Senior Officer, Strategy & Implementation Management (2 year LTE)

Postsecondary Success Strategy Officer

The Foundation is 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

Our focus in education is ensuring that all students especially Black, Indigenous, and Latino students, and students from low-income backgrounds have an opportunity to earn a degree or certificate that prepares them for a successful career and fulfilling life. Our Postsecondary Success (PS) strategy seeks to support transformation in colleges and universities to ensure that many more Black, Indigenous, and Latino students, students from low-income backgrounds, and all students, obtain quality, affordable credentials that offer value and lead to economic mobility. This strategy is working to ensure that race / ethnicity and income are no longer predictors of student success. The "Transformation Team" is accountable for a portfolio of investments designed to help traditional and innovative postsecondary institutions accelerate their transformation progress. We do this by investing in innovative institutions and institutional models, as well as intermediaries and other partners to work with member colleges on deep and comprehensive change. To do this work, institutions and intermediaries strengthen their organizational capacity and collaborate deeply with one another so that they can work smarter together towards achievement of shared goal. We work closely with other PS teams on integrated strategies that will bring what we know and what we're learning about success and value for focus students. We work closely with other funders and the private sector to advance and sustain these efforts.

Leadership & Culture

Our culture shapes our choices about what we do and how we do it. We believe that energized people, working well together, fueled by great leadership in an inclusive environment can do extraordinary things. We expect foundation employees to consistently embody our four agreements : show respect, offer trust, be transparent, and create energy.

Your Role

The LTE Senior Strategy Officer (SSO) plays an integral and vital role across the PS strategy goal to demonstrate efficient and effective progress towards impact. This individual will collaborate with and report to the Deputy Director to ensure successful oversight and progress in defining, iterating, and supporting the team in successful execution of our strategic goals and priorities. They will play a lead role across the team as we work towards critical decision points regarding the future of our strategy being made in 2027. As a team that contributes to multiple portfolio goals, the SSO will ensure clear and consistent alignment with multiple program officers, partners, and leadership.

Core Responsibilities

Working together with colleagues from across the Postsecondary Success strategy, and with partners in the field, the Strategy Officer is accountable to :

• Promote racial and socioeconomic equity for Black, Latino, and Indigenous students, and students from low-income backgrounds
• Strengthen the team's strategic efficiency and effectiveness by providing agile and comprehensive project management, investment planning, and investment alignment, to help the team successfully execute a bold and wide range of activities and investments in the transformation at scale portfolio
• Lead through ambiguity and act as a motivator for change within and across programmatic portfolios.
• Support the team in the development, launch, monitoring, and improvement of multiple high impact and strategic investments (may include sophisticated, multi-stakeholder investments including RFPs and work with fiscal intermediaries)
• Work with Deputy and Program Officers to build quality and high impact relationships with key partners and grantees, including working with the Deputy Director and other Program Officers to handle and lead communications and updates for leadership and broader team.
• Work with Deputy, Program Officers, and Partners to implement portfolio-level knowledge management by proactively extracting and communicating key portfolio findings and strategic insights internally; leading components of strategy formulation and evolution.
• Collaborate with Program Officers to research and conduct due diligence on potential investments as well as construct and lead effective milestone-based investments to achieve aligned, authentic partnerships that lead to achievement of shared goals across a range of investments within the portfolio.
• Identify and lead the vital internal touchpoints to align, mobilize, and facilitate strategic collaboration across the team.
• Provide strategic support to Deputy Director (strategic support could look like : planning operating model shifts as needed, crafting, and preparing materials and / or talking points for leadership conversations, planning and facilitating critical conversations across multiple stakeholders with diverging perspectives leading to a clear actionable and aligned decision and next steps, and supporting productive grantee convenings and / or funder conversations as needed for the strategy).

Core Knowledge & Skills

For the success in the role, the Strategy Officer must demonstrate :

The salary range for this role is $169,700 to $254,500 USD. We recognize high-wage market differences in Seattle and Washington D.C., where our offices are located. The range for this role in these locations is $185,500 to $277,400 USD. As a mission-driven organization, we strive to balance competitive pay with our mission. New hires salaries are typically 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.