Senior Program Officer, Giving Pledge

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation • Full-time • Remote (Seattle, Washington State, United States) • $169.70k - $254.50k / year • 2w ago

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 Philanthropic Partnerships team (PPT) works to mobilize resources and build the next generation of champions for global health and development (GH&D), ensuring that philanthropy helps the world’s most vulnerable children survive and thrive. Alongside this, we help advance Philanthropy and grow giving around the world, strengthening the broader philanthropic ecosystem through issue agnostic communities such as The Giving Pledge, the sub team where this role resides.

Our strategy is designed to close the gap between intent and action, ensuring philanthropy supports lasting change. We engage with ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWI), corporate and private foundations, philanthropic collaboratives, advisors, family offices, and social impact investors

The Giving Pledge is a promise by philanthropists to give the majority of their wealth to charitable causes in their lifetime or wills. Today, building on that promise, the Giving Pledge has grown into a global community of over 250 philanthropists that actively connect to each other and to changemakers across critical sectors—learning and engaging deeply to support progress on the most urgent issues around the world.

Your Role

The Senior Program Officer (SPO) will report to the Senior Manager, Giving Partnerships, and will serve as a senior relationship manager on the Giving Pledge team. This position plays a key strategic role in deepening engagement with some of the world’s most influential philanthropists, helping to drive greater ambition and impact in their giving.

The SPO will oversee and advance a portfolio of Giving Pledge signatories, their staff, and families, serving as a trusted advisor and strategic thought partner. By working closely with Giving Pledge signatories, their staff, and their families, this role will help shape and support the philanthropic journeys of these individuals, find opportunities to catalyze action, share best practices, and connect donors with aligned peers and initiatives to drive more giving. This role requires a high-level relationship strategy, influence, and long-term stewardship alongside logistical or tactical execution.

Applications accepted until 5 PM Pacific Time on Friday, October 10, 2025. While our strong preference is for a candidate who can work from our offices in Seattle, WA we are open to considering a qualified candidate who would need to work remotely from a US state only.

Applicants for this role will only be considered if they are able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship.

What You'll Do

As Senior relationship manager in the Giving Pledge team you will lead relationships with a portfolio of ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families who have signed the Giving Pledge. You will understand and support these partners as they seek to fulfill the commitments of the Giving Pledge, using all connections, learning and opportunity this community offers.
Lead on relationship strategy and execution for your portfolio of partners – including shaping individualized engagement strategies that support each partner’s philanthropic goals and increase their impact over time. Proactively leverage all tools to advance the goals of the partner – including preparation and planning for principle/leadership meetings.
Build trust and deep, long-term relationships to deliver value for your partners and drive more giving at scale. Provide thought partnership, connections/facilitation and navigation to support and inspire more ambitious giving.
Play active role in wider team, providing strategic input on how to deepen partnerships, influence giving behavior, and activate donors around key issues and moments.
Ensure highest-quality, timely and values-aligned communication with partners—both internal and external—rooted in trust, discretion, and long-term vision.
Research and organize information about current partners; draft correspondence; lead or develop meeting agendas and briefs that advance portfolio goals.
Ensure excellence in management of your portfolio including tracking and managing data in Salesforce, data entry, report creation, and other duties as necessary.
Contribute to the strategic direction of the Giving Pledge and key initiatives that expand the reach and influence of the community globally.
Work collaboratively across the Philanthropic Partnerships team and broader foundation to contribute to team goals, shape meaningful engagement opportunities, leverage curated events and learning opportunities, convenings, and peer-to-peer exchanges.
Ability to travel up to 35% of the time – primarily domestic US

Your Experience

Bachelor’s degree.
At least seven years’ work experience in a relevant role. Ideal experience: development offices for large organizations, or advisories that work with high-net-worth individuals, or relevant relationship management experience with high-level partners.
Demonstrated excellence in relationship management, including trust building, high discretion and judgment in handling confidential and sensitive initiatives and relationships.
A track record of generating results in high pressure environments - executing complex, time-bound tasks dependent on a wide variety of stakeholders.
Strong time management, attention to detail and systematic thinking. Confidence leading high workflow and coordinating multiple priorities in a highly dynamic environment.
Experience learning necessary IT systems (salesforce) and coordinating data management and reporting to effectively manage portfolios.
Highly collaborative, proactive and results driven; adaptable with enthusiasm for working in a matrixed environment.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills – with high adaptability to audience.
Experience working in global context with high cultural sensitivity.
Deep Philanthropy expertise and understanding of emerging trends relevant to UHNW audiences.

Must be able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship.

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 $185,000 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

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.

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