New

Deputy Director, People Global Operations

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
paid time off
United States, Washington, Seattle
500 5th Avenue North (Show on map)
Aug 03, 2025
The Foundation We are the largest nonprofitfighting 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 In the People function, we are inspired by our mission and are compelled by the opportunity to make an impact. Along with our partners, we take on complex challenges, continually test new approaches, and embrace change where it will facilitate the best outcome. We are on a mission to evolve how we work by pushing for greater transparency so people have access to information they need to make decisions, creating energy to support a thriving workforce, and showing respect so everyone can bring their best, authentic self to work every day. Application Deadline: Friday, August 22, 2025 Your Role: You are responsible for leading People Global Operations, a team that modernizes and delivers HR services and solutions to our global employee community. This team integrates Talent Operations and HR Global Operations into one cohesive, team. You will enable quality decision-making, prioritization, and measurable impact through your work. By building strong relationships with a variety of partnerships with internal and external collaborators, you manage effective interactions with senior audiences, and lead HR-directed, cross-functional programs and technology-driven solutions, including, generative AI and systems automation, to create seamless employee experiences, drive efficiency, and improve organizational agility. This role requires a visionary leader with a deep understanding of the external technology landscape, who can quickly ground themselves in the context of the foundation's programs, processes, and norms to translate into actionable innovation grounded in our values and operational context. What You'll Do: HR operations: Lead functions including employee lifecycle system processes (hiring, job changes, and terminations), HRIS administration, compensation operations, and compliance. HR policy and compliance: Ensure HR policies, procedures, and other operational documents are up to date, compliant with laws, and effectively communicated. Shared service delivery: Implement and maintain service-level agreements (SLAs) and key performance indicators (KPIs) for HR service delivery. Recruiting systems and processes: Standardize recruiting operations processes and practices to ensure consistency and scalability. Be responsible for recruiting systems and tools (e.g., ATS platforms), including configuration, enhancements, and vendor management. Develop AI strategy: Develop and execute a comprehensive AI strategy to transform employee and candidate experience, in line with overall strategic objectives and HR processes. Strategic leadership and execution: Lead the strategy planning and execution process to enable and implement HR solutions across all the foundation's global presences to address critical areas for operational improvement and alignment with the foundation's global impact goals. Technology evaluation and selection: Collaborate with cross-functional teams to evaluate and select the most suitable AI technologies and solutions that align with the organization's needs and goals. Process improvement and efficiency: Evaluate current people-related processes to identify inefficiencies and areas in need of improvement. Develop and deploy solutions to optimize processes and improve operational efficiency; including AI-driven solutions AI Governance: Advocate for responsible AI practices, ensuring data privacy, security, and ethical considerations are embedded throughout the process. Transformative change management: Collaborate across operations, programs, and regional and country leadership to drive essential transformations, focusing on addressing the underlying causes of challenges, reducing operational disruptions, and strengthening our ability to lead and maintain change in alignment with regional and global contexts. Leadership and team management: Leading and mentoring teams, fostering an environment of innovation and continuous improvement. This includes guiding staff in the development and implementation of projects and initiatives. Model and coach effective decision-support, inclusive behaviors & actions; address raised issues in a timely fashion. Advisory and decision support: As a key strategic advisor, you will provide guidance and support for decision-making risk mitigation, and engage with executive leadership to navigate complex challenges locally and globally. Sustainability and impact acceleration: Prioritize the development and implementation of solutions that are sustainable and contribute to the foundation's mission of making a global impact. Critical Thinking: Foresees future needs and adjusts priorities and resources, employing a strategic approach to problem-solving and decision-making based on comprehensive analysis. Systems Thinking: Understand the formal and informal intersections and interdependencies to be able to frame problems, evaluate issues, see downstream effects, and identify future implications across the end-to-end system to help prioritize solutions Collaborative approach: Engages in open, transparent teamwork, valuing diverse perspectives and fostering a shared goal of exceptional client experiences. Implementation excellence: Champion the implementation of solutions that address identified pain points, ensuring that solutions are not only efficient and effective on the ground but also are tailored for the foundation's global context. Your Experience: 5+ years of experience directly engaging with executive leadership, either through stakeholder management or decision support 10+ years related experience as an HR professional leading teams with a track record implementing large-scale and/or global change for employee-facing programs and initiatives Proficient with configuration and administration of customer service ticketing platforms (Zendesk) and HRIS systems (Workday). Sound understanding of HR processes and organizational dynamics, with the ability to translate business requirements into technical solutions. Proven practical global experience, including a deep understanding of the diverse cultural, socio-economic, and political landscapes Demonstrated history of leading, developing and implementing successful technology-driven strategies, with a focus on AI and automation. Demonstrated proficiency in structured problem solving, process optimization, and strategic business planning, with the capability to effectively recognize and communicate frameworks to analyze issues and achieve results. Strong analytical skills, with the ability to gather and interpret data to inform decision-making and measure the impact of initiatives. Expertise in process and program management, continuous improvement, and organizational agility Practical experience assessing the scope and complexity of initiatives in order to allocate resources, considering timing, aptitude, strengths/capabilities, etc. Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to navigate cross-cultural environments with empathy and respect. Must be able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship. The salary range for this role is $208,600-323,400 USD. We recognize high-wage market differences where our offices are located, in Seattle and Washington D.C.. The range for this role in these locations is $227,400-352,400 USD. As a mission-driven organization, we strive to balance competitive pay with our mission and new hires are typically brought into the organization at a salary range between the minimum and the midpoint salary range. Actual placement in the range will depend on a candidate's job-related skills, experience, and expertise, as evaluated during the interview process. #LI-EH1 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.