Senior Program Officer, K-12 Field Readiness – Educators

Gates Foundation•Seattle, WA

16h•Remote

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. 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 foundation’s U.S. Program (USP) K-12 team works to ensure that all students—especially Black and Latino students and students experiencing poverty—have access to high-quality instructional materials and AI-enabled tools that accelerate math learning and achievement. The foundation’s K-12 education strategy is organized around two objectives: demonstrating that AI-enabled full-stack solutions can drive meaningful student acceleration and preparing the field to adopt and scale those solutions responsibly. K-12’s Engagement team leads the work to ensure system leaders, educators, and their networks are ready to engage in ways that support their ability to make high-quality procurement decisions, implement solutions with fidelity, and sustain impact at scale. This team operates at the intersection of policy, practice, and product—building the conditions and relationships that make large-scale adoption of high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) and AI-enabled tools possible. You are responsible for developing and executing investment strategies that prepare school-based educators—including teachers, principals, and coaches—to effectively adopt, implement, and use high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) and AI-enabled tools and solutions. You design and manage a portfolio of grants and partnerships with the professional networks and associations that serve these educators, building practical capacity for safe, responsible, and effective use of AI-enabled components of full-stack solutions. You have mastery-level knowledge of how school-based educators engage with and make decisions about instructional tools, and deep familiarity with the organizations, networks, and professional learning ecosystems that shape educator practice at scale. This position is a limited-term position for 11 months. Relocation will not be provided. Our preference is for this role to be based in Seattle, WA or Washington, DC. In some instances we are open to hiring a US-domestic remote based employee. International remote outside of the US is not possible. Applications are accepted until 5 PM Pacific Time on Monday, August 24, 2026.

Requirements

An Advanced degree or equivalent demonstrated experience.
Mastery level knowledge of schools, schooling, and instruction, including deep understanding of how teachers, principals, and school-based staff make decisions about instructional materials selection, implementation, and AI-enabled tool use.
Significant experience designing and leading complex, cross-sector collaborations and managing portfolios of grants or performance-based investments toward measurable educator capacity outcomes.
Significant experience with the organizations and networks that influence school-based educators—including subject-matter associations (e.g., NCTM and affiliates), unions, and teacher support organizations—and how to engage them effectively to shape practice at scale.
Demonstrated experience across the education research-to-practice continuum, including evidence standards, professional learning design, and how research translates into educator capacity-building and instructional practice.
Demonstrated experience with HQIM and AI in K-12 education, including the implications for educator readiness in the areas of instructional use, tool selection, and policy.
Significant experience building and sustaining trusted relationships with senior education leaders and diverse external stakeholders, with the ability to translate ambiguous policy and technology environments into actionable strategies that influence practice at scale.
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 (eg: H-1B, O-1, L-1, E, OPT, STEM-OPT, CPT, TN, J-1, etc.).

Responsibilities

Lead strategy and execution of a portfolio focused on building the readiness of educators (principals, teachers, and school-based staff) and their affiliated networks to adopt and effectively use AI-enabled, HQIM-aligned solutions, applying a strategic thinking and decision-making lens to connect investments to the team’s acceleration agenda.
Design and manage partnerships with key intermediaries and professional networks—such as subject-matter associations, school-based affinity organizations, and unions—to influence and support policy, selection, and implementation practices.
Lead grantmaking and performance-based investments that increase educator capacity to evaluate AI-enabled tools, implement HQIM with fidelity, and use AI responsibly to drive student acceleration.
Cultivate trusted relationships with districts, teacher and principal professional networks, and unions to inform policy and decision-making practices, prioritizing equity and the needs of educators working with students furthest from opportunity.
Provide internal technical guidance on educator readiness, including instructional supports, professional learning design, and evidence translation for AI-enabled tools, tailoring communication to diverse audiences including school leaders and classroom practitioners.
Represent the foundation externally as a thought leader on preparing K-12 educators for responsible AI adoption anchored in HQIM, contributing to organizational stewardship and shared knowledge across the K-12 pillar.
Synthesize field intelligence and investment learnings to surface emerging educator needs, identify opportunities to strengthen capacity-building efforts, and course-correct investments against clear success metrics.
Build “surround sound” coherence for educators across professional learning, tool selection guidance, and policy—ensuring messaging and supports are reinforcing rather than fragmented across the systems educators navigate.
Collaborate across K-12 sub-teams—including Product R&D, Implementation R&D, and Measurement, Learning & Evaluation—to ensure educator readiness efforts are integrated with the team’s full-stack strategy, operating with a “one team” mindset in service of the division’s goals.
Serve as an embedded collaborator with key strategic partners (to be determined), building the co-investment structures, feedback loops, and joint reporting mechanisms that strengthen execution and field impact.
Support inclusive culture through modeling behaviors and actions; escalate issues in a timely fashion to appropriate stakeholders.