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 mission of Discovery & Translational Sciences (D&TS) is to catalyze innovation for the discovery and translation of transformative Global Health (GH) solutions. The primary role of D&TS is to support the foundation to achieve its ambitious equity goals as articulated in the objectives of the program strategies in GH and the Women’s Health Innovations program in Gender Equality (GE). For this, we exploit a unique advantage of the foundation in general and D&TS in particular: the ability to invest in high-risk initiatives with potential for truly disruptive change. We channel resources into creating more practical (affordable, scalable, deliverable) versions of existing tools, develop transformative new tools where none exist, and speed the translation of scientific discovery into implementable solutions, seeking better ways to evaluate and refine potential interventions before they enter costly and time-consuming late-stage clinical trials. Key functions in support of this R&D mission include identifying and filling gaps in scientific knowledge, creating or implementing new technology platforms that can accelerate research in support of our goals, investing in potentially transformative ideas, continuous surveying of an ever-changing scientific and technological innovation space, and the fostering of an effective ecosystem of global health innovation, funding, and partnership to advance the foundation’s mission. Our areas of focus include vaccines, biologics, drugs, microbiome interventions, and reproductive and sexual health.

The Vaccines and Biologics (V&B) team has a large and growing portfolio of investments in innovative vaccine approaches and platforms aimed at the prevention (and treatment) of infectious diseases whose burdens are a major source and manifestation of inequity. As a functional team, we engage deeply and in a highly matrixed fashion with all our program strategy partners (e.g., Malaria, HIV, TB, Pneumonia, Enteric & Diarrheal Diseases, Neglected Tropical Diseases, and Women’s Health Innovations) and other functional teams (e.g., Vaccine Development). Outside the foundation, we work closely with diverse external not-for-profit and for-profit partners including academia, biotech, pharma, government agencies, and other key funders.

Your Role

As Senior Program Officer (SPO) in Vaccines & Biologics (V&B), you contribute to a productive and collaborative culture of innovation to accelerate translation of research into practical health solutions. You are passionate about solving problems and addressing questions relevant to our mission. You interact actively with the international biomedical scientific and clinical research community and are expected to maintain a cutting-edge understanding of the field, provide deep subject matter expertise, act as thought-partner both internally and externally, and serve as timely sensor of novel opportunities that might be applied to our strategic priorities. You will interact closely with partners across diverse subject areas and bridge a wide range of expertise with agility, efficiency, and diplomacy in a highly dynamic environment.

What You’ll Do

• Assist the Deputy Director in developing strategies to address critical gaps in the Global Health vaccine and biologics portfolio and help to conceptualize, shape and drive initiatives in key strategy areas.
• Develop, manage, and review a substantial portfolio of investments (grants, contracts, equity) including establishing, applying, and evaluating milestone-based performance objectives and helping to make go/no-go decisions about specific projects and innovative product candidates.
• Identify and select partner institutions (e.g., academic, not-for-profit, biotech, pharma) as well as develop the scope and strategy for selected grants, investments, MoUs, and contracts.
• Actively cultivate and nurture existing external partnerships across a diverse, international network and build novel networks as foundation representative to enhance implementation of the foundation’s programmatic strategies.
• Actively engage and interact with foundation colleagues to drive strategic initiatives and contribute to foundation knowledge capture, progress evaluation, learning, and dissemination.

Provide Subject Matter Expertise:

• Serve as a thought partner and subject matter expert to foundation colleagues and as resource to grantees and partners to facilitate accomplishment of strategic objectives.
• Represent the Foundation externally and be recognized as thought leader through participation in public events and meetings related to area of expertise and position responsibilities.
• Contribute to diligence teams and evaluate investments in biotech, not-for-profit, and academic partners.
• Monitor and provide analysis on technology trends and innovations relevant to initiatives/portfolios.
• Assist in the preparation and presentation of reviews and information/reports to Foundation leadership.

Your Experience

• The SPO will have deep expertise in immunology, infectious diseases, and vaccine development with experience in late discovery and translation in first-in-human studies.
• Scientists and/or physician scientists with an established track record of success in academic, industry or similar position. Proven experience of 10+ years and PhD or MD (academics should have held their own grants and had experience as independent principal investigators).
• Significant technical depth and passion about human immunology and vaccine development against infectious diseases including target epitope discovery e.g. using monoclonal antibodies), immunogen design, adjuvants and formulations, pathogen biology, and nucleic acid-based delivery platforms.
• Experience assessing new technologies and approaches as well as matching novel technologies with biomedical or public health applications.
• Experience in a role requiring collaboration as well as a demonstrated ability to work with flexibility, efficiency, and diplomacy both individually and as part of a highly dynamic and matrixed environment.
• Experience working on teams with diverse professional backgrounds and in networking and collaborating with diverse global partners.

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

The salary range for this role is $229,100 to $355,200 USD. We recognize high-wage market differences where our offices are located, in Seattle and Washington D.C. The range for this role in these locations is $249,600 to $386,900 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.

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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

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.