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 Data & AI team works to unlock the full potential of data and artificial intelligence to improve educational and economic outcomes. Our vision is that by 2045, all learners and the people who support them will be empowered by safe, evidence-based, AI-enabled solutions that deliver personalized experiences and universally recognized skills, so they can navigate pathways, move across institutions, and thrive in meaningful work. To achieve this, we invest in three catalytic areas: AI solution enablement, trusted evidence for AI in education, and dynamic feedback systems. We amplify this work through investing in focus geographies, driving strategic partnerships with frontier AI labs and co-funders, and partnering with other teams within U.S. Program in using data and AI to drive equitable impact.

Your Role

You are responsible for leading the Data & AI team’s measurement, learning, and evaluation (MLE) function as a core member of the Data & AI Enablement Hub. You define and track strategy and portfolio progress through rigorous evaluation design, impact accounting, and evidence synthesis—ensuring insights are actionable and continuously improve investment decisions across the team. You bring mastery-level expertise in MLE methods and applied tooling, including dashboard development, predictive modeling support, and AI-assisted analytics, with dedicated MLE support to the System Feedback Loops portfolio alongside team-wide responsibilities.

This position is a limited-term position for 24 months. Relocation support can be provided depending on the circumstances.

What You’ll Do

• Define and track progress toward strategy and portfolio goals through clear target-setting, performance indicators, and evaluation design; lead evaluations to test key hypotheses and assumptions underlying the team’s investments.
• Design and build interactive performance dashboards that visualize strategy and portfolio progress, bringing rigorous analytical thinking to support decision-making across the team and with leadership.
• Develop and evolve predictive and evaluative impact accounting frameworks; apply effect-size extraction, scenario analysis, and cost-effectiveness approaches to support investment decisions.
• Analyze, synthesize, and communicate findings from evaluations, research, and pilots to inform strategy refinement, planning, and trade-off decisions, translating complex evidence into clear, actionable insights for diverse audiences.
• Provide support to specific portfolios, including evaluation design, hypothesis testing, and progress reporting for grants and investments.
• Consult with program officers, grantees, and partners to ensure grants produce the data and evidence needed to measure strategy progress; scope and manage evaluations with external partners as needed.
• Facilitate team strategy learning by sharing insights, data, and recommendations with the Data & AI team and other program strategy teams to strengthen cross-portfolio connections and inform foundation-wide decision-making.
• Leverage AI tools and digital technologies to streamline MLE workflows, increase analytical efficiency, and improve the accuracy of reporting and evidence synthesis—demonstrating a proactive orientation toward innovation in daily work.
• Engage actively in division- and foundation-wide MLE learning communities; represent the team’s MLE approach in cross-foundation forums, sharing knowledge openly and transparently to build collective capability.
• Apply an equity-centered lens to evaluation design and evidence synthesis, consistently examining who benefits from investments and ensuring measurement approaches reflect the foundation’s commitment to equitable outcomes.
• Support inclusive culture through modeling behaviors and actions; escalate issues in a timely fashion to appropriate stakeholders.

Your Experience

• An Advanced degree or equivalent demonstrated experience, preferably in education research, public policy, economics, statistics, or a related field.
• Significant experience in measurement, learning, and evaluation within complex programmatic or research environments, including evaluation design, impact analysis, and evidence synthesis.
• Mastery level knowledge of quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods, including theory of change development, logic modeling, effect-size extraction, cost-effectiveness analysis, and scenario modeling.
• Significant experience translating evaluation findings and data insights into accessible narratives and visualizations for varied audiences, including senior leadership and external partners.
• Demonstrated experience building interactive data dashboards and applying AI-assisted tools to accelerate analytical workflows and reporting.
• Significant experience managing external evaluation partnerships, including scoping, contracting, and oversight of third-party evaluators and research partners.
• Mastery level knowledge of the U.S. education or workforce development field, with an understanding of equity-centered approaches and frameworks such as Targeted Universalism.

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 $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.

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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.