Interim Senior Lead, Program Strategy, Planning & Management

Interim Senior Lead, Program Strategy, Planning & Management

Seattle, WA;
Washington, DC

Founded by Melinda French Gates, Pivotal is a group of organizations working to accelerate the pace of social progress for women and young people in the U.S. and around the world.

Inspired by our founder, we reach across communities and sectors to bring together innovative thinkers who can scale up proven ideas and catalyze new ones. We learn from their experiences, amplify their resources, and support them as they lead.

Pivotal includes Pivotal Philanthropies, focused on charitable grantmaking and impact investing;
Pivotal Initiatives Fund, focused on policy and advocacy work; and Pivotal Ventures, focused on direct investments and partnerships.

The Interim Senior Lead, Program Strategy, Planning & Management plays a key role on the Program Strategy team. This individual creates team cohesion by optimizing information flow, integration, impact, and sustainability across multiple entities. This position supports the implementation of the team's budget, finance, and strategic planning functions and works closely with team members within Planning & Management, across the Program Strategy team and broader organization, as well as with external partners.

This role is expected to have a duration of 12 months. Applications will be accepted through 9/12/26. Pivotal reserves the right to begin interviews and make a hiring decision before that date.

Integrated Program Team Operations

• Create a productive working environment through optimizing team operations and supporting strategic alignment and integration across different entities and structures.
• Support the Senior Manager, Program Strategy, Planning & Management with day-to-day oversight of team operations across entities.
• Support the Senior Director, Program Strategy, Planning & Management with key meetings by prioritizing agenda items, developing materials, and tracking follow-up.
• Support contract development and logistics, collaborating closely with the Contracts team.
• Support the scheduling and planning of grant maker trainings, as directed by the Senior Director, Program Strategy, Planning & Management and in alignment with the Legal team and other stakeholders.
• Make consistent, effective, and strategic use of organizational systems of record (e.g. Salesforce) to maintain actionable data, streamline processes, and promote knowledge sharing and a team culture of data quality and transparency.
• Liaise with People & Culture team on talent processes and onboarding to ensure new Program Strategy team members are integrated effectively and understand company policies, culture, and expectations.

Strategic Planning & Delivery

• Provide operational support for the annual strategic planning and budgeting process in partnership with the Senior Director, Program Strategy, Planning & Management and the Senior Manager, Program Strategy, Planning & Management.
• Lead individual work streams on operations and planning/delivery in partnership with the Senior Manager, Program Strategy, Planning & Management.

Rhythm of Business Support

• Support the development, coordination, and rollout of Program Strategy team bi-weekly meeting agendas, learning sessions and retreat planning.
• Maintain and enhance the team's rhythm of the business calendar, ensuring team members are actively providing necessary contributions in a timely manner and encouraging good practices of team-wide tools such as the Weekly Look Ahead.
• Manage key stakeholder relationships within the team and across PIF and Pivotal Philanthropies through timely data collection and entry into the CRM.
• Prepare materials at the request of the Senior Director, Program Strategy, Planning & Management and the Senior Manager, Program Strategy, Planning & Management to maximize information sharing and collaboration.
• Assist with the workflow coordination of key projects by ensuring effective communication, consistent implementation of team processes, and efficient organization of documents.
• Identify areas for process improvement—including administrative standards, policies, and practices for the programmatic team—and make…