Program Assistant at Bill And Melinda Gates Foundation

The Role

• The Program Assistant (PA) plays a critical role in ensuring smooth operations for the Nigeria Country Office. This role requires exceptional organizational skills, attention to detail, and the ability to manage multiple priorities seamlessly.
• The PA will primarily support the Family Health Team – Nigeria Country Office (NCO), coordinating complex calendars through different time zones, supporting stakeholder engagements, and program logistics while ensuring nothing “falls through the cracks.” The PA will also provide administrative and coordination support across other programmatic teams as needed, enabling efficient delivery of the foundation’s priorities in Nigeria.

What You’ll Do

• Provide direct administrative and coordination support to the Health Team – NCO, ensuring smooth operations and timely follow-through on priorities.
• Manage complex calendars, travel and visa applications, and event scheduling across multiple time zones.
• Support planning and execution of high-level meetings, conferences, and stakeholder engagements.
• Ensure timely follow-through on action items, proactively preventing bottlenecks.
• Draft, edit, and prepare high-quality correspondence, reports, and briefing materials.
• Support different programmatic teams with administrative and coordination needs.
• Maintain organized systems for tracking, monitoring, and prioritizing tasks/projects.
• Build and manage relationships with government stakeholders, grantees, and partners.
• Handle confidential information with discretion and professionalism.
• Provide communications and logistics support to ensure smooth day-to-day operations.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Public Health, Health Sciences, Administration, or a related field (a medical or public health background is strongly preferred).
• Minimum 5 years of relevant professional experience in administration, program support, project coordination, or similar roles.
• Proven ability to multitask, manage complexities, and follow through on commitments in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with experience engaging senior officials, partners, and multi-sectoral teams.
• Excellent writing and communication skills, with ability to synthesize complex information into clear outputs.
• High proficiency in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, SharePoint, Teams).
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively across diverse teams and adapt to shifting priorities.
• Culturally sensitive, resourceful, and able to work independently as well as in teams.

Other Attributes

• Experience supporting programmatic teams in health-related initiatives.
• Strong client-service orientation and problem-solving approach.
• Must be legally authorized to work in Nigeria without visa sponsorship.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally up to 25%.
• Medical or public health background is a must have experience