Director of Education, K-12 at Gates Foundation

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

Posting Close Date: Monday, May 25th 11:59pm PDT.

Your Role

The Director of Education, K–12 is a rare opportunity to shape the future of learning at a pivotal moment for education. This leader will serve as the visionary integrator for the next generation of K–12 learning, advancing a bold AI-enabled strategy to dramatically accelerate student outcomes, particularly in math, with the ambition of enabling up to 1.6 years of learning in a single year through high quality instructional materials, tutoring, and other solutions and supports that enable teachers and student learning.

The Director will bridge research, product innovation, and real-world delivery at scale. They will oversee a dual-track portfolio that both:

• Strengthens and scales proven, high-impact approaches, and,

• Drives the frontier of AI-enabled, product-driven innovation capable of transforming instruction in and beyond schools.

Over time, the ambition is to bring these tracks together – ensuring that AI-enabled systems solve previously intractable challenges in equitable and responsible ways. The Director must combine entrepreneurial curiosity with disciplined management, delivering measurable impact now while stewarding a 20-year vision aligned to the foundation’s 2030 and 2045 goals.

What You’ll Do:

Strategic Leadership:

• Lead the foundation’s K–12 math strategy, driving measurable progress toward ambitious 2030 and 2045 goals with clarity, focus, and accountability.

• Set and evolve a long-term vision for AI-enabled instructional materials and tutoring grounded in evidence and equitable outcomes.

• Guide strategic planning, investment strategy, and the learning agenda for the K–12 portfolio.

• Anticipate and adapt to shifts in artificial intelligence, data science, workforce demands, and education policy that influence how students learn and teachers teach.

• Ensure strong alignment across U.S. Programs, including Postsecondary, Pathways, Enablers, AI Infrastructure and Data, and Charters.

• Represent the K–12 strategy internally and externally, articulating priorities, progress, and results with clarity and credibility.

Product & Portfolio Excellence

• Advance a bold AI-centered strategy anchored in clear teacher and student use cases to improve math instruction and learning outcomes at scale.

• Oversee a dual-track portfolio that balances scaling proven approaches with advancing innovative, product-driven solutions.

• Lead R&D and innovation pipelines from concept to scaled adoption, incorporating user-centered design and iterative improvement.

• Balance investments across AI ecosystem development, product innovation, commercialization, and system implementation.

• Use disciplined portfolio governance, analytics, and impact accounting to evaluate tradeoffs across risk, scale, cost-effectiveness, and equitable impact.

• Partner with data and impact teams to define predictive metrics and embed continuous measurement and learning into funding decisions.

Partnership & Systems Influence

• Cultivate deep relationships with educators, researchers, technologists, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and funders to accelerate innovation and adoption.

• Influence the direction of AI and learning technologies by articulating clear educational needs, values, and guardrails in collaboration with partners.

• Serve as a trusted external voice on the responsible and equitable use of technology in public education.

• Align peer funders and cross-sector leaders around next-generation delivery models and co-investment opportunities.

Team Leadership & Organizational Stewardship

• Lead and develop a high-performing, multidisciplinary team of strategists, program officers, and technical experts.

• Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, curiosity, and belonging.

• Translate strategic objectives into actionable priorities and measurable outcomes.

• Provide regular coaching and feedback to direct reports and support the growth of future leaders.

• Model inclusive leadership practices and ensure diverse perspectives inform strategy and decision-making.

• Ensure disciplined fiscal and operational stewardship of people and budget resources

Your Experience

• Advanced degree with 15+ years of senior leadership experience in K–12, postsecondary, education technology, or related systems.

• Proven success designing, scaling, or investing in digital or AI-enabled learning products or platforms.

• Experience leading R&D or innovation pipelines from concept through scaled adoption.

• Deep understanding of the K–12 ecosystem, including curriculum, instruction, assessment, instructional materials, data systems, and educator professional learning.

• Demonstrated ability to embed inclusive design and equitable impact considerations into product development, partnerships, and investment strategies.

• Experience applying a Targeted Universalism framework or similar approach to strategy and grantmaking.

• Strong experience managing complex portfolios and making disciplined investment decisions that balance risk, scale, sustainability, and equity.

• Track record of leading diverse, high-performing teams in matrixed environments.

• Exceptional communication skills with the ability to influence senior leaders and represent the organization externally with credibility and clarity.

Other Attributes

• Visionary Integrator: Synthesizes ideas across research, policy, product, and practice to create coherent, future-ready strategies.

• Product & Solutions Expert: Lives at the intersection of technology and learning, guiding investments that translate innovation into measurable gains.

• Transformational Thinker: Balances bold aspiration with disciplined execution; comfortable leading at the edge of change.

• Evidence-Driven Investor: Uses analytics and predictive insights to allocate capital toward highest-impact opportunities.

• Collaborative Leader: Builds trust, aligns diverse stakeholders, and inspires action across sectors.

• Adaptive Change Agent: Thrives amid ambiguity; pivots quickly based on learning and data.

The salary range for this role is $335,000 to $519,200 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 $368,500 to $571,100 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 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.