Senior Officer, Strategy, Planning & Management, People Experience

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 People team is a strategic partner in shaping a thriving, inclusive, and high-performing organization. We steward the employee experience across the full talent lifecycle—from attracting and developing exceptional talent to strengthening culture, supporting well-being as well as impact, and aligning people strategies with our mission.

As part of the People organization, the People Experience team is focused on delivering consistent, cross-foundation solutions across the employee journey. This team builds strategies and solutions that support employees from the moment they join the foundation to life post foundation as an alum and all the moments in between. The team is responsible for solutions spanning total rewards, mobility, workforce strategy, capability development, employment policies, talent practices, employee relations, offboarding, and alumni. By
recently bringing these teams together, the aim is to design end-to-end experiences for employees and enable a more responsive, globally relevant approach that meets evolving organization and employee needs. We are
deeply interdependent with other People and operational teams in design and delivery of solutions, requiring a collaborative approach that quickly discerns and adapts to varying partnership models, business needs, and local context. The team has the responsibility and opportunity to design and deliver solutions across many global locations at a time when the foundation is accelerating impact over the next 20 years ahead of closure in 2045 which brings unique talent problems to solve.

This position reports to the Director, People Experience

Application Deadline: Monday, November 3, 2025

As the Sr Officer, Strategy, Planning and Management you will facilitate the strategic, financial, and operational functions that enable the People Experience team to deliver on foundation-wide solutions. You will work across the foundation and with initiative areas that span the employee lifecycle including total rewards, mobility, workforce planning, onboarding, capability development, performance management, offboarding, and alumni programs. In this role, you will bring strategic and operational insight that complements the team’s technical expertise to guide program strategy, planning, and execution. As the foundation accelerates its impact toward its planned closure in 2045, the team plays a key role in addressing unique global talent challenges during this period of transformation. 

What You’ll Do

Portfolio Definition    

• Work with Director and Deputy Directors in People Experience and team to define and clearly articulate the core people solutions that are needed for the foundation.  Ensure that these are supported by team and strategy structures. 
• In partnership with the DDSPM, ensure that the People Experience portfolio is integrated into the broader People Team strategic plan and enterprise reporting frameworks. 
• Ensure overall prioritization of activities needed to plan, implement and achieve the delivery of agreed products is aligned. 
• Lead or co-lead complex strategic projects that are cross-functional in nature. 
• Develop strong, cross-functional relationships across the foundation to ensure appropriate engagement, expertise, sharing of information, and co-development of joint opportunities for impact 

Strategy Implementation and Operations  

• Facilitate the annual planning process, defining priorities and assessing solution delivery with the Director and team. 
• Develop and manage a portfolio approach that supports planning, resource allocation, and clear communication of progress and impact. 
• Define and track performance metrics in partnership with experts in the team to deliver to stakeholders and users across the foundation.
• Strengthen the overall strategy by implementing process improvements and ensuring coherence across teams. 
• Manage the rhythm of business and cross-team communication to maintain alignment and collaboration. 

Business & Enablement Team Management  

• Actively manage extended People and operational team relationships critical for formulation and delivery of plans (e.g., People Partnership, People Intelligence, Legal, IT, Finance, Global Workplace)  
• Promote culture, values, and team effectiveness, including regular team health checks. Collaborate with the teams to facilitate relationship building and cross-organization collaboration. 
• Guide the cross-team efforts to support the activities needed to plan, implement, and achieve our plan. This will include ensuring effective onboarding, communicating clear performance expectations, creating goal alignment, integrating project and change management activities, giving and seeking feedback, providing coaching, measuring progress and holding people accountable, supporting employee development, and recognizing achievement and lessons learned. 

Team Enablement & Effectiveness  

• Serve as an active listener across the team to keep pulse on team health and effectiveness. 
• Partner with business team members to develop an approach to continuous learning and improvement, find opportunities to build cohesion and camaraderie.  
• Promote efficiency and productivity on the team by providing leadership and support in process development, implementation, and improvement of tools, analysis, reporting and change management. 
• Responsible for knowledge management and documentation of team’s institutional knowledge.  
• Navigate a wide range of operational issues with solid experience and understanding of core business and organizational fields (e.g., strategy, operations, legal, IT, HR, marketing, finance, planning, and budgeting) to counsel the team on high leverage engagement opportunities. 

Trusted Leadership Advisor  

• Given the matrixed nature of our work, develop a rhythm of business and associated modalities that enable clarity in communication, collaboration and synergies across the foundation. 
• Play a leadership role in the design of the People organization’s structure, promotion of culture and values, and facilitation of team retreats and cross-organization collaboration.

Cross-Division and Foundation Continuous Improvement  

• Actively engage with the foundation SPM community and support continuous improvement and change management initiatives. 
• Collaborate with the DDSPM to ensure the People Experience perspective is well represented in cross-division forums, including the Business Operations SPM community. 
• Participate, where appropriate, in foundation-wide projects representing the People experience team perspective. 
• Cultivate innovation and support simplification of processes. 

Your Experience

• Advanced degree with 10+ years of progressive experience in strategy, planning, operations, or organizational effectiveness. 
• Demonstrated success leading strategic planning, business operations, or performance management in a complex or global organization. 
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills—able to synthesize complexity into clear, actionable plans and frameworks. 
• Skilled in project management, prioritization, and change enablement, with the ability to balance multiple initiatives. 
• Demonstrated ability to navigate matrixed environments with diplomacy, discretion, and strong relationship management skills. 
• Experience designing and delivering within People/HR functions (e.g., workforce planning, talent management, total rewards). 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to translate complex information into evidence-based storytelling that informs decisions, influences stakeholders, and connects data to impact. 
• Commitment to actively listening to our partners and the communities they serve, elevating our partners’ voices and ideas, creating a workplace culture that recognizes and values all backgrounds, voices, and contributions, building a workforce enriched by a wide array of skills, experiences and perspectives, and holding our leaders accountable for skill-based hiring, promotion, and development.   
• Comfortable operating across cultural and geographic contexts; global experience preferred. 
• Willingness to travel up to 10–15%, both domestic and international. 

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, 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.