Deputy Director, Development Policy & Finance, Africa

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 Policy & Advocacy (GPA) division shapes development financing and public policy debates, builds partnerships, and supports advocacy efforts to advance our mission. Within GPA, the Development Policy & Finance (DPAF) team focuses on economic and financial expertise to strengthen policy and advocacy strategies across the foundation’s key priorities, including economic growth, public financial management, fiscal policy, development financing and capital mobilization in Africa.

DPAF works to strengthen the fiscal position and mobilize development finance in priority African countries to increase the amount and impact of domestic resources allocated to pro-poor investments and health in particular. DPAF engages directly with ministries of finance and economic planning in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal, and Kenya to advance reforms in economic policy and growth, domestic resource mobilization, public financial management, and fiscal accountability, and works with multilateral development banks and regional institutions that raise finance and contribute on economic policy making.

The Africa Regional Office (ARO) team works to enable the foundation’s ambitious goals of scaling evidence-based interventions that target a range of diseases and socioeconomic conditions which are endemic across Sub-Saharan Africa. The team drives its impact through regional and direct country engagement to deploy interventions and delivery models, and by supporting partners that can replicate successful interventions and models across multiple countries.

Your Role

The Deputy Director, Development Policy & Finance, Africa, will provide strategic, technical, and operational leadership across the foundation’s fiscal policy, public financial management, domestic resource mobilization, and development finance engagements on the continent. The role strengthens alignment between Africa regional priorities, government relations, other development finance actors and the foundation’s global fiscal policy and capital mobilization agenda. This role works in close partnership with the Africa team and regional government relations leadership to drive coordinated fiscal and economic policy engagement across East, Southern, and West/Central Africa, with an initial focus on selected priority countries.

This position is based in Nairobi and reports to the Director, Policy, Government Relations & Partnerships, Africa (for strategic priorities, delivery, and performance), and partners with global DPAF leadership to ensure coherence with foundation-wide fiscal and development finance strategies. The postholder will supervise Senior Program Officers based on the continent working on development finance and fiscal policy initiatives.

What You’ll Do

a) Policy, Advocacy Strategy and Implementation

• Lead development and execution of Africa-facing fiscal policy and development finance strategies in close collaboration with DPAF and Program Strategy Teams (PST) Directors, country directors, and regional government relations leadership.

• Translate complex macroeconomic and fiscal developments and challenges into actionable policy and advocacy priorities.

• Ensure alignment of Africa economic policy engagement with broader advocacy strategies across health and economic opportunity.

• Translate the dialogue on development financing solutions and capital mobilization into opportunities for Africa, in particular with regard to health and agriculture.

• Lead insights and briefings to inform leadership decision-making and regional prioritization.

b) Government Relations and Regional Management

• Cultivate and maintain high-level relationships with ministries of finance and revenue authorities, economic planning ministries or departments, central banks, and regional institutions.

• Coordinate closely with regional government relations teams to ensure coherence of fiscal policy advocacy across regions.

c) Team Leadership and Capacity Building

• Supervise and mentor Senior Program Officers, fostering a high-performing team culture.

• Ensure integrated advocacy approaches and cross-team collaboration across Africa, GPA, and global program teams.

• Promote DEI values in team culture and management practices.

d) Stakeholder Engagement and Partnership Development

• Engage with funders, development organizations, private sector, and policy researchers to strengthen the enabling environment for fiscal reforms.

• Support coordination with grantees and partners to advance policy reforms and strengthen fiscal governance.

• Facilitate leadership engagement during regional visits.

e) Internal Collaboration and Coordination

• Partner with GPA, Global Development, Global Health, and other divisions to ensure regional strategies reflect programmatic priorities.

• Generate context, analysis, and insights to shape advocacy and grant strategies.

f) Investment Management

• Oversee fiscal policy and development finance-related grantmaking portfolios in collaboration with DPAF, program strategy teams, and leadership from country offices and regional government relations in ARO.

• Lead key blended finance deals/investments in collaboration with foundation program strategy teams and DPAF leadership

• Ensure investments are strategically aligned, impactful, and meet high-quality delivery standards.

• Support SPOs in portfolio development, management, and evaluation.

g) Representation and Influence

• Represent the foundation in policy dialogues, technical forums, and strategic engagements.

• Represent the foundation in continental and global platforms on development finance and macroeconomic issues.

• Support Africa development policy and global policy initiatives, including risk and reputation management.

• Contribute to GPA leadership forums to ensure Africa priorities are reflected.

Your Experience

• Advanced degree (Master’s or higher) in Economics, Public Policy, Public Finance, International Development, or related field.

• Minimum 15+ years of senior-level experience in development finance, fiscal policy, or macroeconomic policy analysis.

• Strong stakeholder experience, including working with African ministries of finance, central banks, regional and global economic institutions (e.g. World Bank, AfDB, IMF).

• Demonstrated leadership overseeing complex policy or advocacy portfolios.

• Strong analytical capabilities and ability to communicate economic insights effectively.

• Political acumen and an in-depth understanding of Sub-Saharan Africa’s political economy.

• Proven ability to mentor and develop senior staff.

• Experience managing multi-functional teams across geographies.

• Ability to build a culture of collaboration, accountability, and high performance.

• Political acumen and ability to navigate sensitive policy environments.

• Established networks with regional policymakers, development partners, and economic institutions.

• Fluency in English required; proficiency in French preferred.

Other Attributes

• Comfortable in a wide range of cultural, geographic and operational situations, demonstrating culturally sensitive behaviour with a diverse range of people and a deep commitment to development issues and high standards of personal integrity.

• Ability to travel up to 40% internationally. 

Application deadline: 15 March 2026

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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

We’re committed to providing an inclusive and accessible hiring experience for all candidates. If you have a disability or medical condition and need an accommodation at any stage of the application or interview process—such as an ASL interpreter, alternative interview format, or physical accessibility support—we’re happy to help. Please contact HR@gatesfoundation.org with the position number and a brief description of your accommodation needs. Requests will be handled confidentially.

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.