Senior Program Officer, Technology and Innovation for Economic Mobility and Opportunity (9-month LTE*)

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

The vision of the foundations U.S. Program (USP) is that all people navigating U.S. education systems and job markets can develop the knowledge, skills, and agency needed to thrive in their communities such that race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status are no longer predictors of educational attainment and economic mobility and security. We work with partners to improve education systems and pathways from early learning to K-12 to postsecondary education to prepare and empower all students to thrive in the labor market and their lives while employing targeted strategies for student groups who have been inequitably served by current systems Black and Latino students, and students from low-income backgrounds. We also work with partners to improve systems in ways that increase equitable access to opportunities for adults experiencing poverty, especially those facing greater mobility barriers due to racism and sexism.

Our Economic Mobility and Opportunity (EMO) team works with local and state governments and policymakers, small and medium-sized businesses, community and advocacy organizations, funders, and researchers to help increase long-term economic security for people earning low incomes. Our target population is the 47 million people ages 16 to 64 whose annual incomes are below 200% of the federal poverty level, which translates to $27,180 for an individual and $55,500 for a family of four as of 2022.

The Economic Mobility & Opportunity strategy has three pillars:
Making Lives Better Now: Work to address the immediate needs of our focus population by supporting the creation and use of tools that help individuals and families access safety net benefits and tax credits as well as connect employers with skilled workers.
Public Good Creation and Dissemination: We provide tools, insights, and resources to local governments, businesses, and organizations to help them create more opportunities for people living in poverty to achieve economic success.
Critical Enablers: We collaborate with government agencies, businesses, nonprofits, funders, and others to increase the flow of capital, facilitate learning, and advance shared goals in a way that builds momentum around efforts in our two other focus areas.

Application Deadline: Monday, October 9, 2023

Your Role

The Senior Program Officer, Technology and Innovation for Economic Mobility and Opportunity (SPO, EMO) is responsible for advancing the execution of an investment plan across two bodies of work within Making Lives Better Now: (1) Innovation and R&D portfolio and (2) Training & Worker Supports. The new Innovation and R&D portfolio will primarily focus on navigation products that help our focus population access mobility-enhancing resources and opportunities and ensuring Artificial Intelligence and other frontier technologies are deployed in an equitable way that empowers our focus population. The Training & Worker Supports portfolio supports scalable platforms and other solutions that help low-mobility workers more effectively match with skill-based employment opportunities and navigate the labor market, enabling better matches to middle-wage pathways.

Reporting to the Director, Economic Mobility and Opportunity, the successful candidate will have the ability to assess potential investments with rigor, link investments to our overall strategy framework, successfully communicate a vision for impact, elevate insights from our investments, and integrate those learning into further strategy refinement. Overall, you will need strong relationship management skills to engage and collaborate with a wide variety of partners, high-level grant management skills, and experience with monitoring and evaluation. Familiarity with product development will serve you well in this role.

* This is a 9-month limited term position with foundation benefits. No foundation-sponsored relocation support will be offered.

What Youll Do

• Lead execution of investment strategy for two bodies of work within the teams Make Lives Better Now portfolio: 1) innovation and R&D and 2) training & worker supports.

• Develop, manage, resource, and implement a portfolio of investments and partnerships that aligns with foundation strategy and is operationally integrated with other foundation programs. Contribute and collaborate with other team members on the design of new strategies, collaborations and implementation plans to ensure long-term sustainability and impact.

• Analyze and synthesize learning across your portfolio of grants to assess the strength of the strategic approach for improving access to programs and benefits that accelerate progress out of poverty. Strengthen the field by sharing this learning across key partners.

• Negotiate, execute, and manage complex portfolio of grants or performance-based contracts. Review letters of inquiry and grant proposals and provide clear, concise, and insightful written analyses and recommendations for funding.

• Consult with grantees and other partners to maximize impact of projects and ensure grants are meeting strategy goals. This may include site visits, providing operational guidance and convening meetings of key stakeholders.

• Provide internal and external thought leadership, as appropriate, related to digital solutions for improving access and distribution of safety net benefits, and expanding job matching between employers and employees with non-traditional backgrounds.

Your Experience

• Advanced degree with 7+ years of experience, or equivalent experience. Experience with social impact investing, public interest technologies, AI/ML is preferred.

• Track record driving innovation and R&D

• Proven ability to lead and influence others in a constructive manner and to build and sustain collaborative relationships.

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, able to effectively synthesize information to reach diverse audiences and build consensus. Successfully able to communicate a strategic vision and link that vision to concrete investment actions. Capable of integrating lessons, data, and insights from investments into a process of refining strategy and strategy execution.

• Creative problem solver with a rigorous approach and strong quantitative analytic skills.

• Track record leading strategy development, execution, and monitoring: guiding implementation, delivery, and impact measurement of approved strategic objectives.

• Experience working with communities, the private sector, or public sector to address systemic barriers to opportunity.

• Substantial relationship-building and relationship management skills that enable effective engagement with individual contributors and senior leadership both within and outside of the foundation.

• Demonstrated initiative solving unstructured problems with little oversight, high energy, and a positive attitude.

Other Attributes

• Adaptability: Is flexible, maintains effectiveness by adjusting behavior, work routines, and habits to meet a goal and/or changing circumstances. Is seen as balanced despite the conflicting demands of the situation. Highly self-activating and efficient; goes to where the work is; brings others along.

• Analytical Thinking: Uses facts and available information to develop logical assumptions. Discriminates between important and unimportant details, recognizes inconsistencies between facts and/or data, and draws correct inferences from information (includes differentiating, comparing, contrasting, linking, researching).

• Business Innovation / Strategic Agility: Looks for new or alternative ideas from a wide range of sources; monitors developments and looks for applications to support current and future business needs and opportunities. Anticipates future consequences and trends accurately, has broad knowledge and perspective; verbalizes and projects credible pictures and visions of possibilities.

• Collaboration/ Relationship Building: Develops and maintains effective working relationships with team members, internal partners and others using strong interpersonal skills. Seeks input and benchmarking. Encourages win-win alternatives. Works effectively with people outside formal authority to accomplish goals. Solicits participation, challenges ideas and summarizes accomplishments and planned actions.

• DEI Mindset: Seeks input from and values the uniqueness of people of different groups and cultures. Works effectively with individuals of diverse cultures, interpersonal styles, abilities, motivations, or backgrounds. Challenges practices or policies that may be exclusionary; proven commitment to addressing race and income equality.

• Presentation Skills: Presents ideas in a clear, succinct, organized, and engaging manner. Is effective in a variety of presentation settings inside and outside the organization (formal and informal, one-on-one, small and large groups, with peers, direct reports and leadership).

• Problem Solving / Results Orientation: Asks good questions and probes all sources for answers; sees underlying or hidden patterns; looks beyond the obvious and doesn’t stop at the first answers. Uses rigorous logic and methods to analyze and understand why problems occur; generates and implements creative, cost effective and realistic solutions.

**Must be able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship.

The typical salary range for this role is $149,800 to $278,700 USD. The exact offer will be determined by a variety of factors such as the candidates individual skills, qualifications, and experience relative to the requirements of the role.

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

If you require assistance due to a disability in the application or recruitment process, please submit a request here.

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.