Senior Program Officer, AI-Enabled Engagement Systems

Gates Foundation•Seattle, WA

About The Position

The Foundation is 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. The foundation’s U.S. Program (USP) works to expand access to life-changing opportunities. The Postsecondary Success strategy supports institutional transformation, the development of technologies, and the sharing of those technologies and other tools, practices and policies that lead to increased attainment of credentials of value. Our aim is to help higher education evolve to more effectively deliver economic mobility for students and to more fully realize the public benefits that accrue when more adults earn meaningful credentials equitably across all races, ethnicities, and levels of income and wealth. Reporting to the Deputy Director, Digital Holistic Student Supports (DHSS), the Senior Program Officer, AI-Enabled Engagement Systems will own the strategy and investment portfolio for the development of AI-native workflow platforms in higher education. This includes delivering high-impact use cases that drive measurable improvements in outcomes for students, faculty, and administrators – with an emphasis on Black, Latino, and Indigenous students, and students from low-income backgrounds. The goal is to transform how institutions execute core support workflows by evolving engagement platforms into AI-powered orchestration layers and funding the codification of institutional policy into machine-readable, auditable digital systems. The Senior Program Officer, AI-Enabled Engagement Systems plays a critical role at the intersection of AI technology, institutional practice, and regulatory compliance. As part of a highly interconnected team, you will collaborate across DHSS and with external product developers, grantees, and institutional partners to ensure that AI-enabled solutions are built and adopted in ways that are equitable, technically rigorous, and practically sustainable.

Requirements

A bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (e.g., Education, Computer Science, Public Policy, Business Administration) or equivalent demonstrated experience is required.
Student Success Technology Markets & Products Fluency with emerging AI solutions in edtech, including agentic and LLM-based workflow systems and their development lifecycle
Experience designing or funding conversational and agent-based interfaces for student- or staff-facing use cases
Hands-on experience designing or evaluating agentic AI systems – including multi-agent orchestration, tool use, and human-in-the-loop workflows
Familiarity with open-source products, communities, and licensing trade-offs
Experience with AI safety, auditability, and explainability requirements in regulated environments (e.g., financial aid, student records, compliance workflows)
Higher Education Context Fluency with institutional policy logic and compliance frameworks (e.g., Title IV, SAP, degree audit rules) and experience translating these into modular, auditable digital systems
Deep understanding of the constraints and challenges lower-resourced higher education institutions face in adopting and optimizing the use of AI-enabled technology
Practical understanding of the boundary between what AI can automate and what requires human judgment or institutional policy logic – and how to design systems accordingly
Strategy Development & Execution Skilled at planning, prioritizing, and managing competing demands across complex investment portfolios; sees the critical path and makes clear trade-offs
Ability to partner effectively with product developers and vendors to influence product roadmaps and drive strategic alignment without direct authority
Demonstrated commitment to equity in product and investment design – ensures AI-enabled solutions advance outcomes for underserved student populations
Collaboration & Communication Experience and passion for collaborating with team members with diverse backgrounds, approaches, and beliefs to pursue a complex, interdependent strategy
Ability to collaborate effectively within a complex organization and with a diverse set of external collaborators; facilitates cross-sector partnerships where they may not have previously existed
Thoughtfully communicates complex information and data in written and oral formats; synthesizes large volumes of information into clear recommendations and decisions; advocates and communicates effectively with a broad and diverse audience
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 (e.g. H-1B, O-1, L-1, E, OPT, STEM-OPT, CPT, TN, J-1, etc.).

Responsibilities

Own the strategy and investment portfolio for development of AI-native workflow platforms in higher education, delivering high-impact use cases that drive measurable improvements in outcomes (e.g., advising, financial aid, alerts, degree planning)
Partner with product developers to evolve engagement platforms into AI-powered orchestration layers, enabling end-to-end workflow execution across core institutional systems (e.g., SIS, CRM, financial aid, LMS)
Fund tools and approaches to codify institutional policy and workflows into machine-readable logic, ensuring alignment with regulatory requirements (e.g., FERPA, Title IV)
Fund adoption of AI public goods to improve solutions quality and drive modernization of compliance and policy infrastructure (e.g., auditability, AI-in-the-loop governance)
Advance best practices for AI-mediated interaction, including conversational and agent-based interfaces for students and staff, ensuring equity and trust are foundational
Monitor the emerging ecosystem of vertical AI infrastructure – including workflow orchestration engines, policy-as-code frameworks, and AI-native CRM/SIS integrations – and identify strategic investment opportunities
Manage a portfolio of grants and contracts, ensuring alignment with DHSS strategy, appropriate documentation, budgeting, and reporting
Nurture high-impact relationships with key partners, grantees, and collaborators including technology providers, higher education institutions, and open-source communities
Provide written analysis, presentations, and summaries on key topics for foundation leadership and external partner audiences, including systemic risks and mitigation approaches
Collaborate with DHSS team members to align investment strategies and ensure collective success across the portfolio