Senior Advisor

COMPANY OVERVIEW

Founded by Melinda French Gates, Pivotal is a group of organizations working to accelerate the pace of social progress for women and young people in the U.S. and around the world.

Inspired by our founder, we reach across communities and sectors to bring together innovative thinkers who can scale up proven ideas and catalyze new ones. We learn from their experiences, amplify their resources, and support them as they lead.

Pivotal includes Pivotal Philanthropies, focused on charitable grantmaking and impact investing; Pivotal Initiatives Fund, focused on policy and advocacy work; and Pivotal Ventures, focused on direct investments and partnerships. 

ROLE DESCRIPTION                                   

This individual works across multiple entities within the Pivotal ecosystem. This role leads multi-entity principal learning, donor coordination and network building, cross-functional project and operations management, and supports the Vice President to make timely, informed decisions. This role provides strategic oversight for designing and facilitating executive and team rhythms of the business and leading initiatives that advance the team’s strategic priorities and operational effectiveness.

This role is expected to have a duration of 12 months. Applications will be accepted through October 9, 2026. Pivotal reserves the right to begin interviews and make a hiring decision before that date.

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES

 Strategic Support to the Vice President

• Provide strategic counsel and advisor to the Vice President to enable effective decision-making and alignment across principals and team operations.
• Independently lead and make decisions on complex, high-priority projects and initiatives on behalf of the Vice President, exercising significant judgment in situations involving multiple stakeholders and competing priorities.
• Advance key priorities within and on behalf of the Vice President.
• Provide oversight to ensure alignment with critical priorities and manage the Vice President’s agenda, time, calendar and workflow to those priorities.

 Strategic Planning, Budget Alignment, and Investment Process

• Lead multi-entity annual and long-range planning process, including setting annual priorities, coordinating budget and operations guidance, and managing timelines and deliverables.
• Manage Senior Lead to manage Investment process and routine budget reporting and management.
• Manage daily relationships with family offices to ensure clarity and alignment across principals’ priorities.
• Drive implementation of the multi-entity strategic framework and measurement of progress against annual priority results.

Strategic Oversight of Philanthropic Partnerships

• Oversee and lead partnerships strategy to advance a network of the Principal’s high-priority philanthropists and emerging philanthropists.
• Tailor philanthropic engagement plans for individuals and groups, map how engagement plans intersect and align with existing program strategies, partnerships and initiatives, supervise funding decisions, and, as appropriate, leverage the Principals’ philanthropic voice and engagement.
• Serve as a relationship manager or connector, managing key relationships with philanthropists and their teams and/or aligning with other relationship managers and functions at Pivotal Philanthropies to activate legally compliant strategies/partnerships and offer insights into the book of business, approach, and Principals.

Cross-Org Projects & Strategic Initiatives

• Coordinate and head cross-team functions including correspondence and network management, communications, learning and donor partnerships.
• Build and manage consultant and contractor capacity to execute cross-team functions

Plan and Execute Principal Learning Program

• Through engaging the team and Principals, design tailored and cross-principal learning curriculums.
• Stay current on philanthropic models, tools, and approaches to bring learning efforts to team and principals.
• Develop “blue sky” ideas and lead exploratory work to advance  vision and mission, such as incubations, functions, initiatives and partnerships, establishing the process and rules of engagement to ensure strategic alignment with organizational priorities and resources.
• Support team collaboration to increase impact by seeing opportunities for shared learning and cross-strategic initiative partnerships.

Rhythm of the Business (ROTB)

• Lead ROTB planning and implementation across principals and team to develop alignment, priority setting, and coordinated decision-making.
• Coordinate across team, family offices, and principals’ activities to ensure effective planning and communication.

Perform other job-related duties as assigned.

CORE COMPETENCIES

To perform this role successfully, individuals must demonstrate the skills and behaviors aligned with our Pivotal Principles that define what success looks like across all roles. These competencies reflect the expectations for how we work together, lead, grow, and deliver impact for all employees regardless of function or level.

Build and Maintain Trust

Act with integrity and foster an inclusive and collaborative work environment.

• Is Inclusive – Advance a culture of equity and belonging.
• Act with Integrity – Tell the truth, take responsibility for your actions, meet your commitments, and act ethically.
• Collaborate – Build trusting relationships and treat people with dignity and respect.

 Drive Impact

Deliver high-quality work that is aligned with Pivotal Strategic Initiatives.

• Solve Problems – Identify issues and seek diverse perspectives to develop potential solutions.
• Propel Work Forward – Take initiative, prioritize work appropriately, and complete work on time.
• Center Stewardship – Use resources responsibly, consider and manage risk, and follow Pivotal policies and procedures.

 Learn and Grow

Demonstrate a commitment to continuous individual and organizational development.

• Contribute Constructively – Participate in advancing individual, team, and organization-wide well-being and resilience.
• Occupy Growth-Mindset – Embrace challenges, learn from mistakes, and focus on improvement.
• Share Knowledge – Document work appropriately, assess outcomes, and share explicit and tacit learning.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS 

• Minimum of 12+ years of experience in senior-level project management, organizational strategy, or cross-functional leadership roles, or an equivalent combination of advanced training and experience.
• Demonstrated experience leading large scale and complex philanthropic initiatives and partnerships.
• Demonstrated experience working in confidential, high-trust environments with principals
• Demonstrated experience owning and making decisions on high-stakes, complex, cross-org projects.
• Experience managing significant budgets, including planning, tracking, and decision support.
• Proven track record to design and implement effective strategies to advance org-wide priorities.
• Ability to make informed decisions on behalf of executive leadership, with a high degree of discretion and judgment.
• Excellent written and oral communications skills, including experience presenting to senior leaders.
• Proficiency using Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and SharePoint).
• Fluency in use of systems necessary to role (e.g., Salesforce, Workday).

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS 

• Experience advising or supporting executive leaders, such as a CEO or President, with preference for expertise in supporting non-profit or foundation leadership
• Prior work experience in a multi-entity organization or mission-driven organization with governance structures.
• Experience setting and driving rhythm-of-the-business calendars and executive meeting structures (e.g., board, ELT, leadership retreats).
• Experience building social impact efforts through building donor partnerships
• Exposure to project management platforms and tools.

EMPLOYMENT DETAILS

The salary range for this position is $263,400 - $295,500 per year. Benefits will be provided by your employer of record and currently include medical, dental, vision, life, disability, and long-term care insurance, fertility benefit, caregiving support, 144 hours of vacation, 96 hours of sick leave, 401k, HSA, FSA, and more. Eligibility for and the amount of benefits provided are governed by the terms of the applicable plan documents. 

This role is expected to have a duration of 12 months. This means that, absent some change, the position will end within that timeframe as defined in the offer letter. The limited duration of the position does not alter the at-will nature of the position or work at Pivotal Ventures. Applications will be accepted through October 9, 2026. Pivotal reserves the right to begin interviews and make a hiring decision before that date.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential function satisfactorily. Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive list of duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time, in Pivotal’s discretion, with or without notice.

Pivotal values diversity and is strongly committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all employees and all applicants seeking employment. All employment decisions at Pivotal are based on the candidate’s or employee’s capabilities and qualifications without regard to race (including traits associated with race, including hair texture and protective hairstyles such as afros, braids, locks, and twists), color, creed, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship or immigration status, caste, veteran or military status, marital, parental, or familial status, disability (including sensory, physical, or mental disability), medical condition, genetic information or predisposing genetic characteristics, domestic violence victim status, political ideology, or any other status or characteristic protected by applicable law.

Pivotal complies with federal, state, and local equal opportunity and disability laws and makes reasonable accommodation consistent with those laws for applicants and employees with disabilities. Please contact [email protected] for assistance and/or reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or recruiting process.

Applications may be submitted via the Pivotal Careers page.