Principal Legal Counsel, Policy & Advocacy

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

"Guidance, Solutions, Integrity" describes the Legal division’s approach to providing responsive legal guidance supporting pursuit of the foundation’s mission and implementation of the foundation's programmatic and operational strategies. The Legal division delivers comprehensive legal services by providing efficient and reliable legal guidance, managing legal risk, and supporting the development of solutions to achieve the mission of the foundation and its affiliated entities.

The Legal division partners with our colleagues across the foundation to enable mission-driven work by maintaining an efficient, well-run global organization where employees can thrive and make their best contributions. Doing this well requires effective collaboration, strong alignment, and thoughtful planning across both operational and programmatic teams – as well as shared accountability for mitigating risk and optimizing the foundation’s operational resources.

Your Role

We are seeking a Principal Legal Counsel to primarily support our dynamic Global Policy & Advocacy division, with opportunities to collaborate across our Communications team, regional offices, and affiliated entities. In this pivotal role, you'll empower teams working alongside government partners and provide expert legal guidance on innovative grant programs. We’re seeking a resourceful professional with deep experience in tax-exempt organizations, campaigns, and advocacy, ready to shape and implement compliance strategies while navigating complex legal landscapes.

This is your chance to be a trusted advisor, driving creative solutions and mitigating risks in a fast-evolving environment. You’ll work side-by-side with passionate colleagues, embedding legal insight into operational priorities and advancing our mission to tackle poverty, disease, and inequity worldwide. If you thrive in collaborative settings and are excited to translate legal expertise into meaningful impact, we invite you to help us create a world where everyone has the opportunity to live a healthy, productive life.

What You’ll Do

• Understand and support the objectives of fast-paced and demanding internal client groups, develop creative solutions, and resolve issues using the appropriate legal framework and in consideration of the foundation's values and risk philosophy. 

• Serve as legal relationship manager for several program teams engaged in grantmaking, direct government engagement, and public facing campaigns, proactively identifying legal challenges and crafting business-oriented solutions. 

• Advise on high-impact issues including global government engagement, public relations, lobbying, electioneering, and reputational risk. 

• Demonstrate generalist expertise to identify legal issues and collaborate, where appropriate, with other legal team members or foundation stakeholders to lead the resolution of complex and strategic legal issues in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and foundation policy and process. 

• Establish a relationship of trust with key partners and participate as a strategic advisor with regular touchpoints for communication. 

• Collaborate with the Legal Leadership Team and broader legal team to ensure effective coverage, work allocation and communication regarding legal issues related to the foundation, all from a “one team” perspective. 

• Facilitate compliance with and ensure current knowledge regarding applicable domestic and foreign legal and regulatory requirements in countries where the foundation maintains a legal presence or is otherwise active. 

• Oversee legal structuring and negotiations of transactions and partnerships, including advocacy grants, campaigns, media agreements, and intellectual property matters. 

• Lead education and training for foundation leadership and staff on key legal and compliance matters, ensuring knowledge transfer and con