Senior Program Officer, Modernized High School Math

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 dyna