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 Africa team works to enable the foundation’s ambitious goals of scaling evidence-based interventions that target a range of diseases and socioeconomic conditions that are endemic across Sub-Saharan Africa (SAA). The team executes its responsibility through direct country engagement to deploy interventions and delivery models, and by building the partner architecture to replicate successful interventions and models across multiple countries.
Your Role
This is a limited-term position ending on December 31, 2027. Relocation support will not be provided.
The Senior Program Assistant (SPA) plays a vital role in providing comprehensive support to multiple principals, one of whom must be at the director-level or above. This includes managing complex calendars, coordinating a high-volume of meetings across various time zones, and proactively addressing calendar conflicts. The assistant also handles administrative tasks such as managing a large volume of communications, often on complex and sensitive topics, and corresponding with high-level internal and external stakeholders, owning and/or managing special projects, while building collaborative relationships with internal and external partners. Additionally, the role involves team support and coordination, organizing team events, managing travel logistics, and overseeing multiple, complex visa and passport processes.
The Senior Assistant must communicate effectively, maintain discretion, and support foundation leadership delegations and field visits, ensuring seamless execution of logistics and processing expenses. With strong judgment, discretion, and a collaborative approach, the Senior Assistant is a central connector who helps ensure the smooth, efficient functioning of both individual leaders and the broader team.
This position reports to the Associate Manager, Administration Services and Engagement, and is based in Nairobi, Kenya.
What You’ll Do
Core Administrative Support
- Provide high-level administrative support by anticipating and managing competing priorities
- Manage complex, high-level emails, track priorities and actions on behalf of the director, and assist with administrative tasks and special projects as needed
- Foster strong relationships with internal and external partners, coordinate daily workflows and business rhythms, and handle administrative tasks and special projects such as bulk printing, note-taking, and preparing meeting materials.
- Leverage technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI), automation and digital tools to streamline support, ensuring efficiency and accuracy.
- Manage expense processing and reimbursements for principals
- Manage correspondence with government officials for meetings
- Manage key contact list of partners and government members
Calendar Management
- Provide comprehensive support to multiple principals, including a director level
- Independently manage director-level calendars, aligning schedules with priorities and division goals. Coordinate complex, high-level meetings across time zones while building strong partnerships. Support principals in time and priority management, escalate decisions as needed, and occasionally represent them in routine matters.
- Anticipate and resolve calendar conflicts, and potentially oversee the team calendar to support division-level decision-making
Division/Team Support and Coordination
- Organize meetings and activities to support team goals, provide expertise on business operations and processes, and foster coordination by sharing cross-team context and serving as a connector to enhance team engagement and dynamics
- Stay engaged with the SPA community to share relevant updates, and organize the team assistant community by leading meetings, mentoring, sharing information, and supporting onboarding and training
- Support new employee onboarding and team culture initiatives, mentor new assistants, and provide strategic input on the assistant coverage model to ensure balanced workloads
- Organize team assistant community; this may include hosting and leading assistant meetings, providing mentorship, information dissemination from division Senior Assistant meetings, onboarding and training support
- Assist with the onboarding process for new employees, which may include onboarding meeting coordination
- Support initiatives to create and sustain team culture in collaboration with principals
Division/Team Events and Logistics Management
- Lead or support the planning and manage logistics for events and convenings, including internal/external meetings, retreats, team building events, field visits, presentations, and domestic or international conferences. Preparation may include acting as project manager, coordinating arrangements and reimbursements for participants, handling venue and travel logistics, room set-up, and preparing and disseminating materials without the support of internal events and logistics team.
- Provide thought partnership and coordination for activity and retreat objectives, outcomes, and agendas, in support of building team culture. This may include preparing and disseminating materials and post-event follow-up.
- Help with media engagement prep and planning as required
Travel, Visa and Passport Support
- Manage all aspects of principal travel, including booking flights, lodging, visas, transportation, and security
- Ensure principals are fully prepared with itineraries and materials, coordinate with internal and external partners, support leadership-level trips, and handle on-the-ground logistics
- Manage all aspects of visa applications and passport needs, including documentation, submission, tracking and record-keeping, coordinating with CIBT and embassies to ensure timely processing
- Liaise with trip coordinators for leadership-level trips, including joining planning calls and responding to requests in a timely manner
- Track travel-related resources (time, people, cost, etc.)
- Coordinate on-the-ground meetings, meeting venues, travel times between meetings with internal and external partners to support convenings
Communication
- Demonstrate sound judgment and professionalism by communicating clearly and proactively with principals and stakeholders to support informed decision-making, managing sensitive information with discretion, and ensuring timely escalation and knowledge-sharing across the team and foundation.
- Ensure clear communication with principals to support informed calendar decisions and manage conflicts
- Proactively provide clear, timely, and audience-appropriate communications for all inquiries and requests of principals, while maintaining consistent communication with internal and external partners.
- Manage correspondence and draft responses for Directors and DDs as requested/required.
Your Experience
- A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent demonstrated experience
- Broad knowledge of the mission, values, resources, culture, systems, and business strategies
- Ability to prioritize effectively, utilize time precisely, communicate decisions and process to execution in a clear effective manner
- Knowledge of how to best make decisions on behalf of leaders, speaking in the voice of and to the key messages/vision/goals agreed upon by the leadership team
- Understanding of how to identify team needs and opportunities and how to champion and resolve them
- Intermediate experience in an administrative job supporting senior management or executives
- Intermediate experience supporting high-level/C-suite delegation trips
- Experience leading and building relationships to gain the respect and trust of others
- Experience adopting approach, goals, and methods to achieve solutions and results in dynamic situations, helping others deal with the ongoing demands of change
- Experience working with MS Office suite, especially Outlook, Teams and including CoPilot, Chat GPT and other AI tools is strongly preferred
Other Attribute
- Must be able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship.
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.
