The Foundation

We are the largest nonprofitfighting 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 were committed to creating an environment for you to thrive both personally and professionally.

The Team

Your Role

Reporting to the Deputy Director Digital Holistic Student Supports (DHSS) the Senior Program Officer AI-Enabled Engagement Systems will own the strategy and investment portfolio for the development of AI-native workflow platforms in higher education. This includes delivering high-impact use cases that drive measurable improvements in outcomes for students faculty and administrators with an emphasis on Black Latino and Indigenous students and students from low-income backgrounds. The goal is to transform how institutions execute core support workflows by evolving engagement platforms into AI-powered orchestration layers and funding the codification of institutional policy into machine-readable auditable digital systems.

The Senior Program Officer AI-Enabled Engagement Systems plays a critical role at the intersection of AI technology institutional practice and regulatory compliance. As part of a highly interconnected team you will collaborate across DHSS and with external product developers grantees and institutional partners to ensure that AI-enabled solutions are built and adopted in ways that are equitable technically rigorous and practically sustainable.

What Youll Do

• Own the strategy and investment portfolio for development of AI-native workflow platforms in higher education delivering high-impact use cases that drive measurable improvements in outcomes (e.g. advising financial aid alerts degree planning)

• Partner with product developers to evolve engagement platforms into AI-powered orchestration layers enabling end-to-end workflow execution across core institutional systems (e.g. SIS CRM financial aid LMS)
• Fund tools and approaches to codify institutional policy and workflows into machine-readable logic ensuring alignment with regulatory requirements (e.g. FERPA Title IV)
• Fund adoption of AI public goods to improve solutions quality and drive modernization of compliance and policy infrastructure (e.g. auditability AI-in-the-loop governance)
• Advance best practices for AI-mediated interaction including conversational and agent-based interfaces for students and staff ensuring equity and trust are foundational
• Monitor the emerging ecosystem of vertical AI infrastructure including workflow orchestration engines policy-as-code frameworks and AI-native CRM/SIS integrations and identify strategic investment opportunities
• Manage a portfolio of grants and contracts ensuring alignment with DHSS strategy appropriate documentation budgeting and reporting
• Nurture high-impact relationships with key partners grantees and collaborators including technology providers higher education institutions and open-source communities
• Provide written analysis presentations and summaries on key topics for foundation leadership and external partner audiences including systemic risks and mitigation approaches
• Collaborate with DHSS team members to align investment strategies and ensure collective success across the portfolio

Your Experience

A bachelors degree in a relevant field (e.g. Education Computer Science Public Policy Business Administration) or equivalent demonstrated experience is required.

Student Success Technology Markets & Products

• Fluency with emerging AI solutions in edtech including agentic and LLM-based workflow systems and their development lifecycle
• Experience designing or funding conversational and agent-based interfaces for student- or staff-facing use cases
• Hands-on experience designing or evaluating agentic AI systems including multi-agent orchestration tool use and human-in-the-loop workflows
• Familiarity with open-source products communities and licensing trade-offs
• Experience with AI safety auditability and explainability requirements in regulated environments (e.g. financial aid student records compliance workflows)

Higher Education Context

• Fluency with institutional policy logic and compliance frameworks (e.g. Title IV SAP degree audit rules) and experience translating these into modular auditable digital systems
• Deep understanding of the constraints and challenges lower-resourced higher education institutions face in adopting and optimizing the use of AI-enabled technology
• Practical understanding of the boundary between what AI can automate and what requires human judgment or institutional policy logic and how to design systems accordingly

Strategy Development & Execution

• Skilled at planning prioritizing and managing competing demands across complex investment portfolios; sees the critical path and makes clear trade-offs
• Ability to partner effectively with product developers and vendors to influence product roadmaps and drive strategic alignment without direct authority
• Demonstrated commitment to equity in product and investment design ensures AI-enabled solutions advance outcomes for underserved student populations

Collaboration & Communication

• Experience and passion for collaborating with team members with diverse backgrounds approaches and beliefs to pursue a complex interdependent strategy
• Ability to collaborate effectively within a complex organization and with a diverse set of external collaborators; facilitates cross-sector partnerships where they may not have previously existed
• Thoughtfully communicates complex information and data in written and oral formats; synthesizes large volumes of information into clear recommendations and decisions; advocates and communicates effectively with a broad and diverse audience

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 $190100 to $294700 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 $209100 to $324100 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 candidates 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

Were 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 processsuch as an ASL interpreter alternative interview format or physical accessibility supportwere happy to help. Please contact 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.