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 Gender Equality Division’s mission is to ensure women and girls in Africa and South Asia can enjoy good health, make their own choices, earn their own money, and be leaders in their societies. When women and girls have an equal chance to thrive and lead, everyone benefits. We know that women and girls are not a monolith. A woman’s experience and the barriers she faces are different depending on factors like where she lives, how old she is, and how much money her family have —alongside other factors including her race, caste, and education level.
We seek to address these compounding barriers through deep partnership with our grantees. As a philanthropy, our role is to listen to and learn from these experts. We take risks in new areas, prove concepts, and bring these ideas to governments, partner organizations, and private sector companies to scale. The Gender Equality (GE) Division builds off our existing strengths as a foundation in areas like global health and data, partnering closely with all of all our global divisions.
The Women’s Health Innovations (WHI) team under the GE Division facilitates the development and introduction of innovative health products and widens the innovation ecosystem to address conditions that disproportionately affect the lives of women in low- and middle-income countries. We currently invest across contraception, sexually transmitted infections (STI’s) and gynecological/menstrual health.
Your Role
As the Senior Program Officer, Regional Product Introduction, you will work with partners to lead investments and support the development and execution of product introduction and expansion strategies for priority products in the Women’s Health portfolio.
The PrIMA (Product Introduction and Market Access) initiative within WHI works to introduce priority products from the WHI portfolio and speed up access to them. Its focus areas are contraception, STIs, and gynecological and menstrual health. PrIMA invests in partnerships that support manufacturing, procurement, supply chain, and product introduction, so that these products stay accessible in priority geographies.
You will report to the Deputy Director of Health Systems for the Africa Regional Office (ARO), with a dotted line to the Deputy Director of PrIMA for WHI. This role is based in our Nairobi, Kenya office.
What You'll Do
The SPO for Regional Product Introduction will work with key stakeholders, both internal and external, to develop and execute on sustainable introduction strategies for WHI priority products in key geographies. We are seeking highly motivated individuals with a deep understanding of women’s health landscape and the ability to build strong relationships with key stakeholders.
- Lead, develop and execute introduction/commercialization strategies for WHI priority products in key geographies products (e.g, GTM planning for the region and select priority geos, including selection of commercial distribution partner for portfolio/products)
- Synthesize and infuse market and user insights and other downstream development considerations into introduction as well as upstream work and planning.
- Oversee execution of work and ensure proper tracking of progress against performance indicators
- Consult with grantees to achieve desired impact of grants; conduct site visits when appropriate, provide technical guidance, convene meetings and apply and evaluate milestone-based performance objectives.
- Coordinate GTM efforts across ARO platforms and WHI portfolio across priority ARO and WHI priority geographies
- Coordinate across key partners (internal and external) to execute on strategy; Where the foundation has country offices, you will work closely with the in-country team to support execution of the work, including identifying and executing operating synergies that can leverage regional/country cross-program platforms. For example, in our Africa Regional Office (ARO) deep engagement countries, you will work closely with ARO Teams, especially for countries with Health Transformation Units (DRC, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania and Senegal)
- Develop and manage relationships with key stakeholders, including implementing partners/grantees as well as distributors and government (where relevant and in partnership with our regional/country offices).
- Review letters of inquiry and grant proposals; provide clear, concise and insightful written analyses and recommendations for funding, including drafting and editing proposal summaries and progress reports for existing grants for review by foundation leadership.
- Support inclusive culture through modeling behaviors and actions; escalate issues in a timely fashion to appropriate stakeholders.
- Work closely with other PO’s across RCOs and across WHI to ensure coordination across initiatives within team
Your Experience
- Degree in business administration, marketing or related field
- 10+ years in pharmaceutical, health care or consumer health care industry, preferable in women’s health
- 5+ years in developing and executing commercial strategies for women’s health products in emerging markets and/or LMICs.
- Proven ability to launch products across public and private sectors successfully
- Deep understanding of women’s health landscape in emerging markets/LMICs
- Demonstrated ability to build strong relationships with key stakeholders
- Excellent communication and presentation skills
- Fluency in English; Fluency in additional language used in LMIC markets a plus
- Thrives under ambiguous conditions and is highly motivated
- Demonstrated and passionate learning agility with continuous improvement mindset
- Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally and to develop and maintain strong business partner relationships
- Innovative, proactive, and resourceful
- Ability to anticipate and mitigate challenges
- Hands-on team player willing to work in an environment where individual initiative, accountability, and professional maturity are required
- Strong PC experience, Microsoft Office Suite experience required
Other Attributes
- Must have unrestricted work authorization in Kenya where the position is based.
- This role requires extensive in-country travel, with up to 40% of time.
- Flexibility to travel as needed to support active program processes is expected. Occasional travel to Seattle or other ARO locations will also be required.
- Fluency in English is required. Proficiency in a local language of the role's location is an asset.
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.
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