Program Officer

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

Group Summary
The Global Development Division includes a diverse range of program areas aimed at finding creative ways to ensure solutions and products get into the hands of people in low-income countries who need them most. We focus on areas with the potential for high-impact, sustainable solutions that can reach millions of people. A common theme across these programs is a focus on innovative delivery, including an emphasis on strengthening primary health care systems. The Division also encompasses our India Country Office (ICO). Our Program Strategy Teams work in close partnership with the Country Office Teams to align the foundation’s health and development agenda with the government’s broader priorities.

Division Summary
Our efforts are aligned with India’s objectives of improving the lives of its people - working closely with India’s Central and State governments, we partner with nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, the private sector, community groups and development organizations, to achieve our shared goals. Our strong networks and ability to convene intellectual resources from many sectors and every region of the globe allows us to address complex challenges as they emerge or evolve.

Our efforts in India focus on key issues that will affect the future of India’s most vulnerable communities: reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health and nutrition; urban sanitation; agricultural development; gender equality, and digital financial inclusion. With a particular focus on Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, we work with partners to develop impactful and sustainable solutions to improve the quality and coverage of key services for the poor and vulnerable. We also work in other states to support programs in urban sanitation, agricultural development, women’s economic empowerment, health systems design, public financial management, state capacity and inclusive financial systems.

The Team
The State Systems and Public Finance (SS&PF) cluster leads the ICO’s work in state capacity, public finance, health systems design, and a labour market approach to HR for health. Our goal is to empower government institutions in being able to carry out their functions effectively, and to leverage government channels for reform at scale. Our goal is that the ICO’s sectorally focused work in reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health and nutrition; urban sanitation; agricultural development; women’s economic empowerment, and inclusive financial systems, is informed by cross-cutting issues of government effectiveness, and can be tested and scaled via government channels. Our approach is to help systematically strengthen core departmental functions which enhance state capacity to deliver on sectoral goals and improve the transition and sustainability of the technical support we provide to governments, so that reforms are not episodic but sustained through stronger institutional and state systems.

Your Role

The Program Officer - State Systems will support the ICO’s strategy to strengthen the state systems approach by making available tools that enable governments to credibly promise and deliver improved outcomes for citizens at scale. Despite numerous sectoral reforms and flagship programs, many state systems remain constrained by fragmented decision-making, siloed data systems, weak performance management, and rigid financial and administrative processes that limit adaptability and accountability. These structural challenges affect the state’s ability to deliver coordinated, high-quality services in health, nutrition, gender, sanitation, agriculture, and inclusive financial systems.

The Program Officer will work across multiple states and sectors to co-create scalable models for institutional reform, focusing on human resource management, public financial management, and digital governance in service of the foundation's programmatic goals. This includes designing and managing strategic investments that build tools to enable performance management, strengthen core departmental functions, and reduce friction in service delivery. The role involves translating complex system problems into actionable reform strategies, building c