Senior Program Officer, Modernized High School Math

Gates Foundation; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 295,000; Full time

Job summary

Gates Foundation in Seattle (WA) seeks a leader to manage investments modernizing high school mathematics for equitable access and adoption nationwide. You will coordinate with publishers, field partners, and state agencies to advance Algebra I–II pathways, drive milestones, and steward a multi-funder coalition toward a 2035 reach goal.

The role emphasizes policy expertise, grantmaking experience, and strong communication with diverse stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree or equivalent demonstrated experience.
• Significant experience in K-12 education policy, standards development, or curriculum strategy.
• Experience with grantmaking and multi-workstream initiatives.
• Ability to influence without direct authority across partners.
• Excellent written and oral communication.

Responsibilities

• Lead execution of an initiative to modernize high school math with national reach.
• Engage publishers, field partners, and state education leaders to advance standards modernization.
• Coordinate multi-workstream investments and assess progress against outcomes.
• Develop campaigns and coalitions to expand support for reform across partners.
• Synthesize field intelligence into clear strategy insights for leadership.

Skills

Grantmaking

Stakeholder management

Policy understanding

Strong communication

Education

Advanced degree or equivalent

Job description

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 K-12 Teaching and Learning team works to ensure that all students—regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic status—have access to high-quality instructional materials and supports that improve learning outcomes. The team advances a strategy centered on AI-enabled full-stack solutions that combine rigorous curriculum with intelligent tutoring and personalized learning. We invest across the innovation lifecycle—from research and development and product development to demonstration, market shaping, and field readiness—working with a broad ecosystem of researchers, developers, districts, and state agencies to accelerate the adoption of proven, high-quality instructional solutions at scale.

Your Role

You are responsible for leading the foundation’s investments to build and scale modern mathematics curriculum for high school students leading to equitable access and adoption across the country. This includes supporting the development and sustainable scaling of advanced math course options including data science, statistics, and quantitative reasoning. It also includes working with multiple partners and philanthropists to steward a multi-phase initiative to modernize the core high school math sequence, targeting more than one million students annually by 2035. You drive execution across interdependent workstreams related to modernized expectations for what is taught in Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II and publisher engagement and coordinate closely with other Gates teams on state engagement, managing a complex portfolio of partnerships, coalitions, and investments. You have deep expertise in high school math content and standards, the grantmaking process, and the political and reform dynamics that shape whether large-scale systemic changes to innovations in mathematics education succeed or stall.

• Applications accepted until 12 PM/Noon Pacific Time on Friday, October 2, 2026. Relocation assistance is offered for this role for a hired candidate who is not living within a commutable distance from the Seattle or Washington, DC office. In some instances we are also open to a remote employee from a US state only.

What You'll Do

• Work collaboratively with potential and current grantees in grant making and managing.
• Lead execution of an initiative to modernize high school math, including publisher and field engagement with modern expectations of what is taught in Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II. Leading this initiative includes establishing clear milestones, tracking progress against measurable outcomes, and surfacing risks early to support adaptive decision-making.
• Manage investments, in coordination with other Gates Foundation colleagues, with standards and assessment partners to develop a field-endorsed set of prioritized high school math expectations, building broad consensus among researchers, practitioners, and policymakers on what modernized math pathways should include and why.
• Execute a tiered engagement strategy, working through external partners with national reach in systemic change in high school mathematics curriculum and professional development partnerships to advance state standards modernization efforts and build the conditions needed for high school mathematics curriculum reform at scale.
• Design and lead publisher engagement strategy in partnership with external partners and internal colleagues, influencing the business models, incentive structures, and product roadmaps of major K-12 publishers toward alignment with modernized math expectations.
• Develop a campaign approach and expand a co-funder coalition, identifying and cultivating relationships with philanthropic, public, and private partners who can amplify field consensus and resource the initiative toward its 2035 student reach goal.
• Synthesize complex field intelligence—spanning content standards, state policy, publisher dynamics, and co-funder landscapes—into clear, structured insights that inform initiative strategy and division leadership decision-making.
• Build and sustain senior-level relationships with state education leaders, national standards organizations, publishers, researchers, and co-funders, maintaining trust-based partnerships that advance shared reform goals without direct authority over partners.
• Communicate initiative strategy, progress, and risks clearly and concisely to diverse audiences including program leadership, external partners, co-funders, and foundation collaborators, tailoring messaging to support alignment and informed decision-making.
• Collaborate across the K-12 team and with Advocacy and System Improvement, Data and AI, and other program strategy teams, operating with a one-team attitude and willingly flexing priorities to advance shared division goals.
• Support inclusive culture through modeling behaviors and actions; raise issues in a timely fashion to appropriate partners.

Your Experience

• An Advanced degree or equivalent demonstrated experience.
• Significant experience in K-12 education policy, standards development, or curriculum strategy, with demonstrated expertise in the high school math landscape and the content, standards, and reform dynamics that shape math pathways at scale.
• Experience with grantmaking either as a grantee or program officer – developing proposals, understanding grant budgets.
• Significant experience managing complex, multi-workstream initiatives with multiple external partners—including state education agencies, standards organizations, publishers, and co-funders—in environments requiring influence without direct authority.
• Demonstrated experience developing and implementing campaign strategies or field-building efforts in K-12 education reform, including coalition development, co-funder engagement, and political risk management in high-sensitivity policy environments.
• Knowledge of the K-12 publisher ecosystem, including the business models, incentive structures, and product development processes of major curriculum publishers, and experience influencing publishers toward adoption of evidence-based instructional approaches.
• Demonstrated excellence in written and oral communication, including the ability to synthesize complex policy, content, and market dynamics into clear, decision-relevant insights for practitioner, partner, and leadership audiences.
• 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 (e.g.: H-1B, O-1, L-1, E, OPT, STEM-OPT, CPT, TN, J-1, etc).

The salary range for this role is $190,100 to $294,700 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 $209,100 to $324,100 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.

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 [e-mail] 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.