Senior Program Officer, Southeast Asia Development Policy and Finance

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Seattle, WA or Washington, DC, United States

Your Role

This position brings together three complementary needs:

Asian multilateral development bank engagement and relationship management, Regional economic and financial research and analysis, and Selective country/regional engagement furthering our work on domestic resource mobilization (DRM), and digital public financial management (D-PFM), and innovative finance. This position will also support leadership driven (and DPAF-supported) special initiatives and projects.

The role will require:

Strong relationship management experience to support our foundation program teams in building effective partnerships with multilateral development banks; In-depth knowledge of the MDBs’ operational and financial models; and Strong technical skills, including namely proficiency in applied economic analysis, writing, research, and PowerPoint as well as an understanding of the theory and practice of public financial management and domestic resource mobilization.

What You’ll Do

Asian multilateral development bank engagement and relationship management (50%)

Support foundation program teams to develop engagement strategies with Asian MDBs (e.g., Asian Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, New Development Bank) and advise on individual investments, as requested.
Plan and organize foundation leadership interactions with ADB, AIIB, NDB senior officials, and with think tanks and CSOs trying to influence them.
Participate in meetings, coordinate programmatic input, and write and review briefs to prepare Foundation Leadership for high-profile events.
Maintain DPAF’s suite of materials on investing with the MDBs and organize quarterly internal MDB partner meetings.
Assist in developing partnership opportunities with the SEA MDBs and other regional development policy and finance partners and socializing them with appropriate Foundation contacts, and managing follow-up.
Analyze experiences of countries in the region that have graduated from MDB (or other multilateral) concessional support and how lessons learned from those experiences could apply to countries in the region that are expected to graduate from such assistance in the next 10-15 years.

Regional economic research and analysis (25%)

Draft economic analyses for foundation leadership focused on SEA and Asia, especially macro-fiscal issues including debt, capital markets development, and other salient issues related to fiscal space and public finance.
Geo-politically relevant global work based on Singapore’s positioning as an Asia-focused neutral hub, covering East, South and Southeast Asia.
Applied economic policy analysis supporting foundation sector work, especially connecting to emerging priorities to macro policy and economic growth questions across the SEA region.
Collaborate and engage with regional partners to develop and disseminate standard methodologies and analysis (climate/development finance, digital PFM, human capital) to ensure the Foundation is learning from prior efforts.
Evidence to policy in SEA: Building out regional policy positions that can be used in regional and global multilateral partners.

Selective country/regional work furthering our global work on domestic resource mobilization (DRM) and digital public financial management (D-PFM) and support for leadership driven (and DPAF-supported) special initiatives and projects (25%)

Track relationships of SEA MDBs with priority ASEAN countries and the ASEAN Secretariat to identify additional collaboration opportunities.
Identify promising new innovations and activity across southeast Asia.
Support the development of a regional hub for two-way dissemination and influence in support of DPAF’s emerging D-PFM agenda and related work on DRM.
Support DPAF’s D-PFM work with a focus on the (i) optimal formulation and allocation of budget resources to key development priorities (e.g., health, agriculture, women’s economic empowerment/livelihoods, digital public infrastructure), (ii) timely release and execution of allocated budget resources, and (iii) effective tracking and management of budget expenditure.
Resource mobilization in developing countries with a focus on (i) DRM and equitable taxation at national and sub-national levels, (ii) accessing and optimizing the use of international donor and DFI funding towards key development priorities.
Support resource mobilization from developed and middle-income countries in the region (Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand), emphasizing importance and benefits of a greater global leadership role for ASEAN.
Engage with country finance ministries/budget authorities, regional economic bodies, and development finance institutions, initiatives, and actors in SEA to support Foundation priorities in development finance.
Design, implement, and manage special development financing funds and facilities, including in collaboration with sovereign wealth funds in the region.
Explore and analyze examples of innovative financial mechanisms and vehicles being deployed in the region and how they could be exported.
Serve as a regional liaison and internal subject matter specialist on areas above, collaborating with teams across the foundation on technical and operational intersections to advance program work.
Cultivate a set of external relationships and partners to build regional technical, political or advocacy collaborations to advance the work.

Your Experience

Master’s degree or equivalent experience in economics, finance, public policy, international relations.
In-depth knowledge of MDBs, particularly their financial and operational models.
Strong knowledge of the South/Southeast Asia development eco-system and government processes in priority countries, advocacy experience preferred.
Sophisticated consumer – and producer – of applied policy research and analytical work on issues of development policy.
Experience in developing and leading strong partnerships and relationships with senior decision makers inside and outside of an organization, handling conflicts, and building consensus.
Validated strength in structured problem solving and strategic business planning, with the ability to easily identify and communicate framework to analyze issues.
Strong written and verbal communication skills. Works with efficiency and tact.
Identifies and communicates the broad external and internal dynamics and articulates implications for strategy, priorities, and team evolution.
Articulates strategy and spots connections between disparate themes and competing priorities.
Makes sound operational and business decisions.
Models and reinforces positive culture norms.
Orchestrates cross-org transformation and alignment.
Able to run matrixed resources.