United States onlyYour Role
You are responsible for leading the development of the enterprise architecture strategy across Gates Ag One, as well as leading the design and development of technical solutions by collaborating with business and technology leaders, stakeholders, engineers, and analysts to understand strategic business initiatives. You understand technology and business architecture, applications, industry best practices, architectural patterns and methodologies, how to bring systems, integrations, data, and business insights together and overall drive transformation initiatives that meet our enterprise objectives.
You will provide strategic technology leadership and shape the enterprise architecture vision across Gates Ag One, designing transformative solutions that enable our mission to accelerate agricultural innovations for smallholder farmers globally. You bring demonstrated expertise in growing and scaling IT organizations from early-stage, startup environments—including companies in their first ten years—to mature, enterprise-grade operations by building high-performing teams, establishing foundational technology capabilities, and implementing scalable systems, structures, and processes to support rapid growth and long-term success. In addition, you are responsible for managing both internal employees and external vendors to ensure alignment with architectural goals, successful execution of initiatives, and delivery of high-quality outcomes. The IT organization we are building serves as a strategic partner to the business—working cross-functionally to harness emerging technologies, data, and analytics to drive technology enablement, inform decision-making, and accelerate progress toward the organization’s strategic goals.
*Applicants for this role will only be considered if they are able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship.
**This role can be based in Seattle, WA or St. Louis, MO. Remote work outside of these locations is not an option for this role.
***Applications accepted until 5 PM Pacific Time on Wednesday, November 19th, 2025.
What You'll Do
Partner with Gates Ag One’s leadership team, collaborating cross-functionally with stakeholders, to define enterprise-wide technology strategy that enables Gates Ag One's mission to transform global agricultural productivity through innovative technology solutions.
Lead the growth and scaling of the IT organization from a relatively young, startup-phase environment to a mature, enterprise-grade function by building high-performing teams, defining operational models, and instituting scalable systems and processes. Establish IT as a strategic business partner across departments to co-design solutions that enable organizational agility and impact.
Own the technology investment portfolio with responsibility for budget optimization, vendor management, and demonstrable return on technology investments. Champion the advancement and integration of modern tools, data platforms, analytics capabilities, and data governance practices to inform business decisions and drive operational efficiency.
Lead technology strategy initiatives, coordinating with relevant internal technical stakeholders, and sometimes coordinating across international research partnerships including universities, ag-tech companies, and development organizations, ensuring seamless collaboration and innovation exchange.
Translate enterprise strategy into actionable technology initiatives that support innovation, accelerate outcomes, and ensure alignment with long-term organizational goals.
Architect emerging technology strategies (e.g. advanced analytics, AI/ML) that identify and enhance data-driven crop innovation decisions. Serve as a trusted advisor to leaders and business stakeholders in the development of strategic technology portfolios, planning, and roadmaps; communicating in a clear, non-technically verbose manner.
Manage and develop both internal IT staff and external vendor relationships to ensure consistent delivery, alignment with architectural principles, and accountability for technology outcomes.
Act as a consultant and subject matter expert to review IT project proposals, architecture designs, and strategies.
Translate strategic requirements to guide solution development.
Collaborate with other architects to create and document standards and patterns to leverage for future re-use.
Monitor and analyze industry technology trends to determine their potential impact or application for the organization and is well versed in emerging technologies and trends.
Collaborate with customers, vendors, industry consultants and senior company leadership to identify opportunities to advance our business strategy and to leverage industry solutions for new business offerings and services.
Own application, integration, and systems portfolio strategy for the department.
Responsible for the development and maintenance of enterprise architecture technology blueprints that articulate our business strategy, future state business and technology architecture, and multiyear execution roadmap.
Develop and maintain the business reference architecture, which includes the business capability reference model, guiding principles, standards, patterns, and usage guidelines.
Create contextual and conceptual models that help document and simplify potentially complex topics.
Champion and continuously contribute to the advancement of the architecture strategy and operating model, governance, processes, policies, standards, and framework for Enterprise Architecture.
Extensive knowledge in multiple business and architecture domains, be forward thinking, and be well-versed in emerging technologies and trends.
Support inclusive culture through modeling behaviors and actions; escalate issues in a timely fashion to appropriate.
Foster a culture of continuous improvement, accountability, and innovation within the IT function to anticipate future needs and scale with the growth of the organization.
Your Experience
Proven track record of leading enterprise-wide technology, data, or digital transformations with measurable business outcomes.
Significant progressive leadership experience (typically 10+ years) in technology strategy, data & analytics, digital transformation, or enterprise architecture, with demonstrated success scaling organizations from startup to enterprise maturity. Analytics and data leadership experience recognized as highly relevant technology leadership background.
Experience in mission-driven, nonprofit, philanthropic, or global development organizations is a plus.
Advanced degree (MBA, MS, or equivalent) in a relevant field such as Business, Technology Management, Data Science, or related discipline; OR Bachelor's degree with exceptional leadership experience driving technology-enabled business transformation.
Strategic leadership experience in AI/ML integration for business transformation, with demonstrated thought leadership in applying data science and emerging technologies for social impact.
Experience building and leading global technology, analytics, or digital transformation teams leveraging/optimizing different operating models across multiple regions with demonstrated success in change management, team development, and cross-cultural collaboration.
Experience in Senior Enterprise Architect role and in Cloud architecture. TOGAF Enterprise Architecture Certification a strong plus.
Strong expertise and extensive knowledge in multiple business and architecture domains.
Expertise in modern technology architecture including cloud platforms (preferably Microsoft Azure), data platforms (including Snowflake), and enterprise architecture frameworks, gained through hands-on leadership or strategic consulting experience.
Proven ability to manage complex stakeholder relationships across executives, parent organizations, international partners, and internal technical teams, with particular strength in translating between business and technology domains.
Strong financial acumen with experience managing technology budgets, demonstrating ROI, and optimizing technology investments for maximum impact. Experience with performance analytics and data-driven decision making essential.
Advanced knowledge and understanding of Enterprise Architecture concepts, frameworks, theory, data and business process modeling, and common frameworks.
Knowledge and the ability to understand business process design methods and tools.
Demonstrated, preferred experience with Agile and Scrum delivery methods.
Knowledge, experience, and deep expertise in a variety of technology and enterprise architecture solution patterns (such as SaaS and PaaS applications, custom-built applications, data storage, etc.).
Knowledge of LIMS and other systems that manage biological data.
Lead technology innovation agenda including establishing R&D priorities, proof-of-concept development, and rapid experimentation frameworks
Facilitation of business and information architecture practices (e.g., business capability modeling, value stream mapping, information flows, etc.).
Commitment to Gates Ag One's mission of improving agricultural productivity and livelihoods for smallholder farmers through innovative technology solutions.
*Applicants for this role will only be considered if they are able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship.
**Applications accepted until 5 PM Pacific Time on Wednesday, November 19th, 2025.
The salary range for this role is $186,400 to $288,800 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
If you require assistance due to a disability in the application or recruitment process, please submit a request here.
Inclusion Statement
We are dedicated to the belief that all lives have equal value. We’re committed to creating a workplace where employees thrive both personally and professionally. We also believe our employees should reflect the rich diversity of the global populations we aim to serve—in race, gender, age, cultures and beliefs—and we support this diversity through all of 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.
Transparency in Coverage (Machine-readable files)
The Transparency in Coverage Final Rules require group health plans to disclose on a public website information regarding in-network provider rates and historical out-of-network allowed amounts and billed charges for covered items and services in two separate machine-readable files (MRFs). The MRFs for the benefit package options under the Gates Foundation Welfare Benefits Plan are linked below:
https://sawus2prdticmrfrgawa.z5.web.core.windows.net/.
*The plan reserves the right to change or terminate benefits or the plan(s) at any time.
