Senior Measurement & Evaluation Officer - Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people-especially those with the fewest resources-have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff Raikes and co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.


The Strategy, Measurement and Evaluation (SME) team is responsible for the foundation's strategic planning process and its overall approach to results measurement and evaluation. Strong planning and technically sound measurement are high priorities for the foundation's leadership. SME will build new capacity in 2011-2012 to act as a cross-disciplinary resource for foundation programs working in domestic education, international health and development. As a center of excellence, the SME team designs and tests pilots to facilitate organizational learning and improvement, brings in best practice and innovation from outside the foundation, and leads the in-house technical community of practice - a standard setting and technical review body for the foundation's evaluation plans. SME is recruiting 2-3 senior professionals from one of the foundation's key sectors, with deep technical and practical expertise in program design, measurement and evaluation.
The SME team acts as a center of excellence for the foundation. The SME team provides four types of support to foundation programs (Global Health, Global Development and the U.S. Program) and their embedded Measurement Learning and Evaluation (MLE) staff. More specifically the Senior Measurement and Evaluation Officer(s) will:
* Partner with program directors and their MLE staff to pilot, learn from and share innovative approaches to improve the design measurement and evaluation of the foundation's investments.
* Provide technical leadership to the foundation's Measurement and Evaluation (M&E) Community of Practice - a standard setting and technical peer review body comprised of MLE experts that staff the foundation's three program areas. The Community of Practice is responsible for:o Co-creating a set of technical standards that inform both strategy and grant level measurement;o Assessing the measurability of strategy results for teams going through the strategy refresh process to provide recommendations for improvement to program directors; and o Conducting technical peer reviews of measurement and evaluation plans to provide recommendations for improvement to program directors.
* Stay abreast of and brings into the organization innovation from outside, convenes external experts to trouble shoot complex measurement issues and provide an external review of evaluation designs of the foundation's most strategic investments.
* Solve for the "public goods" the foundation needs to successfully collect, analyze and use quality (relevant, timely, valid) results data. Program teams and their MLE staff need basic tools, quality information sources and the IT infrastructure to effectively collect, analyze and use actionable data. The SME team works to make these common goods available for program staff by advocating for resources where necessary and liaising with IT, HR and foundation leadership where appropriate to resolve issues that can prevent programs from improving the way we design and measure the results of foundation investments. There are three public goods that fall into this category: o Knowledge and results management systemso Quality statistics on the countries, regions and sectors the foundation prioritizes.o The recruitment of excellent M&E professionals to build up our in-house community of practice as a sophisticated technical resource.

* Advanced degree in the social sciences
* A minimum of 10 years experience working as an evaluation professional in a funding or implementing organization in one of the foundation's three major program areas (Global Health, Global Develop or the U.S. Program)
* Work experience designing grants or programs in one of the foundation's three major program areas
* Extensive knowledge of data collection and analysis methods, various evaluation designs, and principles of sound inquiry and inference
* Work experience with professional and academic evaluators
* Strong analytic, planning and communication competencies
* Demonstrated experience facilitating dialogue among experts and leaders and negotiating multiple stakeholder demands
* Proven success in complex organizations
* High emotional intelligence, diplomacy and professionalism
* Demonstrated ability to lead quietly, build relationships and partner effectively
* Intellectual quickness, honesty, curiosity, discipline, resourcefulness and resilience.
* Ability to work with flexibility, efficiency, and enthusiasm, both individually and as part of a team effort.
* Demonstrated passion for the Foundation's work with commitment to deliver results against the Foundation's mission.
* The highest personal and professional integrity, along with a sense of humor.

Reports to: Director, Strategy Measurement & Evaluation

As part of our standard hiring process for new employees, employment with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will be contingent upon successful completion of a comprehensive background check.

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