Senior Program Officer, Measurement, Learning, & Evaluation (9 month LTE)
Washington, DC, USA · Seattle, WA, USA
USD 173k-259,600 / year
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 Postsecondary (PS) Courseware and Navigation team harnesses AI-enabled tools to remove widespread barriers that stand between learners and a postsecondary credential that reflects their skills and knowledge and delivers sustained economic value. The team recognizes that some barriers are about learning itself, and others are about navigation—the ability for learners to move within and across fragmented systems with ease, cost-effectiveness, and recognition of the skills and knowledge they have gained along the way. This team invests in AI-enabled gateway courses, personal advising, and learning mobility; taken together, these efforts support today's learners to build momentum across enrollment, persistence, and credential completion.Your Role
The Senior Program Officer, Measurement, Learning, and Evaluation (MLE) role reports to the Deputy Director, MLE and serves as the embedded MLE officer for the Digital Holistic Student Supports (DHSS) portfolio within the Postsecondary Courseware and Navigation team. This role focused on ensuring continuity of evidence strategy, investment management, and decision support during a period of leave coverage.
*This is a limited term role for 9-months. Relocation will not be provided
What You’ll Do
Evidence Strategy & Portfolio Leadership
Steward existing evidence strategy across the Digital Holistic Student Supports portfolio, ensuring alignment with solution development and scaling goals.
Lead an active portfolio of grants and contracts, ensuring continuity, quality, and timely execution of evidence-building activities.
Identify and raise risks, gaps, and opportunities, and support appropriate adjustments to keep portfolio measurement and evaluation activities on track.
Solution Evaluation & Validation
Be responsible for evaluation approaches (implemented through grants, contracts, and partners) to ensure high-quality execution and alignment with established evidence strategy.
Monitor and assess AI system performance and real-world use, including adoption, reliability, and appropriate reliance on AI-driven decision support.
Identify and flag risks, gaps, and contextual constraints (e.g., data infrastructure, institutional readiness) that may affect system performance and downstream outcomes.
Impact Assessment
Lead and be responsible for external evaluations (e.g., RCTs, quasi-experimental studies, etc.) to assess impact on downstream learner outcomes such as credit accumulation, persistence, and other measures of education progression and success.
Ensure alignment between embedded product metrics and validated education outcomes, identifying risks and gaps in measurement approaches.
AI-Enabled Evaluation & Emerging Methodologies
Stay current on and apply emerging AI-enabled evaluation approaches and apply them as appropriate to support ongoing work.
Collaborate with internal teams and external partners to advance evaluation methods and practices across the Postsecondary strategy and US Program division.
Partnerships, Influence, & Strategy
Lead key partnerships and serve as a primary point of contact for measurement- and evaluation-related work, ensuring continuity and strong feedback loops.
Translate complex evidence into clear, decision-relevant insights to support leadership and ongoing investment decisions.
Support existing learning routines and business rhythms, ensuring Digital Holistic Student Supports team can effectively use data and evidence to stay on track.
Monitor external trends and signals of change to inform ongoing work and flag potential implications
Execution & Culture
Contribute flexibly across portfolios where product or system evaluation needs are highest, consistent with a team-first, impact-oriented approach.
Promote equity-centered evaluation practices, including attention to differential impacts across learner populations.
Support inclusive, high-performing team culture through modeling behaviors and actions; raise issues in a timely fashion to appropriate partners
Your Experience
Advanced degree or equivalent experience in education, evaluation, or a related field and deep expertise in postsecondary systems, workflows, and infrastructure.
Significant experience designing and leading rigorous evaluations, including experimental, quasi-experimental, and mixed-methods approaches.
Experience evaluating human-AI interaction and system performance in complex, real-world environments.
Experience applying AI-enabled evaluation methods, including using product and AI-generated data, assessing system performance for accuracy, bias, and reliability, and connecting those measures to real-world learner outcomes.
Portfolio and partner management experience, including managing external evaluators, making strategic tradeoffs, and working effectively across sophisticated, multi-stakeholder environments.
Demonstrated ability to adapt priorities in ambiguity, communicate clearly about what is known and uncertain, and stay focused on measurable outcomes and highest-impact work.
Proven ability to translate complex evidence into clear, decision-relevant insights, influence strategy and investment decisions, and contribute to broader field learning.
Strong equity orientation, including designing and interpreting evidence to examine how opportunity and impact vary across populations.
Comfort operating in dynamic, AI-enabled environments and adapting approaches as technologies and strategies evolve.
** 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.).
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
If you require assistance due to a disability in the application or recruitment process, please submit a request here.
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.
The salary range for this role is $173,000 to $259,600 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 $190,300 to $285,500 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.
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 HR@gatesfoundation.org 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.