Program Officer, Education

Education Program Officer

William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Menlo Park California

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (Hewlett or the Foundation) based in Menlo Park California seeks a collaborative and strategic leader to serve as a Program Officer in its Education Program.

At a pivotal moment for both the Foundation and the broader field this individual will help advance an evolving strategy focused on strengthening human connections and expanding rich learning experiences for all students particularly those furthest from opportunity. Working closely with the Education Program Director and a highly collaborative team the Program Officer will contribute to shaping and implementing this strategy while engaging with a diverse set of partners across the education ecosystem. This is a unique opportunity to join a highly respected foundation at a time of strategic evolution and to contribute to work that seeks to strengthen public education and its role in supporting thriving communities a healthy democracy and a vibrant economy.

The Program Officer will bring deep knowledge of public education ideally grounded in firsthand experience in schools and school systems and an understanding of how to cohere and align instructional practice community and systems leadership and cross-sector partnerships to improve academic and life outcomes for students. They will bring a nuanced understanding of the realities of educational improvement and the ability to identify high-leverage strategies to help close the gap between aspiration and implementation in public education.

The successful candidate will advance Hewletts vision of deeper learning a blend of strong academic knowledge with the skills mindsets and dispositions that young people need to thrive in a rapidly changing world. The Program Officer will work closely with districts states and networks that are working with key civic institutions community-based organizations and employers to expand rich learning experiences and strengthen human relationships especially in an increasingly AI-centric world. The candidate will work with the education program team and its partners to build non-partisan coalitions committed to improving public education at scale. Through this work we seek to enable high quality learning opportunities for all students especially those furthest from opportunity.

To advance the Foundations goals the Program Officer will work closely and build strong relationships with school and systems leaders and their local state and national partners on the improvement of instructional practice. The Program Officer will bring knowledge understanding and expertise of educational implementation at the state district and school levels. The Program Officer will have knowledge and experience with efforts to better connect schools and communities and broaden students learning experiences through such strategies as career-connected learning and civic-learning. The Program Officer will also collaborate with colleagues focused on complementary strategic priorities such as improving teacher preparation and career advancement strengthening school and systems leadership and leveraging enabling environments such as state local and national policy and ascendent technologies such as artificial intelligence.

ABOUT THE WILLIAM AND FLORA HEWLETT FOUNDATION

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation invests in creative thinkers and problem solvers working to ensure that people communities and the planet can flourish. Together with its partners Hewlett is harnessing societys collective capacity to solve our toughest problems from the existential threat of climate change to persistent and pervasive inequities to attacks on democracy itself. A nonpartisan philanthropy the Hewlett Foundation has made grants in the U.S. and globally for nearly six decades based on an approach that emphasizes long-term support collaboration and trust. Globally Hewlett makes grants to address both longstanding and emerging challenges like its efforts to advance gender equity and governance reimagine the economy and society and reduce the growing threat of climate change. U.S. efforts prioritize strengthening democracy advancing education for all and supporting community-led the San Francisco Bay Area Hewlett calls home it makes grants to support meaningful artistic experiences in local communities and support regional foundations working on critical issues such as housing. Hewletts grantmaking also invests in advancing racial justice and in strengthening the effectiveness of its grantees and of philanthropy itself. The Hewlett Foundations assets are nearly $14 billion with annual awards of grants totaling more than $621 million. More information about the Hewlett Foundation is available at:

The Foundation has approximately 130 employees in programmatic operational and investment roles located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Across the organization its employees are challenged with meaningful work have the resources for ongoing professional development and learning and contribute to a collegial and engaging environment where they can thrive. Hewlett is committed to fostering a culture of inclusion as part of its guiding principles and encourages individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences to apply.

ABOUT THE EDUCATION PROGRAM

The Education Program team is refreshing its strategy in 2026. The new Program Officer will support implementation and refinement of this new strategy in the context of ongoing grants management and new grant making.

The strategy refresh will build on Hewletts historic contributions to U.S. education while being adaptive and responsive to changing conditions contexts and environments. For example Hewletts attention to the deeper learning competencies has successfully expanded the aperture of schooling to include disciplinary knowledge and durable skills such as communication collaboration critical thinking and civic reasoning. Growing support for these skills among parents higher education institutions and employers has increased the importance of school and community implementation contexts that enable their development. Building on a foundation of high-quality teaching and learning in schools and classrooms broader implementation contexts often include learning opportunities with community-based organizations civic and cultural institutions such as libraries and museums and career-connected learning in high-demand fields. Enabling and sustaining these efforts at scale will require strategic investments that:

1. Ensure new technologies such as artificial intelligence are safe accessible and open to all and used to strengthen the work that teachers and students do together.
2. Identify promising efforts to expand the human capital pipeline into education by strengthening and innovating the education professions.
3. Implement research that identifies not only when strategies work but also for whom and under what conditions with the goal of expanding and ensuring success for all students.
4. Increase our understanding of the civic purpose of schooling and how the state local and national interact to establish and advance high-quality public education systems that powerfully serve students families communities and democracy at large.

ABOUT THE ROLE

Reporting to the Education Program Director Ash Vasudeva the Program Officer will play a central role in advancing the Foundations vision that every studentregardless of backgroundhas access to high-quality empowering teaching and learning. As a key member of the Education team the Program Officer will manage a portfolio of grants that help catalyze and support cross-sector collaboration between districts schools and their partners to support students civic engagement problem-solving and leadership; enable regional economic opportunity and upward mobility; and strengthen civil society and democracy.

The role includes contributing thought leadership strengthening school environments supporting rich learning experiences for students and engaging in national conversations on educational opportunities. The Program Officer will help shape strategy steward resources responsibly participate in evaluation and learning efforts and represent the Foundation externally through convenings meetings and field engagement.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Working in close partnership with the Education Program Director and broader team the Program Officer will play a key role in shaping and advancing an evolving education strategy at a critical inflection point for the Foundation and the broader field. Operating at the intersection of philanthropy public education systems and broader conversations on equity and democracy this individual will help define priorities investments and approaches requiring both strategic insight and the ability to operate effectively in a dynamic environment. This role combines strategic contribution with hands-on execution requiring the Program Officer to effectively manage a grant portfolio while collaborating cross-functionally and contributing to broader program priorities.

Leveraging the Foundations strong credibility and trust-based approach the Program Officer will build and sustain authentic partnerships with grantees partners and leaders across the education field. This role requires a highly relational and nuanced approach to earning trust and aligning diverse stakeholders to drive meaningful scalable impact that expands deeper learning opportunities and strengthens outcomes for students particularly those furthest from opportunity.

Serving as an ambassador for the Foundation the Program Officer will convene partners represent the organization at conferences and site visits and engage in national conversations to share best practices and advance system-level change. Through these efforts the Program Officer will help translate strategy into field-level influence contributing to broader shifts across the education landscape.

Key responsibilities for the Program Officer include:

• Advance grantmaking aligned with program strategy and the Foundations goal of expanding high-quality learning for all students.
• Manage a portfolio of grants including design implementation monitoring evaluation and stewardship of financial and programmatic resources.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with grantees partners and leaders across the education field.
• Contribute content expertise professional networks intellectual curiosity and cultural awareness to inform program strategy.
• Engage in national conversations on improving educational opportunities and share best practices related to impact sustainability and scalability.
• Work collaboratively within a highly collegial team sharing plans and insights to strengthen alignment and learning.
• Develop and refine evaluation approaches; commission and manage third-party evaluations to test strategic assumptions and inform decision-making.
• Represent the Foundation externally at conferences meetings site visits and foundation-hosted convenings.
• Collaborate with grantees to refine approaches maximize resources and advance program objectives.
• Prepare briefing materials reports presentations blog posts and other written materials to inform internal and external audiences.
• Support the implementation of an aspirational outcomes-driven strategy focused on improving teaching learning and student experiences.

QUALIFICATIONS

While no candidate will possess all the ideal qualifications the successful candidate will bring many of the following experiences knowledge and abilities important to the role:

• Deep commitment to equitable high-quality public education supported by experience in education practice policy or system improvement;
• Significant experience working with education organizations and leaders with a strong understanding of how to drive systemic change across classrooms schools and systems;
• Knowledge of leading-edge instructional practices pedagogical trends and contemporary research on teaching and learning;
• Experience supporting educators to improve practice gained in settings such as philanthropy school or system leadership nonprofits government or community/state organizing;
• Prior classroom building or system-level (district state federal) leadership experience;
• Understanding of factors contributing to disparate educational outcomes and experience addressing equity issues in practice;
• Ability to lead and manage research or analytical projects related to grantmaking including executing work with limited staff support;
• Demonstrated ability to set clear objectives evaluate progress and independently manage complex projects;
• Strong written and verbal communication skills;
• Commitment to collaboration and authentic partnership with colleagues grantees and field leaders;
• Alignment with Hewletts Guiding Principles;
• Comfort working in a highly collaborative relatively flat organizational structure balancing autonomy with teamwork;
• Growth-oriented leadership style including experience or interest in mentoring and supervising staff and working closely with embedded team members (grants legal communications);
• Adaptable flexible highly relational and grounded in humility integrity and a positive collegial spirit;
• Independent initiative openness to diverse perspectives and receptiveness to feedback;
• A graduate degree in a relevant field;
• Foundation grantmaking experience;
• Willingness to take smart risks and pursue outcomes-driven work; and
• Ability to work from the Hewlett Foundations Menlo Park office.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS/WORK ENVIRONMENT

The physical demands described are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this position the employee is regularly required to sit for extended periods of time and to travel via various modes of transportation for extended periods of time.

COMPENSATION AND LOCATION

The Hewlett Foundation is committed to providing compensation that is competitive within the philanthropic sector. The Foundation offers a generous total compensation package that emphasizes both base salary and comprehensive benefits. The salary range for this role is $00. Offers are based on the candidates years of experience and the Foundations practice of maintaining salary equity within the Foundation.

The Program Officer role carries an eight-year term limit. The position is based in Menlo Park California and requires approximately 30-40% national travel. The Foundation has adopted a hybrid work environment with the expectation of 2-3 days in the office per week (Tuesdays and Wednesdays are required when not traveling).

APPLICATIONS INQUIRIES AND NOMINATIONS

Screening of complete applications will begin immediately and continue until the completion of the search process. For best consideration please apply by August 14 2026. Inquiries nominations referrals and resumes with cover letters should be sent via the Isaacson Miller website:

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Isaacson Miller

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation embraces the importance of diversity equity and inclusion both internally in our hiring process and organizational culture and externally in our grantmaking and related practices. We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds cultures and experiences.

This document has been prepared based on the information provided by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The material presented in this leadership profile should be relied on for informational purposes only. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this information the original source documents and information provided by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation would supersede any conflicting information in this document.