Senior Communications Officer, Campaigns, Africa Regional Office at Gates Foundation

Your Role

• The Senior Communications Officer, Campaigns, Africa Regional Office (ARO), will lead the development and delivery of integrated, audience-first communications campaigns that advance the foundation’s priorities across Africa. 
• The postholder will drive end-to-end campaign planning and execution to strengthen trust in the foundation’s brand and support for priority issues. Working across a matrixed organization, you will partner closely with colleagues across the ARO, Communications Division, and Global Policy & Advocacy (GPA) to ensure campaigns are insight-driven, locally grounded, and globally aligned. This role requires the ability to lead cross-functional teams without direct authority, using influence to align stakeholders around a shared campaign vision. 
• The role will involve developing audience-first campaign strategies and plans, shaping creative and content briefs, building audience journeys and distribution to reach them effectively, and leading post-campaign evaluation. The postholder will work closely across multiple teams, including the advocacy leads, country communication leads, as well as content, channel and media teams, to ensure alignment between strategy and execution. In addition, you will partner with the Measurement and Insights team to define KPIs, support message and creative testing, and generate insights to inform and strengthen campaign performance. 
• The position will be based in Nairobi, Kenya, and report to the Deputy Director, Content, Campaigns and Digital - Africa.

What You’ll Do

Campaign strategy and integrated planning 

• Lead the development of integrated campaign strategies aligned to ARO priorities, with clear audience focus, narrative, and objectives. 
• Translate audience insights, research, and monitoring into actionable campaign plans. 
• Define channel, content, and engagement strategies across owned, earned, and paid media in partnership with relevant teams. 
• Develop campaign briefs and planning frameworks to guide cross-functional execution. 
• Build and manage budgets at a campaign level.
• Contribute to shaping ARO’s broader communications and campaign model, including planning processes and operating rhythms.

Campaign Execution  

• Drive end-to-end campaign delivery across priority markets and channels, ensuring alignment with strategy and timelines. 
• Coordinate cross-functional teams across communications, country offices, and global teams. 
• Partner across teams including content, creative, earned, channel and champion building leads to ensure execution is consistent, high-quality, and on strategy. 
• Support priority moments (e.g., leadership visits, key announcements) with integrated campaign planning and execution.

Audience Engagement 

• Identify and activate credible voices and messengers, and apply brand activation tactics to reach and engage priority audiences across key moments and platforms. 
• Work with partners and external stakeholders to extend campaign reach and resonance. 
• Support the development of locally relevant narratives and content that resonate in diverse and dynamic contexts.

Measurement, Learning, and Optimization 

• Partner with Measurement & Insights teams to define KPIs and learning agendas for campaigns. 
• Use data, analytics, and audience feedback to refine strategies and improve performance. 
• Lead post-campaign reviews and capture learnings to inform future planning. 
• Contribute to building an evidence base for campaign approaches to support decision-making.

Your Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in communications, marketing, or a related field. 
• 8–10 years of senior-level experience strategizing and leading integrated communications or marketing campaigns in global, regional, or multi-country contexts, ideally in dynamic and fast-paced environments (e.g. agency and in-house). 
• Strong ability to translate audience insights into clear, actionable strategies and campaigns.
• Proven ability to integrate paid, owned, and earned media in campaign execution. 
• Solid understanding of digital, social, and media landscapes across multiple markets in Africa. 
• Strong collaboration and influencing skills in matrixed environments. 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to synthesize complex topics for diverse audiences. 
• Experience working with external partners, agencies, and stakeholders
• Strong execution and project management skills, with the ability to coordinate across multiple geographies, teams and partners.
• Familiarity with measurement, analytics, and campaign performance tracking. 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.

Other Attributes

• Comfortable in a wide range of cultural, geographic and operational situations, demonstrating culturally sensitive behaviour with a diverse range of people and a deep commitment to development issues and high standards of personal integrity.
• Be able to travel up to 25-30% domestic and internationally