The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Postsecondary Success (PS) strategy seeks to transform colleges and universities to dramatically improve credential attainment and eradicate equity gaps for low income students and students of color. This strategy will assist in meeting the nation’s workforce development needs.
We are currently seeking an exceptional candidate for Senior Program Officer, Digital Learning Solution. This role will have responsibility for developing new digital learning tools (adaptive digital courseware and related technology enabled teaching and learning interventions) to dramatically improve academic success and momentum for low-income and students of color while helping colleges and universities spread and scale effective digital instruction at the undergraduate level as part of a broader institutional change process. The Senior Program Officer (SPO) will report to the Deputy Director (DD).
Areas of Responsibility:
- Plan, manage and implement a wide range of activities in support of understanding innovations, barriers to scale, developments, product market fit (i.e., segmentation analysis) and opportunities in the digital learning and learning technologies market.
- Ensure that the digital learning solution accelerates and integrates with a college or university’s broader change journey (erasing equity and achievement gaps, improving student learning, helping colleges improve access to learners who require such flexibility, and improving institutional economics and return for these investments in effective and scaled digital instruction).
- Prospect and develop high impact and strategic investment opportunities (often complex, multi-stakeholder investments including RFPs and potential PRI investments), grants management and cross foundation and external relationship management to further the Digital Learning portfolio’s impact.
- Support the management and development of a portfolio of grants and contracts related to the Digital Learning Solution that leverage the Foundation’s prior investments in this space, strategic vision, and future needs with respect to the success of this approach and the broader goal of institutional change and continuous improvement.
- Undertake and support research and market analysis to develop and provide recommendations and insights required for effective, multi-year strategic grant making and investment approaches.
- Carrying out research and literature reviews, landscape analyses and other analytical reviews on a regular basis to track and understand market opportunities and challenges. Prepare and write briefs and synthesize existing literature. Provide written analysis and presentations, and summaries of key topics for Foundation Management and external partner audiences.
- Provide guidance, consultation, and support to grantees and external stakeholders to achieve desired impact of grants; organize and conduct site visits when appropriate, provide technical guidance, lead and convene meetings (internal and external) and apply and evaluate milestone-based performance objectives to achieve successful outcomes. Nurture and optimize lasting and high impact relationships with key partners and grantees.
- Manage internal processes and portfolio progress while ensuring appropriate documentation, grant budgeting and reporting. Improve operational efficiency and effectiveness.
- Contribute to both development and coordination of key investments related to this portfolio as well as working with relevant place-based and policy and advocacy program officers.
Educational Background:
Advanced degree
Skills/Experience:
- Experience with higher education student success and digital learning design and digital learning technology product development. Demonstrable understanding digital learning and/or education technology infrastructure and higher education enterprise IT infrastructure – related skills might include systems architecture and design, higher education enterprise IT implementation.
- Excellent knowledge of research on pedagogy and implementation of high impact, credit-bearing undergraduate digital learning (blended learning, online learning, adaptive learning, online program management, scaled adoption and implementation of learning management systems, MOOCs, competency-based learning, etc.) to improve student success and erase equity gaps in undergraduate education.
- Experience with and understanding of higher education teaching and learning delivery, faculty development, learning sciences, high impact pedagogy, and/or implementation of high impact digital learning at the undergraduate level.
- Excellent knowledge and ability in gathering and interpreting market information and analysis, both digital learning product, vendor, and market trends as well as analysis of broader market (supply side and demand side) dynamics in the Digital Learning solution area (i.e. adaptive courseware market, OPM market, etc.)
- Excellent quantitative, analytical, writing, and verbal skills essential for communicating progress and stewardship with a diverse audience including internal foundation leadership as well as external market leaders such as investors, digital learning entrepreneurs, learning science and evaluation researchers, philanthropic partners, and senior higher education leaders.
- Effective collaborator. You relish the opportunity of working as an effective member of a high performing team and contributing to the foundation’s broader collective success and improving both the PS strategy and the Solution team’s performance. Growth mindset and ability to adapt in a dynamic and feedback rich environment.
- Strategic thinker and doer – able to wrestle with complex and multi-dimensional problems. Excellent ability to lead complex projects and to bring complex ideas to fruitful execution and implementation.
- Derives and creates energy and with your colleagues and partners. Trustworthy and dependable partner across the PS strategy and in the field.
- 7+ years of higher education or relevant education technology sector / digital learning and education technology experience
- MBA highly preferred
- Strategic philanthropy or social impact investing experience preferred
- Deep knowledge and/or experience in creating, designing, marketing and implementing digital learning technologies (such as digital courseware) at U.S. higher education institutions; understanding of the US digital learning market and complex market dynamics - particularly, advanced teaching and learning platforms (digital courseware, online program management, learning management systems, etc.) currently competing in the market.
Job Function:
Organization Info
Listing Stats
Post Date:
Feb 22 2019
Active Until:
Mar 22 2019
Hiring Organization:
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
industry:
Nonprofit