Program Officer, US Programs

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 education work in the United States is focused on ensuring that all students graduate from high school ready for college. With our partners across the country, we have demonstrated that with the right opportunities, the most disadvantaged young people can achieve at high levels. Yet today, only 71 percent of students earn a high school diploma, fewer than six in 10 minority students' graduate with their peers, and many graduates are unprepared for college. A core lesson from our work is that we need to dramatically accelerate academic performance to achieve results. We have set an ambitious goal for our work and investments: to help ensure that 80 percent of high school students graduate fully prepared for college, with a focus on low-income and minority young people reaching this target.

There are three main strategy elements:
- Empowering Effective Teaching
- Next Generation Models
- College Ready Work

Responsibilities The College Ready Work Team is focused on improving the work that teachers and students do together. Our investments seek to help teachers teach to college ready standards and to provide new ways for them to get the support they need, including via digital technologies (ie use of video, e mentoring/coaching and by linking evaluation systems to more effective supports.) In addition, we have portfolio of investments focused on what students need to be CR and new ways for them to demonstrate college readiness. On the student supports side we are investing in games as learning and assessment; proficiency pathways; and academic tenacity/engagement research and practical applications.

This job description is for the teacher supports program officer. The teacher supports position will manage a portfolio of investments related to our teacher engagement and networks strategy.

Three years ago we made a set of investments in tools to help teachers implement the Common Core. We invested in a set of states, districts and networks. We found the most powerful voices for the work were teachers and began to see a viral spread of the work via teacher networks (formal and informal ones). This position will hope grow these networks from a couple hundred thousand teachers to over a million. We have also launched a broader teacher engagement strategy and this position will manage grants related to that work as well.

The ideal candidate has:
- Managed complex systems/programs
- Understands curriculum and instructional issues (and the shifts required by the Common Core)
- Familiar with the strategies that use social media to scale ideas/tools
- Familiar with existing teacher networks and interested in building new ones
- Familiar with the latest teacher accountability systems and research on teacher effectiveness
- Has been a teacher or worked closely with teachers and understands their realities
- Specific duties include: Managing a set of teacher network grantees and significantly growing that network over the next three years. Developing a teacher network among our iPD grantees.
- Managing new opportunities related to our teacher engagement strategy.
- Working independently and collaboratively to undertake rigorous analysis in support of recommendations about investments, scaling strategies and partnerships

Actively collaborating with other teams at the foundation (including the Advocacy and Communications teams)
- Proactively identifying and vetting promising opportunities and creating a grant pipeline
- Collaborating with grantees to develop projects and define key outcomes and milestones that pilot, incubate, and robustly assess replicable approaches to support teachers in preparing students for college, such as the implementation of assessments through teacher networks, and the design and implementation of professional development strategies.
- Consult with grantees to achieve desired impact of grants; conduct site visits, provide technical guidance, convene meetings of key stakeholders, and apply and evaluate milestone-based performance objectives.
- Reviewing letters of inquiry and grant proposals; provide recommendations for funding including drafting and editing proposal summaries for submission to the Foundation's Director of Education, President of US Programs, CEO, and Co-Chairs.
- Managing internal processes and portfolio progress, while ensuring appropriate documentation, grant budgeting and reporting.
- Publicly representing the Foundation with broad stakeholders including both public and private entities, grantee organizations, other funders, universities, think tanks, and other valued partners.

Qualifications -Bachelor's degree in an education related field and an advanced degree or equivalent work/leadership experience in a school district and/or state educational agency preferred.
-5-8+ years of professional leadership experience directly supporting, managing and implementing complex systems change in education. Has a track record of using data to support continuous improvement in those systems.
-Knowledge of latest curriculum (including middle and high school accelerated Math and English programs), assessment tools and school reform models, teacher evaluation, with a deep understanding of the policy landscape about educational standards, as well as how curriculum, instruction and assessment fit together at the classroom level.
-Deep knowledge of professional development, instructional leadership, and how teacher networks operate.
-Ability to think/work at scale as well as in white space to create new ideas; strategizes with passionate commitment, and strongly executes to meet deadlines and deliver results.
-Excellent written and oral communication skills in positions requiring communication with a broad and diverse audience.
-Experience in a role requiring collaboration in complex internal and external organizations, as well as a demonstrated ability to work with efficiency and diplomacy, particularly as part of a team effort.
-Ability to travel 40% of the time.

The position will be located in Washington, D.C. or Seattle, WA.

Reports to: Lead SPO for Teacher Practice/Tools, College Ready Work

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

Requisition Number 3614BR