Senior Program Officer, Gynecology (24-month LTE)

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 Gender Equality Division’s mission it to ensure women and girls in Africa and South Asia can enjoy good health, make their own choices, earn their own money, and be leaders in their societies. When women and girls have an equal chance to thrive and lead, everyone benefits. We know that women and girls are not a monolith. A woman’s experience and the barriers she faces are different depending on factors like where she lives, how old she is, and how much money her family has—alongside other factors including her race, caste, and education level. We seek to address these compounding barriers through deep partnership with our grantees. As a philanthropy, our role is to listen to and learn from these experts. We take risks in new areas, prove concepts, and bring these ideas to governments, partner organizations, and private sector companies to scale. The Gender Equality (GE) Division builds off our existing strengths as a foundation in areas like global health and data, partnering closely with all our global divisions.

The Women’s Health Innovations (WHI) team within the GE Division is a newly established group focused on developing and accelerating the introduction and scale-up of interventions that disproportionately affect the health and economic outcomes of women and girls. WHI prioritizes three key areas: family planning and contraceptive technologies (CT), gynecological health, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). In addition, the team focuses on two cross-cutting areas: product introduction and market access, and strengthening the women’s health R&D ecosystem.

*Posting close date: Friday, July 11th

**This position is a limited-term position for 24-months.

Your Role

The Senior Program Officer, Gynecology (SPO) will lead a portfolio of investments and partnerships to support development and introduction of products to address high burden gynecologic conditions for women and girls in Low Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). The SPO will collaborate with government agencies, researchers and their institutions, global health organizations, professional societies, and private sector partners to align innovation with needs of women and girls within health ecosystems. We are seeking a technically skilled and strategically driven Senior Program Officer to lead initiatives that transform the landscape of interventions for heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB).

The ideal candidate will bring strong clinical perspectives for gynecologic care for HMB, have research and data generation expertise, and a passion for addressing health barriers for women and girls in LMICs.

What You’ll Do

Serve as a subject matter expert in gynecologic etiologies of heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) and the relationship to anemia, as well as other gynecologic conditions such as vaginal dysbiosis.

• Develop a strategically aligned portfolio of investments focused on HMB

  • Identify and seek concepts for investments that align with WHI GYN strategy

  • Closely manage a diverse portfolio of investments

  • Work with grantees to ensure optimal output and impact of these investments. 

• Lead and coordinate WHI initiatives for HMB and gynecology/menstrual health (MH).

  • Work with data team to assess and address gaps in understanding of HMB etiology, prevalence, and burden, focusing on association with anemia and well-being

  • Assess efficacy of existing HMB treatments in reducing sequelae

  • Identify and address barriers to HMB treatment uptake and access to services

  • Support development of evidence-based HMB treatment guidelines/ policies

  • Lead clinical assessment and development of point of care (POC) AI-guided ultrasound for gynecologic use cases, including evaluation of etiologies of HMB, in collaboration with internal matrix technical collaborators (EDGE, MNCNH).

• Coordinate workstreams with external partners on investments to develop, assess, and introduce new tools focused on addressing HMB/anemia

• Collaborate with internal matrix partners (RHT, Discovery) to enable advancements in biologic mechanisms of gynecologic conditions and vaginal microbiome research to guide product development for vaginal dysbiosis.

• Develop network with organizations and maintain current with cutting edge innovations and innovators in these fields, actively engaging with key stakeholders in the ecosystem.

• Assess  and develop perspective on opportunities for WHI engagement in other gynecologic conditions such as adenomyosis, fibroids, endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), menopause, and female genital schistosomiasis as outputs of the gynecologic learning agenda.    

Your Experience

• Advanced degree (MD and/or PhD) in gynecology, or adjacent area.

• 10 + years’ experience in gynecology clinical care, including assessment of and treatment of HMB, vaginal microbiome, and other priority GYN conditions.

• Demonstrated experience with design and implementation of clinical trials to support product development of solutions, preferably in the field of HMB. 

• Critical assessment of epidemiological, population and clinical trial data.

• Strong knowledge of relevant global networks and professional societies (i.e., FIGO)

• Experience with women’s health product development (e.g., therapeutics and/or diagnostics), particularly in LMIC’s is desired.

• Strong program and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to coordinate diverse stakeholders, including NGOs, industry, academia, and private sector.

• Demonstrated ability to translate technical knowledge into actionable strategies, influencing investment decisions.

• Demonstrated ability to navigate highly sensitive or politically complex environments and operate effectively in ambiguous situations with limited information; comfortable executing and making decisions amid uncertainty.

• Understanding of LMIC healthcare systems is desired

• This role requires up to 30% global travel to partner sites, developing country settings, and internal/external meetings and convenings.

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

The salary range for this role is $233,600 to $362,200 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 $254,700 to $394,700 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, please submit a request here.

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.