Senior Research Scientist, Population Health Modeling (Nutrition and Disease) (*2-year LTE)

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

As part of the Gates Foundation (GF), the Institute for Disease Modeling (IDM) mission is to support global efforts to eradicate infectious diseases and achieve permanent improvements in health by developing, using, and sharing computational modeling tools and promoting quantitative decision-making. The IDM team is composed of research scientists and software developers who create advanced models of disease transmission, develop computational tools to inform global disease eradication policy, conduct analysis of epidemiologically- and policy-relevant data, and identify and address critical knowledge gaps. IDM is a highly dynamic organization with a work environment that is defined by innovation and collaboration. As part of our work, we routinely collaborate with international health agencies, ministries of health in the developing world, as well as universities and research institutes across the globe.

*This position is a limited-term position for 2 years. Relocation will be provided.

Your Role 

In this role, we seek a full-time Senior Research Scientist to join IDM’s Gender, Vulnerability and Health Equity (GVHE) research team with deep expertise in applied statistics for population health research. This role sits at the intersection of nutrition science and population health modeling: the core question is how nutrition investments interact with and amplify outcomes across infectious disease, maternal health, and human capital programs. The successful candidate will bring enough depth in nutrition science to identify which interventions are likely to produce synergistic effects and to guide the disease modeling work, while also having strong quantitative skills in causal inference and comparative impact estimation across domains. This role is well suited to a quantitative epidemiologist or global health researcher who has worked across disease areas and has meaningful nutrition exposure. Candidates whose primary background is in mechanistic or biological systems modeling of nutrition, single-domain health economics without cross-program experience, or nutrition epidemiology without a modeling or investment-decision context are unlikely to be a good fit.

What You’ll Do

• Model how nutrition investments interact with and modify outcomes in infectious disease, maternal health, and related domains — developing stratified population models that make effect heterogeneity by nutritional status, disease burden, and geography empirically visible
• Translate multi-intervention impact estimates into comparative evidence that informs portfolio-level decisions
• Analyze complex, real-world datasets (e.g., surveys, surveillance systems, administrative and programmatic data), often characterized by missingness, bias, or measurement limitations
• Apply advanced modeling methods to extrapolate evidence on program/ intervention effectiveness to different contexts and populations, generating rigorous projections to inform program scale-up and future investment planning
• Quantify and communicate assumptions, uncertainty, and limitations of analyses to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Collaborate closely with interdisciplinary teams to co-develop research questions and analytical approaches
• Translate statistical results into clear, actionable insights for internal stakeholders and external partners
• Contribute to high-quality applied research outputs, including internal reports, policy briefs, and peer-reviewed publications
• Support reproducible research practices through well-documented, maintainable code and analytical workflows
• Some international travel may be required

 Your Experience

• PhD in statistics, biostatistics, epidemiology, nutrition science or related quantitative discipline (e.g., mathematical demography, economics, data science, etc.)
• Minimum of five (5) years of post-PhD experience conducting applied statistical research in public health or population-level research settings
• Demonstrated experience applying statistical methods to demographic, socioeconomic, and health-related research questions
• Experience translating multi-intervention trial and program data into comparative impact estimates across disease areas or outcome domains
• Sufficient grounding in nutrition science to identify plausible interaction mechanisms, evaluate program designs for synergistic effect, and guide disease modelers on which nutritional pathways to represent
• Advanced skills in Python or R, with experience developing reproducible and scalable analytical workflows
• Proven ability to work with messy, incomplete, and imperfect real-world data
• Experience collaborating in interdisciplinary and cross-sector research environments

 Other Attributes 

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain statistical findings clearly to diverse audiences
• Experience working in global health and low- and middle-income countries is a plus

 ** 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 (eg: H-1B, O-1, L-1, E, OPT, STEM-OPT, CPT, TN, J-1, etc.).

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 $209,100 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. 

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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 HR@gatesfoundation.org 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.