The AI Access Initiative, Program Manager

About The AI Access Initiative

About The AI Access Initiative incubated at Evidence Action

Were at an inflection point in artificial intelligence presenting both tremendous potential opportunity and risk for people in developing countries: rather than allowing the poverty gap to expand low-income countries have an opportunity to leapfrog development milestones with AI-powered innovations. Incubated at Evidence Action were launching The AI Access Initiative an organization focused on scaling AI-enabled big bets to benefit tens or hundreds of millions of people in poverty in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

We will operate at the intersection of global development actors top AI labs and leading researchers to drive meaningful access to the benefits of AI for the 3.5 billion people living in poverty globally. We will create public good open-sourced playbooks toolkits and insights that define how to design and launch tractable and impactful AI-enabled programs. Given the scale of opportunity we expect our portfolio to expand substantially but to start were scaling two programs focused on AI in Agriculture and AI in Health.

We are led by CEO Kanika Bahl a founding member of Anthropics Long-Term Benefit Trust and advised by Nobel Laureate Michael Kremer; Dario Amodei CEO of Anthropic; and Kent Walker President Global Affairs for Alphabet and Google. This work builds on Evidence Actions track record reaching 530M people with cost-effective evidence-based programs across 9 countries in Africa and Asia with a focus on last-mile delivery.

Our Approach

Were building an AI-native organization focused on designing solutions to reach tens or hundreds of millions of individuals living in poverty. We will focus both on delivering near-term tractable direct impact as well as assisting governments to grow capacity and build enabling environments for the AI for Good ecosystem including:

• Scaling big bet AI interventions to impact tens or hundreds of millions such as delivering AI-enabled forecasts to smallholder farmers to improve yields and earnings leveraging AI to dramatically improve medical diagnosis and treatment implementing frontier systems to identify and mitigate disease outbreaks or putting personalized AI tutors into the hands of students to drive reductions to system-level educational attainment gaps. When relevant we will partner with leading AI labs to shape technical offerings including adapting for underrepresented languages bandwidth constraints etc.
• Partnering with governments in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to drive regulatory changes policy and investments necessary to unlock beneficial use cases at national scale while proactively mitigating the downside risks of AI.

Building on our recent Cross-Sector Analysis of near and medium-term AI opportunities in LMICs we are advancing the highest-scoring interventions through a rigorous vetting process including evidence reviews cost-effectiveness analyses risk assessments and early operational/technical scoping. We are excited about the opportunity to deliver AI-enabled weather forecasting for smallholder farmers and are now running deeper analysis on opportunities in global health.

The Role

We are seeking two ambitious analytically rigorous and mission-driven team members at Manager or Senior Manager level to join our founding team and support the design research and execution of high-impact AI programs in LMICs. Reporting to our Program Lead you will be at the heart of translating frontier AI research into scalable government-ready solutions - helping to shape the work our growing organization does building and influencing this new sector of development. You will play a critical supporting role in bridging researchers AI labs implementing partners and government counterparts to ensure our programs are evidence-based rigorously tested and positioned to reach 10M beneficiaries.

Every day youre likely to be:

• Supporting design and execution of LMIC pilots by managing workstreams coordinating with partners tracking deliverables and ensuring quality and timelines are met.
• Developing high-quality deliverables to drive decision-making including research memos slide decks strategy briefing documents and reports that synthesize complex technical and programmatic information for diverse audiences.
• Managing relationships with multiple program stakeholders by supporting engagement with government counterparts AI labs researchers and implementing partners.
• Experimenting with AI tools and approaches to test hypotheses prototype solutions and contribute creative ideas to improve how the program and broader org function.
• Driving project management across multiple workstreams maintaining clear trackers action items and communication with internal and external stakeholders.
• Conducting rigorous analysis and research to inform the strategy of new programs including evidence reviews cost-effectiveness analyses landscape scans expert interviews and technical scoping across priority verticals (e.g. likely health and agriculture to begin)
• Learning and growing rapidly by taking on increasing responsibility as you demonstrate strong performance and ownership.

Background

You are a strong fit for this role if you thrive in changing environments where you might analyze user data on Monday prototype an AI solution on Tuesday and present recommendations to partners on Wednesday all while priorities shift based on whats most urgent. You approach ambiguous problems with structured thinking breaking down How do we improve X into testable hypotheses clear success metrics and actionable next steps within days not weeks. You take ownership of problems end-to-end without needing detailed instructions whether that means sourcing missing data independently running calls and investigations with field-leading experts or translating between technical and program teams to move work forward. If this sounds like you you might be a great fit for our team.

In return our team has a lean get-things-done start-up energy. Were committed to providing you a high-trust and opportunity-heavy experience helping to shape the work our growing organization does. Well provide continuous feedback and learn from each other along the way.

The ideal AI Program Manager will join us with:

• 2-6 years of experience driving measurable impact at speed and scale with demonstrated outcomes such as:
• Scaled a program product or initiative to reach 100000 people within 12-18 months
• Achieved a 20% improvement in a key metric (e.g. health outcomes educational attainment income access) within 12-18 months
• Led rapid iteration cycles that moved from pilot to scaled implementation in under 2 years
• Operated in environments where decisions are made on data within weeks not quarters
• What were not looking for: Traditional multi-year development programs grant compliance-focused roles or primarily research/advisory positions without direct implementation responsibility
• Strong analytical and quantitative skills with demonstrated ability to structure ambiguous problems and synthesize insights from diverse data sources. Examples of this could include: consulting casework academic research policy analysis or data science projects.
• Strong project management capabilities including attention to detail ability to manage competing priorities and track record of delivering on time.
• Interest in international development global health or adjacent fields with a strong preference for familiarity with evidence-based interventions and cost effectiveness.
• Comfort with ambiguity and fast iteration; able to adapt quickly take initiative and maintain focus on impact.
• Curiosity and creativity with AI tools including a testing mindset and eagerness to experiment with emerging technologies. Experience with coding or data analysis tools is a plus.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to produce clear concise deliverables for technical and non-technical audiences.
• Balances high EQ rigor and strong throughput with the levity and humility to tackle hard problems in a diverse collaborative team

Position Location

This role location is flexible anywhere within the United States for fully remote candidates. Please note this role may require travel (10-30%) to partner countries.

We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of a U.S. employment visa at this time. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. for roles based in the U.S.

Evidence Action is an Equal Opportunity Employer with a commitment to diversity. All individuals regardless of personal characteristics are encouraged to apply.

The expected role range for this US position is listed below. We consider multiple factors when determining the base salary for a role including but not limited to: role scope program budgets internal equity and a candidates qualifications and/or prior experience.

Note: Pay and benefits will be commensurate with the role specifications local statutory requirements and the cost of labor in the markets where we operate.

The pay range for this role: $75000 - $95000 per year.

This role will initially be housed at Evidence Action with the explicit plan to transfer with the AI Access Initiative as a founding member of the team when that project is spun out as a new entity later this year. At that point benefits and policies may change. For US based roles Evidence Action provides comprehensive benefits including international health care HSA/FSA options life insurance disability coverage retirement plans with a matching component generous and flexible leave options as well as other employee perks on a reimbursement basis. For more information visit our careers page or ask our recruiting team!

Required Experience:

Manager