Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, we work with partners to create impactful solutions so that people can take charge of their futures and achieve their full potential. The Deputy Director, AI Delivery & Government Partnerships, will lead the end-to-end design and implementation of AI-enabled programs in African Low-and Middle-Income Country (LMIC) settings, focusing on institutional adoption, operational feasibility, and sustainable pathways to scale.
Responsibilities
Country Delivery Leadership
- Lead end-to-end design and implementation of AI-enabled programs in African LMIC settings working closely with the Africa Data and Digital team.
- Focus on institutional adoption, operational feasibility, sequencing, equity of access, and sustainable pathways to scale.
- Translate strategic opportunities into funded, governed programs with clear goals, timelines, budgets, and measurable outcomes (cost reduction, productivity gains, service quality, equity performance).
- Develop practical delivery playbooks built for real-world constraints such as low bandwidth, intermittent connectivity, workforce shortages, and multilingual environments.
Government Partnerships & Trust-Based Adoption
- Serve as the Foundation’s senior Africa-facing partner to Ministries and public institutions (ICT, Health, Education, Agriculture, Finance).
- Build trust to unlock data access, workflow integration, and sustained institutional use.
- Establish effective governance mechanisms: accountabilities, data safeguards, human-in-the-loop protocols, and incident response pathways.
- Support countries to move from pilots to scale through structured adoption pathways: training and change management.
AI Platform Partnerships – Africa Execution Owner
- Lead testing and implementation of AI platform partnerships across Africa (e.g., Horizon 100 in Rwanda, Kenya, and South Africa).
- Enable frontline health facilities to leverage AI tools for clinical documentation, triage optimization, and knowledge accessibility.
- Build the partner ecosystem: implementers, training institutions, local innovators, and digital platforms.
- Drive "one-plan" approaches so AI investments reinforce broader reform agendas.
Ecosystem Building & Pan-African Engagement
- Strengthen and connect AI hubs across priority countries (Senegal, Nigeria, Rwanda, Kenya, Ethiopia).
- Lead engagement with Smart Africa, the Africa AI Council, AFDB, and relevant AU/REC bodies to shape standards and responsible AI frameworks.
- Identify and support bottom-up innovation, including community-based AI hubs.
Responsible & Equitable AI
- Embed equity-by-design: participatory co-design, language inclusion, and accessibility.
- Ensure protocols govern data use, informed consent, privacy, and safety, with monitoring for equity across demographic subgroups.
Portfolio Management, Measurement & Learning
- Manage a portfolio balancing scale-ready execution with disciplined experimentation.
- Apply stage gates for evidence, adoption readiness, and cost-effectiveness.
- Build reusable assets: playbooks, governance frameworks, and evaluation methodologies.
Team Leadership
- Manage and develop a team of program staff, technical advisors, and implementation partners.
- Foster a high-performing, collaborative culture grounded in measurable impact.
- Navigate matrixed relationships across global teams and the India country office.
Qualifications and Experience
- 12+ years of progressive leadership experience in large-scale digital, AI, or data-enabled programs.
- Demonstrated results in LMIC settings and public sector delivery contexts.
- Proven ability to translate complex technology into institutional adoption (governance design, change management, workforce training).
- Track record of building partnerships with governments and public institutions.
- Strong program leadership: defining OKRs, managing multi-stakeholder budgets, and generating evidence of impact.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills for senior government and donor audiences.
- Practical AI literacy: ability to assess value, identify risks, and implement safely in resource-constrained environments.
- Deep AI research credentials are NOT required.
How to Apply
Interested and qualified? Go to the Gates Foundation career portal at gatesfoundation.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com to apply.
