Deputy Director, Solutions, K-12

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation•Seattle, WA

5d•$238,400 - $406,400

About The Position

The Deputy Director, Solutions provides strategic leadership for the 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 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, ensuring alignment with student-learning goals. Reporting to the Director of K-12 Teaching and Learning, the Deputy Director leads and develops a team with expertise in product development, market dynamics, AI-enabled learning, instructional design, and partnerships. The role manages strategic investments and builds partnerships across education, technology, philanthropy, and research. Working across 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 position requires technical credibility, people leadership, and the ability to 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 expertise is ideal.
Understanding of AI safety opportunities and risks from the perspectives of students, teachers, districts, and parents, and ability to translate those perspectives into investments that influence the field.
Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Commitment 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, particularly in team leadership and partnership development, to advance equitable outcomes.
Strong strategic planning and implementation skills, including a systems-thinking approach and the ability to evolve a strategy that increases availability and adoption of high-quality instructional materials and supports.
Ability to plan, organize, and prioritize in a fast-paced environment with competing demands; identify critical paths, measure and mitigate risk, and make tradeoffs.
Experience leading a team to structure and manage high-return, risk-mitigated grants with clear milestones and outcomes.
Strong written and oral communication skills, including communicating complex information and data and advocating to broad, diverse audiences.
Ability to build and lead collaborative, trust-based efforts with stakeholders across nonprofit organizations, school districts, and the private sector.
Ability to collaborate productively with diverse, technically skilled teams in a complex organization.
Curiosity and comfort working beyond current areas of expertise, with the ability to acquire knowledge rapidly and exercise sound judgment.
Demonstrated experience leading teams with diverse cultural and professional backgrounds toward clear metrics and outcomes.
Ability to lead with empathy, curiosity, and compassion; inspire team members toward a coherent long-term direction; and collaborate on how to achieve it.
Ability to delegate objectives with clear intent, enabling technically skilled staff to devise strategies creatively.
Ability to establish practices that encourage independent and open communication across teams.
Ability to hold people accountable for commitments, clarify expectations, help address barriers, and maintain focus on results, integrity, and impact.
Unrestricted work authorization in the country where the position is located; the Foundation does not provide immigration-related sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree.

Responsibilities

Lead the Foundation’s K-12 Solutions strategy and manage a team of investors with portfolios focused on increasing the availability of high-quality AI-enabled instructional products for K-12 mathematics.
Continuously improve the strategy using field context, data, evidence of progress and impact, 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.
Support curriculum product and technology investments, including defining theses for AI capabilities and safety, product architecture, roadmaps, evidence of learning impact, implementation requirements, and pathways to market adoption and scale.
Partner with developers, publishers, researchers, districts, and investors to improve the quality, efficacy, adoption, and scale of AI-enabled mathematics solutions.
Advance common quality signals, implementation frameworks, procurement approaches, and other conditions that help districts adopt AI-enabled solutions with confidence.
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 a significant portfolio of grants, contracts, and strategic partnerships, ensuring investments generate evidence, achieve measurable impact, and inform 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 strategies.
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 building, and cross-Foundation priorities.
Represent the Foundation with senior leaders across education, technology, philanthropy, and government, helping shape the national conversation on AI-enabled teaching and learning.
Lead teams with clear metrics and outcomes, fostering empathy, curiosity, open communication, accountability, and collaboration.