Senior Program Officer, Markets

Senior Program Officer, Markets

Locations: Seattle, WA

Time Type: Full time

Posted On: April 3, 2025

End Date: April 10, 2025

Job Requisition ID: B020892

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 Global Growth & Opportunity division works to catalyze sustainable transformative change in the face of inequities and market failures, to realize the potential of untapped markets, and to see the economic and social benefits of including everyone. We focus on the areas of Agricultural Development; Inclusive Financial Systems; Water, Sanitation & Hygiene; Nutrition; Global Education; and Digital Public Infrastructure. We seek solutions that are sustainable, transformative, and inclusive with an eye toward applying technology innovations as well as data evidence to drive change in the world's developing countries.

Agriculture DevelopmentThe Agricultural Development (AgDev) program strategy team (PST) aims to catalyze country-led, inclusive, agricultural transformation (IAT) by developing and scaling products, services, policies, and system-wide innovations that increase productivity and income of small-scale producers (SSPs), empower women, improve nutritional outcomes, and increase resilience to climate change. We want farmers in Sub- Saharan Africa (SSA) and South Asia (SA) to be empowered with the knowledge, tools, and technologies to improve their livelihoods and lift themselves and their families out of poverty.

Your Role

The Senior Program Officer, Markets (SPO) will be an inspiring leader in shaping inclusive markets for the Agricultural Development program and manage a portfolio of investments catalyzing inclusive agricultural growth. They will play a leading role in advancing the green fertilizer program area. The Agricultural Delivery Systems team works to accelerate geographically-relevant breakthrough innovations and systems enablers that unlock SSP productivity and resilience. One of these is decentralized green fertilizer, including decentralized green ammonia and plasma nitrates. Our goal is to significantly reduce the price of nitrogen fertilizer in SSA and increase nitrogen application rates, thereby increasing farmers' yields and incomes.

We have an immediate need to identify a highly qualified candidate for this 11-month limited term employment (LTE) role with competitive base compensation plus a generous benefits package. This role is ideally based in Seattle, WA but we may also be open to a remote-US located employee. This position is ineligible for relocation benefits. The application deadline is 5 PM PT on Wednesday, April 9, 2025.

What You'll Do

• Working with the Agricultural Delivery Systems team, the SPO Markets will be responsible for advancing the foundation's work in decentralized green fertilizer in sub-Saharan Africa and Ethiopia.
• Oversee a portfolio of grants focused on the development and delivery of goods and services to smallholder farmers. This will include reviewing letters of inquiry and grant proposals and providing clear, concise and insightful written analyses and recommendations for funding.
• Facilitate engagement with public, private, and donor partners on market-related topics to ensure cross-pollination of ideas, identification of investment synergies, and alignment of approaches.
• Work to understand the effects of global markets and market volatility on African agriculture, identify possible solution sets, and translate general policy recommendations to specific country contexts.
• Understand and map viable pathways for private sector to commercialize and scale products from across the AgDev team's portfolios.
• Engage with external partners and analysts to monitor market intelligence with regards to country supply and demand constraints to inform a market-based strategy.
• Serve as the source of market intelligence on Sub-Saharan Africa-related matters to inform the broader AgDev team program and efforts; including leading the analysis and evaluation of economic growth of relevant agriculture sub-sectors.
• Consult with grantees and other partners to enhance the impact of projects and ensure investments are meeting program goals. This may include: site visits, providing operational guidance and convening meetings of key partners.
• Contribute to writing background documents, analysis, briefs, and presentations, often on short timeline.
• Represent the foundation to key program-related external constituencies, as appropriate, on committees related to African agricultural markets.
• Support inclusive culture through modeling behaviors and actions; advance issues in a timely fashion to appropriate team members.

Your Experience

We seek a senior professional with a background in agricultural markets, especially fertilizer markets, African market systems, and the intersection between national, regional and global markets. You enjoy the opportunity of working on complex problems and collectively creating solutions that have the potential for transformative change in the lives of people around the world. You must be prepared to work across a diverse set of fields, bridging a wide range of expertise all the while being a great teammate, with a demonstrated ability to work with flexibility, efficiency and diplomacy in an exciting, challenging environment.

Additionally, we seek:

• Deep knowledge of market constraints and challenges for African agriculture and the demonstrated ability to catalyze change in addressing market challenges for smallholder farmers.
• Deep knowledge of fertilizer markets, including distributed models, commercial development/commercialization and scale-up and/or fertilizer formulation.
• Experience bringing together diverse partners, including public and private sector actors and other financing partners to develop creative partnerships for scaling agricultural technologies.
• Experience in strategic engagement with a range of complex multinational or international organizations and institutions.
• Experience in developing service delivery models, marketing of products, and/or aggregation and the unique challenges smallholder farming bring to the models.
• Strong strategic approach and communication skills — demonstrated ability to develop strategic frameworks that guide execution and communicate opportunities to internal and external audiences.
• Demonstrated curiosity and comfort in areas beyond current areas of expertise, with demonstrated ability to rapidly acquire knowledge and use good judgment in a variety of areas.
• Ability to organize and prioritize work and meet deadlines within a fast-paced environment with multiple and competing demands.
• Demonstrated ability to work with diverse teams, including scientists, program implementers, and in-country staff and partners.
• A mindset that guides and motivates the team to explore new approaches and partners and take risks that can potentially accelerate our pathway to improve lives of smallholder farmers.
• Exceptional results orientation combined with excellent relationship management skills.
• Willing to travel internationally (40%).
• Bachelor's or other advanced degree with 10+ years of experience in roles of increasing responsibility in agricultural development in public or private sector organizations coupled with experience in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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.

The salary range for this role is $169,700 to $254,500 USD. We recognize high-wage market differences in Seattle, WA and Washington, DC, where our US 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.

To apply: https://gatesfoundation.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/Gates/job/Seattle-WA/Senior-Program-Officer--Markets_B020892-1

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