Job Information
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Senior Program Officer, Artificial Intelligence, Assessment in Seattle, Washington
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 US Program (USP) works to expand access to life-changing opportunities. That’s why our primary focus in education is ensuring that all students – especially Black and Latino students, and students experiencing poverty – have an opportunity to earn a degree or certificate that prepares them for a successful career and fulfilling life. But often, education isn’t enough. Factors outside of schools and the classroom have an enormous impact on a student’s success. That’s why we’re also supporting efforts by public officials and community groups to better understand and advance economic mobility, leading to permanent ladders out of poverty for families and communities, such that race, ethnicity, and income are no longer predictors of outcomes.
The Assessment Initiative within the US Program Division examines the plausibility of an innovation path for efficient, engaging, and useful assessments, system alignment on the right measures, and data and capabilities that drive timely action. The areas of focus are:
Efficient, engaging, and useful assessment: Drive innovation in the market to create more user-friendly and efficient assessment products that provide meaningful, reliable data to support student learning.
System alignment on the right measures: Identify levers that encourage and support the adoption of evidence-based school conditions measures, and other measures, that support student and school success and improvement.
Data and capabilities that drive timely action: Equip educators with the insights and routines necessary to translate patterns into powerful interventions, as exemplified by the use of student success systems to help students graduate on time proficient in the skills they need to succeed.
Your Role
The Senior Program Officer of Artificial Intelligence, Assessments will develop and manage a portfolio of investments (grants and contracts) to advance the use of AI in K12 Assessment in order to more effectively and efficiently help students, caregivers, educators and policymakers understand what students know and are able to do in order to support their continued success. In this role you’ll collaborate with colleagues and the broader field to develop and implement an investment strategy that catalyzes the development and validation of interventions and innovations that improve student outcomes. The Senior Program Officer of Artificial Intelligence, Assessment will report directly to the Director of Early Learning and Assessment.
What You’ll Do
Negotiate and manage a complex portfolio of program-related grants and contracts that advance solutions from early-stage development, validation, commercialization, and implementation at scale.
Design investments to improve availability and use of datasets, algorithms and other public goods to ensure that large scale assessment developers, curriculum providers, and other EdTech ventures can leverage AI to improve the assessment experience and utility for students, educators and other consumers of assessment information.
Cultivate an active ecosystem of entrepreneurial product developers, ensure strong feedback loops between innovative practitioners, researchers, and the developer community.
Foster a user-centered design approach to help understand incentives for and needs of end users, institutional decision makers, practitioners, developers, distributors, funders, and policy makers in ways that improve the impact of the priority solutions.
Help catalyze additional sources of capital, including philanthropic, public, and private funding that contribute to the scaling of innovation and the growth and the sustainability of proven solutions.
Manage collaborative and trusting partner relationships in ways that ensure productive feedback loops between partners and the foundation around shared goals.
Provide technical guidance and insights to colleagues across the U.S. program on research and development related topics in assessment, serving as one of several subject matter experts, with a focus on both K12 and Early Learning sectors.
Review letters of inquiry and grant proposals and provide clear, concise, and insightful written analyses and recommendations for funding.
Consult with grantees and other partners to improve impact of projects and ensure grants are meeting strategy goals.
Contribute to the design of new strategies, collaborations, and implementation plans to ensure long-term sustainability and impact.
Represent the foundation to key program-related external constituencies, as appropriate , on committees related to area of expertise and responsibilities of the position.
Support inclusive culture through modeling behaviors and actions; raise issues in a timely fashion to appropriate partners .
Your Experience
A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience demonstrated experience.
Significant experience leading complex initiatives with budget responsibility at the institutional or organizational level.
Deep understanding of the EdTech market, including key players, market trends, and emerging AI technologies. Awareness of the regulatory landscape, including data privacy laws and other relevant legal and ethical guidelines. Ability to conduct pattern and trend recognition, cost analysis, and product-market fit analysis.
Demonstrated experience using machine learning, AI algorithms, and their applications in educational assessment. Understanding of systems architecture relevant to various assessment use cases, including an understanding of various architectural patterns, familiarity with various technology stacks and network architectures. We seek individuals who can demonstrate practical experience with AI, showing a balance between theoretical knowledge and its application in assessment.
Deep understanding of products that facilitate data integration, analysis, and decision support for teachers in service of instruction, especially core-curriculum, tutoring and assessment offerings. Familiarity with multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) and response to intervention (RTI) frameworks.
Understanding of the technical challenges and considerations in building AI-driven assessment applications, both in terms of applications focused on content (e.g. Math and ELA) as well as skills.
Experience working with emerging technologies and methodologies in whole child assessment, and how AI and data analytics can be used to provide a more well-rounded view of student learning and development. This includes an understanding of formative and summative assessments, standardized testing, and the principles of test construction, validation, and analysis.
Familiarity with holistic assessment approaches that consider a student's social, emotional, and cognitive development, including an awareness of the frameworks and tools used to measure non-academic factors like motivation, engagement and persistence.
Strong working knowledge of the education sector at multiples levels (school, district, state, and federal), including understanding of education research funding mechanisms, evaluation, and synthesis processes and methodologies.
Ability to build a strong network of relationships with key influencers across the research to commercialization continuum.
Knowledge of inclusive user centered design processes, research and evidence building methodologies, and study design.
Solid understanding of state and institutional policy relevant to the design, adoption, and implementation of formative and summative assessments, including alternative assessment methods such as portfolios, self-assessments, peer assessments, and project-based assessments.
Experience communicating the implications of technical issues in assessment ( e.g. definitions of validity, reliability, item construction) to more general audiences to enable collaboration across related initiatives within and across organizational contexts.
Must be able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship.
The salary range for this role is $182,600 to $283,100 USD. We recognize high-wage market differences in Seattle and Washington D.C., where our offices are located . The range for this role in these locations is $199,000 to $308,400 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
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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.