Seeking a Senior Program Officer, Credit Usage to lead this next phase of work. In this role, you will work across the foundation and the industry to develop and lead a portfolio of investments that align to new strategy, pushing the bounds of thinking on how to solve seemingly intractable problems in this space. In addition, you will serve as the internal and external expert on productive credit, continuing to build the foundation’s role as a leader with a point of view in the industry.
This role reports to the Deputy Director, Usage, Gender, and Distribution. The role does not have people management responsibilities but does collaborate extensively with internal and external partners.
This role is a full-time position based either in Washington, DC, or London, UK.
- Continue to iterate and improve upon the existing credit strategy in a way that balances innovation, learning, and scaling.
- Develop a portfolio of investments that aligns to the strategy and that result in measurable financial inclusion impact, especially for women.
- Collaborate across Inclusive Financial Systems (IFS) and other teams – especially Gender Equality and AgDev – to co-design investments aligned to each team’s strategies.
- Establish and manage an ambitious but achievable road map for all credit-related work.
- Set and meet or exceed clear, measurable critical metrics for the credit portfolio.
- Manage the portfolio of investments for on-time completion of targets and deliverables.
- Identify key portfolio risks, and develop, communicate, and implement mitigation strategies.
- Lead a process of systematic learning from successes and failures in the portfolio.
- Manage the annual budgets to avoid over/underspend while ensuring the highest impact return on investment.
- Continually hone your expertise in credit by monitoring emerging evidence, innovation, and trends
- Serve as a spokesperson and represent IFS’ interests as they relate to credit to achieve financial inclusion both internally with other teams and externally with partners, peers, and other collaborators.
- Work with foundation leadership as requested to address cross-cutting issues and improve functions and performance.
- Lead the preparation of materials for the annual planning process, strategy reviews, learning sessions, briefings, and submissions to the Global Growth & Opportunity President, CEO, and Co-Chairs, and other deliverables as required.
- Ability to travel ~30% domestically and internationally.
- Validated expertise in the design and/or delivery of innovative digital financial services, especially credit, ideally gained as an operator, investor, or other relevant role. A minimum of 12 years of experience is preferred.
- Practical experience working with the foundation’s target populations to achieve impact in the form of increased incomes and resilience; extensive operational experience gained in the field with our target populations, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa or South/Southeast Asia, is strongly preferred.
- Domain expertise in either agriculture supply chains and/or microenterprise is also preferred.
- Experience managing ambitious targets, preferably with full P&L responsibility.
- Ability to develop a coherent strategy and execute on it; results-oriented with an ability to prioritize, make trade-off decisions, focus, and get things done within a complex organizational structure.
- Demonstrated capacity to use data and evidence as a tool for problem solving.
- Experience building partnerships with cross-sectoral, cross-functional teams to tackle complex and multi-faceted problems.
- Exceptional communication skills – ability to translate complex ideas into a coherent message for diverse audiences. In addition to general communication skills, the ability to communicate in a local language in any of our focus countries is highly valued.
- A highly cultivated sense of resilience. You can accept and recover from setbacks quickly, adapt well to change, and drive forward in the face of adversity with a positive attitude and sense of humor.
- Advanced degree in Finance, Economics, Business, or related field from a top university preferred.
- Demonstrated commitment to the foundation’s core values and mission.
The US range for this role in these locations is $181,200 to $271,800 USD.
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 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.
