Program Officer, Next Generation Models

Division US Program
Department Education - College Ready
 Location Seattle

Foundation Overview
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people-especially those with the fewest resources-have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff Raikes and co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.

Group Summary
The foundation's U.S. Program works with a range of partners toward greater opportunity for all Americans largely through the attainment of secondary and postsecondary education. By making college and other forms of education both accessible to and successful for all, we hope to help break the intergenerational cycle of poverty that prevents families and communities from opportunities to reach their full potential.

The U.S. Program works to advance:
- College Readiness and Success. Education is the broadest avenue to opportunity and the most influential factor in ensuring that children will grow up to do as well or better than their parents. Today, a postsecondary education is the most important requirement for jobs that pay a family wage. Our goal is to ensure that 80 percent of students will graduate from high school prepared for college, with a focus on low-income and minority students reaching this target, and to double the number of low-income young adults who earn postsecondary degrees or certificates by age 26 each year.
- Strong Communities in the Pacific Northwest. As a family foundation, we are committed to strengthening our communities and providing new avenues of opportunity for those most in need in Washington State, the foundation's home. Our main goal in the state is to help all children begin kindergarten ready to succeed and cut family homelessness in half over the next decade.

The Next Generation Learning team within the College Ready program focuses on personalized learning for students. Our vision for education is that all students have access to what they need, when and where they need it. Implementing this vision at scale will require new tools to help teachers, parents and learners diagnose gaps in students' knowledge and skill and adapt the learning experience based on their progress. We invest in organizations that build school models, technology, research and knowledge that redefine how learning takes place.

Responsibilities
Reporting to the Deputy Director for Next Generation Learning, the PO will be responsible for partnering with the Deputy Director and Program Officer for Personalized Learning to accelerate the implementation of personalized learning within cities, districts, and regional coalitions.

The PO will be responsible for the following:
- Developing, planning, and executing a strategy, including planning investments, soliciting proposals, and negotiating and managing complex, performance-based grants and contracts.
- Consulting and providing thought partnership with grantees and partners to maximize impact of projects and ensure optimal learning. This may include preparation for Program Officer & leadership site visits, development of materials, and convening meetings of key stakeholders.
- Managing internal processes and portfolio progress while ensuring appropriate documentation, grant budgeting and reporting.
- Providing clear, concise and insightful written analyses and recommendations for funding including drafting and editing proposal summaries and progress reports for existing grants for review by Foundation leadership.
- Contributing to the design of new strategies, cross cutting data initiatives with focus on scaling and implementation plans to ensure long-term sustainability and impact.
- This role is responsible for high quality interactions and clear and consistent communications with grantees and partners in the field.
- Up to 50% U. S. travel required.

Qualifications
- Strong working knowledge of the K-12 education sector, and in particular, experience building or working with innovative school models.
- A minimum of 5 years of experience working in a large school district or network driving change initiatives.
- Experience leading or supporting the development or implementation of instructional models is preferred.
- Ability to solve unstructured problems with rigor, creativity, high energy, and a positive attitude.
- Knowledge of strategic communications, messaging and media strategy.
- Experience managing diverse teams of internal and external stakeholders.
- Ability to manage all aspect of grant and portfolio life cycle, including pre-development (making new grants), development (managing multi-year grants), post development (dissemination, scale and disposition of grants in portfolio).
- Ability to be highly effective in complex organizations and partnerships, with a variety of grantees and partners.
- Strong program management, critical thinking, and strategic thinking skills.
- Prioritize and manage large amounts of information relevant to the work.
- Excellent written and verbal communications are a must, and strong presentation skills are highly valued.

As part of our standard hiring process for new employees, employment with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will be contingent upon successful completion of a background check.

Requisition Number 4055BR