Deputy Director, Ending Infectious Diseases

Deputy Director, Ending Infectious Diseases

The Foundation is the largest nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world. 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.

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The Exemplars in Global Health (EGH) program equips decision-makers with the evidence, insights, and practical "know-how" needed to accelerate and scale interventions that improve the health of the world's most vulnerable populations. Working with a global network of partners, EGH identifies and studies exemplars and best practices across health outcomes, primary health care systems, and service delivery strategies. Through rigorous research, evidence synthesis, and timely analysis, EGH translates lessons from what works into actionable insights that help policymakers, practitioners, and funders strengthen systems, improve service delivery, and address pressing global health challenges.

The Deputy Director, Ending Infectious Diseases in the EGH team will drive an ambitious research and learning agenda to accompany the foundation and its partners to eradicate polio and malaria by 2045, while ensuring that the next generation grows up in a world that never has to face many infectious diseases in the profoundly unequal way it does today. The role reports to the EGH Director and manages the EGH Ending Infectious Diseases sub-team.

The technical scope of this role comprises efforts related to the control and elimination of infectious diseases such as malaria and polio; uptake and scale of tools such as vaccines and diagnostics; disease surveillance; as well as other disease control and related priorities as agreed with the EGH Director. The DD is responsible for shaping and overseeing a learning portfolio that generates high-quality research, analysis, and actionable insights to accelerate the Gates Foundation's Goal 2 (ending infectious diseases) progress towards 2045.

This role will work closely with other EGH sub-teams to adopt the lens of health systems integration and requirements for Goal 2 to be ultimately achieved. This role will closely coordinate across EGH, including work matrixed to Health Systems and PHC, and AI and Digital Health Evidence & Learning sub-teams ensuring these approaches drive and sustain Goal 2 outcomes. It will also be matrixed to Policy, Partnerships and Communications sub-team, ensuring an end-to-end approach to scale learning adoption with critical government and other external patterns.

It will work closely with the Women's Health & Maternal and Child Survival sub-team, given linkages.

The Deputy Director leads a sub-team of technical experts across immunization, polio, malaria, and surveillance subdomains, fostering analytical rigor while ensuring alignment with broader EGH and foundation wide goals.

What You'll Do

• Hold accountability for EGH's contributions toward immunization and infectious disease control and eradication (Goal
  2) priorities across the foundation, serving as a trusted advisor to the Director and other foundation leaders on Goal 2 strategy, evidence, and impact.
• Work in partnership with other sub-teams to advance EGH's contributions to additional foundation goals and priorities.
• Provide strategic leadership in synthesizing complex evidence, shaping investment and research priorities, and ensuring that research outputs meaningfully inform policy, program design, and decision-making.
• Lead a sub-team of technical experts spanning immunization, polio, malaria, surveillance and other disease control interventions. Foster analytical rigor and technical excellence while ensuring alignment with broader EGH and foundation objectives. Build a high-performing, inclusive, and collaborative team culture.
• Serve as a recognized thought leader in the sector, identifying and cultivating new opportunities for EGH partnerships and influence in collaboration with the Deputy Director of Policy, Partnerships and Communications, and other colleagues across the foundation. Develop strong relationships with academic researchers, partner organizations, and global health decision-makers, particularly in LMIC settings.
• Manage strategic relationships with key Program Strategy Teams (PSTs), Immunization, Polio, Malaria, EDGE (Enterics, Diagnostics, Genomics & Epidemiology), while maintaining strong connections with other teams contributing to Goal 2 outcomes. Develop a deep understanding of partner strategies and serve as a thought partner in shaping future directions and identifying opportunities for collaboration.
• Allocate…