence in Seattle and engage effectively with Foundation teams.  The role will require periodic domestic and international travel to engage with portfolio companies, scientific collaborators, investors, and other partners.

 

The salary range for this role is $267,000–$413,800 USD.  We recognize high-wage market differences in Seattle and Washington, D.C., where our offices are located.  The range for this role in these locations is $293,600–$455,200 USD.  As a mission-driven organization, we strive to balance competitive pay with our mission.  New hire 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.  We provide an exceptional benefits package to employees and their families, including comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with no premiums, generous paid time off, paid family leave, Foundation-paid retirement contributions, regional holidays, and opportunities to engage in employee communities.

Must have unrestricted work authorization in the country where this position is located. The Foundation does not provide immigration-related sponsorship for this role. This includes direct company sponsorship and any work authorization requiring a written submission or other immigration support from the company (eg: H-1B, O-1, L-1,  E, OPT, STEM-OPT, CPT, TN, J-1, etc.).

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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

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.