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 Institute for Disease Modeling (IDM) at the Gates Foundation supports global efforts to eradicate infectious diseases and achieve permanent improvements in health. We develop, use, and share computational modeling tools, and promote quantitative decision-making. The IDM team is comprised of research scientists, software engineers, and strategic planning professionals.
Your Role As a Research Program Manager , you will play a pivotal role in maximizing the impact of research teams at IDM. Your responsibilities will include working with leadership and research managers to define, prioritize, and manage research projects within one or more portfolios. You will understand and effectively communicate the direction of research portfolios and projects to diverse audiences to drive progress toward Foundation goals.
You will build partnerships with stakeholders and partners, understand their goals and work, and synthesize across these engagements to support and inform the portfolios you manage. You will engage in cross-cutting projects, quickly learning about the research area, support defining the direction and scope, and ensuring successful execution. You have a passion for our mission and commitment to driving it forward.
This is a 24-month Limited Term Employment position, relocation to Seattle will be provided. What You’ll Do Manage multiple research portfolios in partnership with research managers and deputy directors, driving outcomes through resource allocation, risk tracking, and progress oversight Connect portfolio work to IDM’s organizational priorities, ensuring alignment and flagging trade-offs as the landscape evolves.
Engage with software teams and TPMs to maintain continuity between research portfolio needs and modeling tool development. Develop working depth in relevant research areas and current modeling technologies to guide planning, assess progress, and anticipate risks. Synthesize findings and emerging insights to inform portfolio-level decisions and surface options for leadership consideration. Design and implement right-sized program processes and frameworks that keep work moving efficiently across teams and organizational scales.
Maintain workplans with clear milestones and deliverables; proactively communicate timeline changes and risks. Build and maintain relationships with internal and external stakeholders, ensuring effectiveness of complex programs & partnerships. Develop cross-functional communication patterns that create visibility and coordination across research teams, software, and leadership. Represent portfolio priorities clearly, tuning messaging for diverse forums spanning researchers, engineers, and partners.
Your Experience We are seeking an experienced, adaptive, and strategic team member who thrives in dynamic environments and is passionate about impact-driven global health work. Ideal candidates will have: Bachelor’s degree at minimum, graduate degree preferred, with experience in complex or multi-disciplinary research management, ideally in the global health & development. Five or more years of program management experience, with a proven track record leading complex initiatives and driving resu