Deputy Director, Solutions, K-12

Gates Foundation•Seattle, WA

About The Position

The Deputy Director, Solutions provides strategic leadership for the Gates Foundation’s portfolio of investments that develop, validate, and scale AI-enabled solutions to improve K-12 mathematics learning. The role advances four objectives: expanding the availability of AI-enabled products, enabling coherent instructional systems, strengthening the field’s focus on curriculum and product quality and performance, and increasing access to modern high school mathematics courses. The Deputy Director brings deep edtech product, technology, and market expertise to refine the Foundation’s strategy and shape and evaluate investments in partner solutions. This includes assessing technology architectures, product roadmaps, evidence plans, implementation and partnership models, and business and go-to-market strategies in alignment with student-learning goals. Reporting to the Director of K-12 Teaching and Learning, the role leads and develops a team with expertise in product development, market dynamics, AI-enabled learning, instructional design, and partnerships. It manages a portfolio of strategic investments and builds partnerships across education, technology, philanthropy, and research. Working with colleagues across K-12 Teaching and Learning and other Foundation teams, the Deputy Director helps innovative products become scalable, evidence-based solutions that accelerate student learning and prepare the field for broad adoption of AI-enabled instructional systems. The role requires technical credibility with product and technology leaders, people leadership, and the ability to build trust and lead through strategic change and uncertainty.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field or equivalent experience.
Senior product and technology leadership experience, with understanding of education markets and the incentives of supply- and demand-side actors.
Ability to evaluate AI-enabled products in depth and influence sophisticated partners.
Deep knowledge of curricula, interventions, assessment markets, publishers, and developers; mathematics experience is desirable.
Understanding of AI safety opportunities and risks from the perspectives of students, teachers, districts, and parents, and ability to translate those perspectives into investments.
Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to product efficacy and quality centered on student assets and equitable outcomes, including for Black and Latino students and students experiencing poverty.
Experience prioritizing approaches, such as targeted universalism, to advance equitable outcomes through team leadership and partnership development.
Superior strategic planning and implementation skills, including systems thinking and the ability to evolve a Solutions strategy that supports adoption of high-quality instructional materials and supports.
Ability to organize and prioritize competing demands, identify critical paths, assess and mitigate risk, and make trade-offs.
Experience leading teams to structure and manage high-return, well-risk-mitigated grants with clear milestones and outcomes.
Strong written and oral communication skills, including the ability to communicate complex information and data to broad, diverse audiences.
Ability to build and lead collaborative, trust-based efforts with stakeholders across nonprofits, school districts, and the private sector.
Ability to collaborate with technically sophisticated teams in a complex organization and rapidly build knowledge and exercise good judgment beyond areas of current expertise.
Demonstrated experience leading teams with diverse cultural and professional backgrounds toward clear metrics and outcomes.
Empathetic, curious, and compassionate leadership; ability to inspire a team toward a coherent long-term direction and delegate clear objectives while allowing creative problem-solving.
Must have unrestricted work authorization in the country where the position is located; the Foundation does not provide immigration-related sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree preferred.
Experience in the mathematics curriculum, intervention, assessment, publishing, or development space.

Responsibilities

Lead the Foundation’s K-12 Solutions strategy and manage a team of investors with portfolios focused on increasing access to high-quality AI-enabled K-12 mathematics products that accelerate learning.
Continuously improve the strategy using field context, progress and impact data, evidence, and the Foundation’s competitive advantage.
Advance coherent learning systems that integrate curriculum, assessment, tutoring, AI-enabled instructional supports, and district infrastructure into classroom experiences.
Guide curriculum product and technology investments, including AI capabilities and safety, product architecture and roadmaps, evidence of learning impact, implementation requirements, and pathways to adoption and scale.
Partner with developers, publishers, researchers, districts, and investors to improve the quality, efficacy, adoption, and scale of AI-enabled mathematics solutions.
Build field alignment around quality and performance through common quality signals, implementation frameworks, procurement approaches, and other conditions that support confident district adoption.
Lead the strategy to expand availability and access to modern high school mathematics pathways with publishers, states, districts, and other partners.
Identify emerging technologies, market opportunities, and strategic partnerships that strengthen the K-12 AI ecosystem and improve student learning outcomes.
Manage grants, contracts, and strategic partnerships to generate evidence, achieve measurable impact, and inform continuous product improvement.
Collaborate across K-12 Teaching & Learning, Postsecondary Learning & Navigation, AI & Data Infrastructure, and Advocacy & System Improvement to align product development, implementation, policy, and market adoption.
Use contextual, progress, and impact data and evidence to inform resource-allocation tradeoffs and investment management.
Serve on the K-12 Teaching & Learning leadership team, contributing to strategy, portfolio planning, budgeting, organizational effectiveness, culture, and cross-Foundation priorities.
Represent the Foundation with senior leaders across education, technology, philanthropy, and government, helping shape discussion of AI-enabled teaching and learning.
Lead teams with clear metrics and outcomes, delegate objectives and intent, foster independent and open communication, and hold team members accountable while supporting them through barriers.