Director, Institute for Disease Modeling

Gates Foundation; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 375,000 - 582,000; Full time

Job summary

The Institute for Disease Modeling (IDM) sits within the Gates Foundation, where you will lead scientific direction and strategic vision across global health initiatives. You will drive quantitative science, data analytics, and modeling to inform high-impact decisions and investments.

You will also shape collaborations with researchers, governments, and partners to advance IDM's mission at scale. As IDM Director, you will foster an inclusive, high-performing culture, guide talent development,

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in mathematics, epidemiology, statistics, computational science, computer science, or closely related quantitative discipline.
• Deep expertise in mathematical and dynamical disease modeling, epidemiology, and related quantitative fields.

Responsibilities

• Set IDM's scientific and technical direction and priorities.
• Lead and develop IDM's senior leadership team for scientific excellence.
• Translate modeling and quantitative insights into strategy, investments, and program decisions.
• Represent IDM externally and build scientific partnerships to advance global health.

Skills

Scientific leadership

Quantitative modeling

Data science

Strategic thinking

Education

Ph.D. in mathematics/epidemiology/computational science

Job description

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 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

The Institute for Disease Modeling (IDM) is an embedded research institute within the Gates Foundation, supporting global efforts to eradicate infectious diseases and achieve permanent improvements in health. We develop, use, and share computational modeling tools, and promote quantitative decision‑making through robust mathematical and statistical modeling. The IDM team comprises both research scientists and software engineers. IDM has a bold and important vision, and you will play a key role in realizing that vision through the impact you have as a research leader, as a team manager, strategic thinker, and thought partner.

Application Deadline: Saturday, November 7, 2026

Your Role

As Director of the Institute for Disease Modeling (IDM), you provide the scientific and technical vision, strategic leadership, and organizational direction to advance IDM's impact on global health and development. You set IDM's scientific agenda, shape its capabilities, and ensure its expertise in infectious disease modeling, quantitative science, data science, and analytics is applied to the foundation's most consequential challenges.

Leading a unique research institute embedded within the Gates Foundation, you have the opportunity to connect innovative science with real‑world decision‑making at scale. You serve as a trusted scientific and strategic partner to foundation leaders, bringing independent scientific judgment and ensuring rigorous quantitative evidence informs strategies, investments, policies, and programmatic decisions. You identify emerging opportunities, guide scientific priorities, and foster collaboration across subject areas, programs, and geographies to increase IDM's impact.

You also serve as a prominent external ambassador for IDM, building influential scientific partnerships, strengthening its reputation, and positioning the institute as a destination for exceptional scientific and technical talent. Through the IDM leadership team, you cultivate a high‑performing, collaborative, and innovative organization, with accountability for its scientific excellence, talent, culture, organizational effectiveness, and long‑term impact.

What You'll Do

• Set IDM's scientific and technical direction, establishing the agenda, priorities, and standards for dynamical disease modeling, quantitative science, data science, software, and analytics and ensuring IDM maintains a high bar for scientific rigor, innovation, relevance, and impact.
• Apply deep scientific, programmatic, and technical judgment to prioritize IDM's portfolio, determining where IDM should invest its capabilities and capacity, where it can make a distinctive contribution, and what work should be stopped or deprioritized as foundation priorities and scientific opportunities evolve.
• Ensure IDM's modeling and analytical capabilities are integrated into strategy and decision‑making across the foundation, partnering with foundation leaders and program teams to frame critical questions, challenge assumptions, define needed data collection, evaluate emerging analytic technologies, assess interventions and investment choices, and translate quantitative evidence into actionable strategic insight. Oversee the development and deepening of partnerships with PSTs, functional teams, and regional and country offices.
• Leverage IDM's foundation-wide perspective and independent analytical role to connect evidence, models, methods, and insights across strategies, disease areas, sectors, and geographies; identify emerging opportunities and risks; and surface implications that may not be visible within individual programs.
• Lead the effective integration of modeling, data science, software, and analytical capabilities around priority scientific and strategic questions, making choices about the capabilities, approaches, and resources required to deliver the greatest impact.
• Maintain a strong external scientific presence and represent IDM in the field, building relationships with leading researchers, institutions, governments, industry, and global health partners and positioning IDM as a trusted and influential contributor to infectious disease modeling and quantitative science.
• Strengthen IDM's ability to attract, develop, and retain exceptional scientific and technical talent by maintaining a compelling scientific agenda, strong external reputation, and environment in which leading researchers and technical experts can do high‑impact work.
• Anticipate developments in infectious disease modeling, computational science, data science, AI, and related fields and determine where emerging methods and technologies should shape IDM's scientific agenda and capabilities. Evaluate the nascent capabilities of frontier approaches and assess their relevance across Foundation domains, guiding the engagement of practitioners at IDM.
• Lead, develop, and hold accountable IDM's senior leadership team, ensuring clear accountability across scientific and technical portfolios and aligning talent, capacity, and resources to IDM's highest priorities.
• Foster enabling conditions for talent to thrive and be accountable for a collaborative, inclusive, and high‑performing culture characterized by scientific excellence, intellectual independence, accountability, learning, and effective partnership. Model and coach equitable decision‑making, inclusive behaviors and actions; address critical issues in a timely fashion.

Your Experience

• A Ph.D. in mathematics, epidemiology, statistics, computational science, computer science, or a closely related quantitative or scientific discipline.
• Deep scientific expertise in mathematical and dynamical disease modeling, with substantial knowledge of infectious disease epidemiology and transmission dynamics, computational modeling, and related quantitative disciplines.
• Significant senior leadership experience in a scientific, technical, research, computational, or global health environment, with demonstrated ability to set scientific direction and lead through senior scientific and technical leaders.
• Recognized scientific standing and credibility in infectious disease modeling, quantitative science, epidemiology, computational science, or a closely related field, with a demonstrated record of contribution to the broader scientific community.
• Demonstrated ability to use scientific and technical judgment to establish priorities, evaluate competing opportunities, make difficult portfolio choices, and direct resources toward the highest‑impact work.
• Deep experience with global health data, including epidemiological, population, and genomic sequencing data.
• Demonstrated experience translating modeling, quantitative evidence, and scientific insights into strategy, investment, policy, and programmatic decisions.
• Demonstrated ability to work across organizational and disciplinary boundaries, advising and influencing senior leaders and identifying opportunities to apply scientific and quantitative capabilities across diverse strategies and priorities.
• Experience evaluating emerging or frontier technologies and their relevance for global health.

The salary range for this role is $375,200 to $581,600 USD. We recognize high‑wage market differences in Seattle and Washington D.C., where our offices are located. The range for this role in these locations is $412,700 to $639,700 USD. As a mission‑driven organization, we strive to balance competitive pay with our mission. New hire salaries are typically between the salary range minimum and midpoint. Actual placement in the range will depend on a candidate’s job‑related skills, experience, and expertise, as evaluated during the interview process.

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

We’re committed to providing an inclusive and accessible hiring experience for all candidates. If you have a disability or medical condition and need an accommodation at any stage of the application or interview process—such as an ASL interpreter, alternative interview format, or physical accessibility support—we’re happy to help. Please contact [e-mail] with the position number and a brief description of your accommodation needs. Requests will be handled confidentially.

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.