Job Information
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Deputy Director, Strategy, Planning and Management, K12 in Seattle, Washington
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 foundation’s U.S. Program (USP) works to ensure that people navigating U.S. education systems and job markets can develop the knowledge, skills, and agency needed to thrive in their communities such that race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status are no longer predictors of educational attainment and economic mobility and security. Our mission is to work with partners to:
Generate insights by using data, research, and evidence to illuminate inequities in education, workforce, and social systems and evaluate potential solutions;
Accelerate innovation of digitally enabled solutions and high-impact practices and supports that help educators and community leaders eliminate disparities;
Strengthen capacity of institutions, intermediaries, and leaders to implement these solutions, practices, and supports in their contexts to further test and prove their effectiveness and impact;
Improve enabling conditions, including data infrastructure, policy, and funding, so that proven solutions, practices, and supports can scale to ensure equitable outcomes; and
Engage partners to ensure that community voices, student voices, and other key stakeholder voices are included, heard, and incorporated into our work.
Our mission reflects our belief in the power of evidence, data, technology, and innovation as essential and high-potential inputs to support educators and system leaders to deliver equitable impact for students and communities. USP works on five goals:
Increased kindergarten readiness and school and life success;
Increased academic and socio-emotional outcomes for K-12 students, with a focus on mathematics, to ensure they are on track for high-school graduation and college preparedness;
Increased successful transitions for K-12 students between high school and postsecondary systems;
Increased completions of quality, affordable postsecondary credentials that offer value through economic mobility and security; and
Increased outcomes for adults experiencing poverty with regards to economic success, power and autonomy, and being valued in their communities.
The vision for the foundation’s US education work is to ensure that all students in the US have access to educational opportunities, from Pre-K to postsecondary, that enable them to develop the knowledge, skills, and agency needed thrive as adults and contribute to their communities. Within K-12 education, the foundation focuses on math and – given the opportunity gaps – specifically focuses on increasing the number of Black and Latino students and students from low-income backgrounds (“priority students”) who are prepared for and complete Algebra 1 by the 9th grade, so they can be ready and able to progress through higher level math in high school and beyond.
The foundation aims to improve math education in this country by increasing the quality of instructional materials so that they are more motivating and engaging for students – particularly priority students – and ensuring that teachers have high-quality supports to use those materials well. Our investments reach nationally, but we also focus within four states: California, Florida, New York, and Texas given the large populations of priority students in those states.
Application Deadline: Friday, May 24, 2024
Your Role
The Deputy Director, Strategy, Planning & Management (DDSPM) for the K12 team will lead the operational and financial aspects of an integrated program area including oversight of strategic planning and budgeting, quarterly portfolio performance reviews, ongoing investment pipeline and portfolio management, business analysis, and the coordination of business strategies across the division.
As an advisor to program leadership, the DDSPM will lead the identification and implementation of process improvements, policies, and procedures. The DDSPM will also lead the team learning agenda and may facilitate some partner learning and collaboration sessions.
Reporting to the Director, K12, you will be their primary collaborator on strategy accountability, reporting, and decision-making processes as well as team development and culture.
What You’ll Do
Work with the director to develop and ensure strategic clarity and alignment within and across the portfolios.
Support strategy performance management, annual planning, portfolio and strategy reviews, and other leadership processes and engagements.
Manage team resources and supporting investment stewardship.
Develop, improve, and implement team practices and tools (rhythm of business, investment workflow, internal knowledge management, etc.).
Facilitate team capability development, ensuring effective use of team time and continuously improving our approach to talent development and performance management.
Support strategy execution by providing shared resources to facilitate and support cross-cutting programmatic and/or operational projects/priorities.
Serve as the liaison for multiple foundation business partners.
Align team's work to strategy and implementation plans. Support continuous improvement of our practices.
Monitor strategy progress and report key learning through annual portfolio and strategy reviews.
Develop and implement a portfolio management approach that fosters great stewardship, planning and resource allocation (inclusive of annual budgeting process).
Lead all aspects of “Rhythm of Business” across our 50+ person team, aligning team time (inclusive of retreats and cross-org collaboration) to optimize against strategy priorities.
Identify and implement critical team capability building efforts.
Model and coach equitable decision-making, inclusive behaviors & actions; address escalated issues in a timely fashion.
Advance our DEI practices by centering inclusion and equity into our policies and processes and then supporting team-wide accountability.
Lead prioritized cross-team initiatives as identified by Director.
Coordinate Foundation business partner engagements to ensure the K-12 team benefits from expertise offered by teams such as Legal, HR, Grants Management, Finance & Accounting, etc.
Manage and oversee team and foster enabling conditions for talent to thrive and be accountable for inclusive team culture.
Your Experience
An advanced degree or equivalent demonstrated experience.
Mastery knowledge of strategy development and implementation, design of performance management system of goals, targets, and monitoring process.
Comprehensive experience leading complex initiatives, including leading and developing strategy through ambiguity, and managing competing commitments with demonstrated strategic, analytical, and operational agility.
Comprehensive experience in developing and managing strong partnerships and relationships inside and outside of the organization, managing conflicts, and building consensus.
Comprehensive experience in strategic and operational planning and the execution of business strategies.
Mastery ability in portfolio design and management to create an optimal investment mix to drive to a set of outcomes.
Mastery of structured problem solving and strategic business planning with the ability to easily identify and communicate frameworks to analyze issues.
Demonstrated ability to synthesize and extract meaning from complex bodies of work and effectively communicates key insights and takeaways to diverse audiences.
Strong experience in preparing and presenting executive-level information (via PowerPoint, executive memos, etc) and able to develop and incorporate new frameworks and tools in real-time.
Ability to identify and communicate external and internal dynamics, as well as articulate implications for strategy, priorities, and team evolution.
Must be able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship.
#LI-PA1
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, Washington D.C., and Boston (Cambridge). 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 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.
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.
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (http://www.gatesfoundation.org/) works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Mark Suzman, under the direction of co-chairs Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates and the board of trustees.