Senior Program Coordinator, Communications

The Foundation is the largest nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world. Founded on the belief that all people should have the chance to live healthy, productive lives, we value a workforce that reflects the diversity of the global populations we serve. Employees and their families receive comprehensive benefits, including 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. We foster an environment where employees can thrive both personally and professionally.

About the Team

The Communications Division, led by the Chief Communications Officer, oversees the Foundation’s global communications strategy, integrating internal and external communications to advance our mission of creating a more equitable world.

About the Role

The Senior Program Coordinator (SPC) will join the Strategy Planning and Management (SPM) team, supporting the Communications Division by developing and managing communications-related investments. As the primary point of contact for the Strategic Communications & Insights, Internal Communications, and Office of the Chief Communications Officer portfolios, the SPC translates team priorities into investments, budgets, timelines, and action plans. This role manages a high volume of investments, primarily contracts, with a focus on processes, due diligence, and timeline management. The position is a limited-term role for 18 months, based in Seattle, Washington, with no relocation assistance provided.

Responsibilities

• Investment Management: Work closely with investment makers to develop, manage, and maintain a portfolio of investments, including contracts. Advise on investment structure, ensure compliance with foundation processes, conduct due diligence, and manage timelines. Support investments involving data access, analytics, AI-enabled workflows, and data governance. Handle contract scoping, renewals, amendments, vendor relationship management, and budget discussions.
• Financial and Portfolio Management: Collect portfolio data and partner with internal finance and operations teams to ensure accurate budget tracking and forecasting. Provide budget oversight, financial analysis, and reporting to align portfolios with goals. Maintain portfolio tracking tools, support forecasting cycles, monitor portfolio health, and produce leadership-ready reports.
• Relationship Management: Collaborate with internal and external partners, agencies, and vendors throughout the investment lifecycle. Build and nurture trusting advisory relationships across teams, divisions, and the foundation. Serve as a trusted operational advisor, proactively identifying issues and guiding investment decisions.
• Cross-Functional Coordination: Coordinate across Legal, GCS, FP&A, IT, investment owners, and vendors to move investments from planning to execution.
• Training and Onboarding: Act as a subject matter expert on investment-related processes, tools, and systems. Provide training, coaching, and process change support to the Communications team and external partners.
• Operational Support: Support the Comms Leadership Team (CLT) in decision-making on investments, pipeline prioritization, annual planning, and other areas as needed.
• Project Management and Coordination: Lead critical projects—programmatic, operational, or organizational—that span the team or foundation. Identify process improvements, generate recommendations, and implement solutions. Develop and maintain scalable tools, templates, dashboards, and reporting resources.
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI): Advise on centering DEI in investments, portfolios, and partner engagement. Shape and implement divisional practices, tools, and accountability measures.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of five years’ work experience, or equivalent experience.
• Minimum of two years of experience as a Program Coordinator at the foundation, with demonstrated ability to handle complex portfolios.
• Ability to work flexibly, efficiently, and diplomatically in a fast-paced environment with rapid change. Quick learner who can distill next steps without deep programmatic expertise.
• Strong track record of facilitating investment and portfolio-level decision-making.
• Highly organized and detail-oriented, with experience liaising across matrixed teams and organizations.
• Understanding of investment rules, regulations, policies, and processes, with the ability to advise on their applicability. Contract experience is highly desirable.
• Excellent communication skills, able to adjust technical and operational details for diverse stakeholders.
• Proactive problem-solver who builds strong relationships with internal and external partners. Skilled in leading partners toward creative and flexible solutions.
• Eagerness to learn and apply new technologies, AI tools, automation, and digital workflows while adhering to responsible-use and data-governance practices.
• Effectiveness in influencing individuals and teams without explicit authority. Ability to assess risks and alternatives in complex, uncertain situations.
• Experience with investment, finance, reporting, and collaboration systems (e.g., INVEST/Salesforce, Power BI, Excel, SharePoint, Teams). Basic SharePoint site administration skills, including metadata tagging, document view creation, archiving, and managing confidential files.
• Commitment to fostering a positive, supportive work environment and a DEI approach that values differences and seeks input from diverse perspectives.
• Must have unrestricted work authorization in the country where this position is located. The Foundation does not provide immigration-related sponsorship for this role.

Pay

The salary range for this role is $46.92 to $70.38 USD per hour. As a mission-driven organization, we balance competitive pay with our mission. New hires are typically placed between the range minimum and midpoint, with actual placement depending on job-related skills, experience, and expertise evaluated during the interview process.

Hiring Requirements

Employment is contingent upon successful completion of a background check.

Candidate Accommodations

We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible hiring experience. If you require accommodations—such as an ASL interpreter, alternative interview format, or physical accessibility support—contact HR@gatesfoundation.org with the position number and a brief description of your needs. Requests will be handled confidentially.

Inclusion Statement

We believe all lives have equal value and strive for a workplace that reflects diversity, equity, and inclusion in voices, ideas, and approaches. All employment practices ensure 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, or prior protected activity.