Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Human Resources Business Partner

Washington, DC Full time

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.

This position reports to the Deputy Director, People Partnerships.

This role is a limited-term position for 12 months. Relocation will not be provided.

Your Role
You are responsible for supporting clients (e.g., Chief, directors, senior leadership team) and partnering with the Director HRBP to translate business strategies and priorities into people and organizational strategies and priorities for their divisional portfolio. You develop and support human capital solutions that integrate foundation-wide approaches to build organizational capability in support of foundation priorities. You provide general HR support across the broader Director portfolio of clients, when required.

What You'll Do

  • Function as the HR leader and work with a relationship manager for a group of clients (maybe an ELT member or program/functional/affiliate leader, and/or leadership team and assigned group of directors).

  • Provide counsel as a strategic business partner, change agent, and member of the regional or divisional leadership team.

  • Support clients and senior leaders in building organizational capability and a high integrity culture.

  • Aid senior management in the development of organizational solutions (e.g. team effectiveness, organization design, process improvement, culture, talent and succession planning, performance management, compensation and benefits, employee relations, and workforce planning).

  • Work with leaders to facilitate and identify systems level, root cause diagnosis of organizational issues that have an impact on business strategy.

  • Direct and facilitate core HR annual processes for respective teams using standard, center driven tools and approaches to achieve desired organizational outcomes.

  • Influence talent assessment and performance management throughout the region or division, in support of driving a high integrity culture.

  • Actively participate in business and strategy discussions with regional and/or division senior leaders to understand and influence the decision-making process for future relevant business development actions to prepare and support from a strategic human capital perspective.

  • Advise regional or divisional senior leaders by understanding organization priorities, sharing feedback, coaching for leadership and team effectiveness, influencing desired people and organizational outcomes.

  • Establish effective relationships with key stakeholders across the division to improve the communication and identification of key issues and priorities.

  • Partner with COE leaders to identify needs and improve and/or innovate processes and programs to achieve outcomes for foundation-wide programs and initiatives. This includes engaging with HR leadership to assess employee relations trends and understand root cause of issues.

  • Support inclusive culture through modeling behaviors and actions; escalate issues in a timely fashion to appropriate stakeholders.


Your Experience

  • A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent demonstrated experience preferably in Human Resources, Organizational Psychology, or Business

  • Detailed knowledge and expertise as a collaborator and bridge-builder across teams and within human resources.

  • Ability to demonstrate a “One HR” and “One Foundation” approach.

  • Demonstrated ability to drive transformation and growth to build a high integrity culture through the organization.

  • Strong leadership skills, business acumen and consulting skills.

  • Proven track record of building, aligning and implementing a sustainable HR agenda that fuels business performance and organizational capability development.

  • Experience and demonstrated ability to interface effectively with all levels of management and employees, such as gained in highly matrixed non-profit, and/or global organization.

The salary range for this role is $143,00 to $214,400 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 $157,300 to $235,900 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.

Must have unrestricted work authorization in the country where this position is located. The Foundation does not provide immigration-related sponsorship for this role. This includes direct company sponsorship and any work authorization requiring a written submission or other immigration support from the company (e.g., H-1B, O-1, L-1,  E, OPT, STEM-OPT, CPT, TN, J-1, etc.).  

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.