Senior Officer, Model Frameworks – Global Health

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 324,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Dental/vision coverage

Paid time off

Family leave

Retirement contribution

Regional holidays

Employee communities

Job summary

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation seeks a Senior Officer, Model Frameworks to advance IDM’s disease modeling software and AI capabilities. You will work across modeling paradigms, build robust framework components, and ensure reproducible results that accelerate evidence-to-policy in low-resource settings.

Role emphasizes independent planning, collaboration with IDM researchers and LMIC partners, and delivering well‑tested code within a CI/CD workflow. Seattle-based with global impact.

Qualifications

• 5–8 years of professional software engineering experience in research software or computational modeling contexts.
• Hands‑on experience with generative AI, including agent design, tool use, and context management.
• Knowledge of computational modeling (ABM, compartmental, or statistical/ML approaches).
• Demonstrated ability to deliver well‑tested, maintainable code within a CI/CD-enabled workflow.

Responsibilities

• Write well-tested, maintainable code with CI/CD and modern quality practices.
• Develop AI-enabled modeling components across IDM's paradigms (agent-based, compartmental, statistical).
• Plan and execute multiple projects independently with proactive communication and risk mitigation.
• Apply mathematical and AI/ML techniques to solve complex modeling challenges and support policy-ready results.
• Design AI capabilities to streamline research workflows, including literature synthesis and structured data extraction.

Skills

Software engineering

Generative AI

Computational modeling

CI/CD

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
• 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) at the Gates Foundation supports 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. The IDM team is comprised of research scientists, software engineers, and strategic planning professionals.

Your Role

The Institute for Disease Modeling (IDM) at the Gates Foundation is seeking a Senior Officer, Model Frameworks to build and improve the software and AI capabilities behind IDM’s disease modeling efforts. This role sits within the Model Frameworks team and reports to the Senior Manager, Model Frameworks. This work is critical to accelerating the evidence-to-policy lifecycle in low-resource settings by reducing the time researchers need to produce validated model results, and by holding supporting technology to scientific standards of validity and reproducibility.

What You’ll Do

• Technical Execution & AI Integration: Produce well-tested, maintainable code with strong use of CI/CD, code review, and modern quality practices. Use AI development tools to accelerate code development and improve quality, and share proven, best practice back to the team.
• Modeling Frameworks: Build, evaluate, and deploy AI-enabled modeling components with sound technical rigor, including data pipelines, context engineering, tool interfaces, evaluation harnesses, and guardrails. Work across IDM's modeling paradigms (agent-based, compartmental, statistical) to develop robust and reproducible framework capabilities.
• Autonomy & Delivery: Independently plan and execute work across concurrent projects, coordinating with teammates to keep deliverables on track with minimal supervision. Communicate proactively when timelines or priorities shift and escape risks with proposed solutions.
• Problem Solving: Structure open-ended modeling problems into tractable components, driving clarity for the team on where to start. Apply mathematical and AI/ML techniques creatively to solve complex modeling challenges and unblock peers when needed. Track emerging AI methods and modeling tools relevant to the team and bring insights into current projects.
• AI for Scientific Research: Design and build AI capabilities that refine how IDM researchers work, including summarization and synthesis of scientific literature, natural-language access to research data, structured extraction from unstructured sources, and agentic workflows that help automate research tasks. Hold a high bar for scientific credibility, leveraging traceable output and human review where results inform policy decisions.
• Collaboration & Partnership: Build strong working relationships with IDM/PST researchers and LMIC-based research partners to deliver solutions that accelerate research outcomes. Communicate clearly with both technical and research audiences, adapting to partner contexts and gaining buy-in for engineering approaches.
• Team Culture & Growth: Exemplify team culture, DEI norms, and collaborative engineering practice for peers and more junior engineers. Serve as a reliable go-to within the team for technical direction, design reviews, and problem escalation.

Your Experience

• Typically, 5–8 years of professional software engineering experience, or equivalent demonstrated impact in a research software or computational modeling context.
• Hands‑on experience building with generative AI, including agent design, tool use, and context management, in production or research‑grade environments, along with a working grasp of how AI system quality gets measured and improved.
• Knowledge of and hands‑on experience with computational modeling, such as agent‑based modeling (ABM), compartmental models, or statistical/ML approaches.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver well‑tested, maintainable code within a CI/CD-enabled engineering workflow.
• Ability to work independently on multi‑week tasks, communicate tradeoffs clearly, and adapt priorities based on manager and team feedback.

Preferred Experience

• Experience collaborating closely with researchers, applied scientists, or domain experts in global health or public health settings.
• Familiarity with open‑source software development practices, including contribution workflows, documentation standards, and community engagement.
• Exposure to cloud‑based data and compute platforms used for large‑scale analysis or simulation workloads.
• Hands‑on experience with production AI system design, such as orchestration across long‑running tasks, evaluation harnesses, and guardrails, at a level that could help guide practice for a team.
• Background in epidemiology, computational biology, infectious disease modeling, or scientific computing.
• Experience working in LMIC contexts or designing software for use in low‑resource or low‑bandwidth environments.

Background

Must have unrestricted work authorization in the country where this position is located. The Foundation does not provide immigration‑related sponsorship for this role. This includes direct company sponsorship and any work authorization requiring a written submission or other immigration support from the company (e.g. H‑1B, O‑1, L‑1, E, OPT, STEM‑OPT, CPT, TN, J‑1, etc.).

Salary

The salary range for this role is $190,100 to $294,700 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 $290,100 to $324,100 USD. As a mission‑driven organization, we strive to balance competitive pay with our mission. New hires salaries are typically between the range minimum and the salary range 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. 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. In the United States, we aim to ensure that everyone—especially those with the fewest resources—has access to the opportunities needed to succeed in school and life.

Location and Leadership

Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Mark Suzman, under the direction of Bill Gates and our governing board.