Deputy Director, Family Health

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
- Division Summary
The Africa and India Offices include 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 work in areas with the potential for high-impact, sustainable solutions that can reach millions of people. Our focus is on innovative delivery, including an emphasis on strengthening primary health care systems.
Our efforts are aligned with India’s National Health Policy Goals (NHP, 2017) to - reduce preventable deaths among mothers and children and enable elimination of selected infectious diseases, and we work closely with India’s Central and State governments, and partner with community-based organizations, nonprofit organizations, academic and research institutions, the private sector, and development organizations, to achieve our shared goals. Our strong networks and ability to convene intellectual resources globally and across many sectors enable us to address emerging and complex challenges. Our efforts in India focus on key issues that 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 in several states of the country.
Your Role
India has made substantial progress in improving maternal, newborn, and child health outcomes, reflecting sustained national and state-level efforts. Building on these gains, opportunities remain to accelerate progress, particularly in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Meghalaya, Odisha, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh, where the foundation collaborates with the state governments and other partners in advancing these efforts. The foundation is committed to supporting India’s continued progress towards a future where no mother, newborn, or child dies from preventable causes. The Deputy Director, Family Health plays a key role in advancing this goal in partnership with India’s central and state governments.
- What you will be directly accountable
The Deputy Director, Family Health, holds direct accountability for the foundation’s Maternal, Newborn, Child and Nutrition Health (MNCNH) portfolio in India - its strategy, investment choices and results - and family planning and women’s health innovation to advance health outside of pregnancy, supporting advancement towards national goals and contribute to progress against the foundation's global goals in the areas described above.
You will lead implementation of the foundation’s health priorities through partners in the states assigned to you, currently Assam, Meghalaya, and Odisha (and other states of strategic importance as assigned). You will also prepare strategy for local institutional capacity building for national and state institutions and for comprehensive primary health care and implement them through the respective foundation’s state leads for the state work.
- What you will integrate or converge
You will connect the MNCNH portfolio with the foundation’s other health work - including Program Strategy Teams (PSTs) such as Women’s Health Innovation, Health Research & Development (R&D), Digital and AI, Measurement, Learning and Evaluation (MLE), and Partnerships and Communications - so that strategies, grants and investments fit together and trade-offs are made explicitly. Convergence with health (R&D) team is required to facilitate innovations development, testing, and integration into health systems to solve complex challenges. Where heath systems lever such as human resources for health, data systems, supply chains, strategic purchasing or comprehensive primary health care are needed to deliver MNCNH and state goals, you will draw on them in coordination with the teams that lead that work.
- Where accountability is shared
In your assigned states you will share accountability with the foundation’s state teams, working alongside the Deputy Directors for the Infectious Diseases and State Health Systems.
You will report to the Director - Health, India Country Office, and be a member of the India Country Office management team. This position partners closely with multiple Deputy Directors and Program Officers and is a member of a matrixed team, requiring collaboration with cross-domain program and functional teams in India and other foundation offices.
- What success looks like
Measurable, time bound programs on MNCNH goals in the portfolio and your assigned states; a well-chosen portfolio of investments with clear milestones and go/no-go decisions; strong relationship with government and local partners; and mentor a high-performing, well-developed team.
The role sits within the Foundation’s India Country Office (ICO) in New Delhi.
- What You’ll Do
a) Strategy, Portfolio Leadership and Delivery
Lead the strategy, development and delivery of the foundation’s grant portfolio in India, spanning MNCNH, Family Planning and Women’s Health Innovation. Drive measurable, time-bound progress against clearly defined outcomes and indicators aligned with maternal and child survival goals.
Collaborate closely with the foundation’s Program Strategy Teams (PSTs) in Seattle to ensure alignment between global priorities and ICO strategies, while using evidence and local insights to advocate for context-specific adaptations.
Provide strategic leadership and oversight of the foundation’s health priorities in assigned states, currently Assam, Meghalaya and Odisha, as well as other states of strategic importance as required. Lead, manage and support the teams (two members) responsible for delivering these priorities.
Shape and advance strategies to strengthen the capacity of local institutions and improve comprehensive primary health care, working through national and state-level teams and institutional partners to support effective implementation.
Oversee the design, management and performance of strategic investments and grant portfolios in support of programmatic and policy objectives. Establish clear milestones and performance measures to inform investment decisions, assess progress, manage risks and make informed trade-offs across interventions, while promoting learning and knowledge-sharing across states.
b) Cross-Functional Leadership and Health Systems Strengthening
Share accountability with the foundation’s state health systems strengthening and infectious disease teams for achieving health outcomes in assigned states. Provide strategic direction, foster cross-team collaboration and resolve complex challenges requiring senior leadership engagement.
Lead convergence between MNCNH, family planning, women’s health initiative PST teams, India Country Office’s Health Research & Development and Digital Health and AI for family health and state deliverables.
Leverage critical health system enablers, including human resources for health, health information systems, supply chains, procurement and strategic purchasing, to accelerate progress towards MNCNH and state-level objectives, in close collaboration with the teams leading health systems strengthening.
Foster effective collaboration across matrixed teams, ensuring alignment of priorities, coordinated execution and shared accountability for results.
c) Partnerships, Policy Engagement and External Influence
Build and sustain strategic relationships with senior government officials, technical divisions within relevant national ministries and state departments, and other key stakeholders to advance the foundation’s health priorities and influence policy and programme implementation.
Monitor emerging policy developments, evolving government priorities and programme reforms to identify opportunities for strategic engagement and support. Leverage evidence generation, data analysis and technical expertise to inform policy dialogue and strengthen decision-making across MNCNH, Family Planning and Women’s Health.
Develop and nurture high-impact partnerships with bilateral and multilateral agencies, philanthropic organisations, public health institutions, NGOs, private sector organisations and other stakeholders to accelerate progress towards the foundation’s goals in India.
Maintain a structured and purposeful cadence of engagement with government counterparts, grantees and strategic partners. Lead periodic consultations, portfolio reviews and stakeholder discussions to asse

Skills
Data Analysis, Procurement