Senior Program Officer, Assessments, Digitally-Enabled Teaching and Learning

The Foundation

We are 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 Team

The foundation's U.S. Program works with partners to help ensure that people navigating U.S. education systems and job markets can develop the knowledge, skills, and agency they need to thrive in their communities. As the division advances its long-term ambitions, strong strategy, planning, portfolio management, and cross-team coordination are essential to translating priorities into impact.

The Digitally-Enabled Teaching and Learning (DETL) team, part of the Postsecondary (PS) Courseware and Navigation team, develops, scales, and supports postsecondary solutions. A key goal is to significantly improve student success rates in college gateway courses, while reducing success gaps in key student demographics, all while assisting faculty and academic communities in their success goals.

Read more about our updated strategy here: https://docs.gatesfoundation.org/documents/usprogramoverview.pdf

Your Role
You primarily manage a portfolio of investments in digitally-enabled teaching and learning—including topics like courseware, assessments, AI innovations, course supports, professional development, and community building—with an emphasis on summative assessments, as part of the team’s overall strategy.

*Our preference is for the hired candidate to be located in either Seattle, WA or Washington, DC - and relocation assistance is available to support a move for candidates not residing within a commutable distance from either office. In some instances remote work from a US state only may be considered.

*Applications for this full-time role are accepted until 5 PM Pacific Time on Tuesday, November 10th, 2026.

What You'll Do

• Develop and manage a portfolio of grants and contracts on DETL topics including courseware, AI-enabled tools, assessments, course supports, professional development, and community building, with an emphasis in assessments. You’ll co-invest frequently with fellow officers and division colleagues, and all your investments fit with of the team’s overall strategy and goals and focus on real measurable impact.

• Have an emphasis on and serve as the team’s primary resource on summative assessments: track innovations in assessment design, pedagogy, and technology; participate in foundation events and task forces; provide regular updates to the team; and assist colleagues on the assessment dimensions of their work.

• Conduct market analyses to identify trends, gaps, and opportunities in various aspects of college-level teaching and learning.

• Design and oversee efficacy and implementation research to produce actionable evidence and help guide courseware and other product designs.

• Build and advise partnerships with AI innovators, edtech developers, open-source communities, faculty, administrators, and research institutions.

• Help guide higher education toward effective technology adoption and toward greater collaboration within and across institutions (e.g., coordinated courses), in service of important human roles in education (student-to-student, student-to-faculty, and faculty-to-faculty) and of the important cultural role of the university experience

• Conduct literature reviews, get input from faculty and students, draft syntheses, and help plan convenings.

• Execute methodically and use AI tools to improve efficiency and quality.

• Assist partners in development of grant proposals, review proposals from team members, provide concise funding recommendations, and represent the foundation at external convenings and conferences.
• Communicate concisely and clearly, contribute to a team culture defined by trust, optimism, positivity, and collegiality, prioritize collective success, and model equitable and inclusive behaviors.

Your Experience

• An advanced degree or equivalent demonstrated experience, preferably in a STEM field or in post-secondary education, and ideally some form of academic experience.

• Deep knowledge of the assessments landscape, including modern assessment pedagogies that increase student learning and success and that reduce equity gaps, such as growth-oriented assessments, community-designed standardized exams, highly-randomized exams, AI-based adaptive exams, exam analysis and improvement, etc. Familiarity with modern assessment technologies—including computer-based testing facilities, academic integrity technologies, AI auto-graders.

• Experience developing, scaling, or evaluating digital education products—such as assessments, courseware, or AI-enabled platforms—with deep familiarity with traditional higher education markets and STEM faculty and student needs, and knowledge of new higher education approaches and models.

• Significant experience designing and managing grant or investment portfolios, including market analyses and efficacy and implementation research.

• Significant experience building and advising partnerships with edtech companies, universities, and research institutions.

• Demonstrated hands-on, organized, execution-oriented work style, including research, end-user engagement, and event facilitation, with proficiency in AI and productivity tools.

*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.).

The salary range for this role is $209,100 to $324,100 USD.. We recognize high-wage market differences in Seattle, WA and Washington D.C., where our offices are located. The range for this role in these locations is $190,100 to $294,700 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.

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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

We’re committed to providing an inclusive and accessible hiring experience for all candidates. If you have a disability or medical condition and need an accommodation at any stage of the application or interview process—such as an ASL interpreter, alternative interview format, or physical accessibility support—we’re happy to help. Please contact [email protected] with the position number and a brief description of your accommodation needs. Requests will be handled confidentially.

Inclusion Statement

We are dedicated to the belief that all lives have equal value. We strive for a global and cultural workplace that supports ever greater diversity, equity, and inclusion — of voices, ideas, and approaches — and we support this diversity through all 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.