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Interim Program Officer, Measurement Learning and Evaluation, K-12 Education

This job is no longer available

Seattle, WA, USA
Internship

This is an interim backfill role to cover for someone who will be out on parental leave.  The duration of the assignment is targeted for 18 months starting in ~May 2019. However, the start and end dates may change.

This role has primary responsibility to provide thought leadership on the use of data to promote learning across the K-12 strategy, measurement of place-based programmatic work and ensure quality measurement, learning and evaluation support to a set of critical internal and external stakeholders. This is an incredible opportunity to bring rigor and meaningful measurement, learning and evaluation to the foundation and our grantees, helping us all to use evidence to focus attention on pressing issues and promising solutions.

This role will provide guidance on framework-level measurement (Groups of investment portfolios), as well as grant-level measurement. This role will manage evaluation and measurement contracts, ensuring that the deliverables advance the work of the team and our grantees. This role will play a targeted leadership role in the foundations work to improve the health of the charter sector and with other place-based investment portfolios such as the Networks for School Improvement (NSI) and Education to Employment Pathways Strategies.  Across the K-12 strategy, this person will work closely with our programmatic teams, bringing a performance management, continuous improvement, and learning capacity to their work.

Our ideal colleague has deep technical research, measurement and/or evaluation skills. He or she has equally thorough communication and collaboration skills. We're looking for someone who can connect rigorous measurement with overall strategic goals in K-12 education, helping us all to ultimately improve our work. To be successful with our team, this person will need to be solutions-oriented, flexible and a team player, skilled in collaborative approaches regarding evaluation and measurement options.

Areas of Responsibility: 
  • Serve as a primary Measurement, Learning and Evaluation point of contact for a number of internal teams and their leadership, with specific emphasis on using data and research for learning and to understand the progress of K-12 investments against goals.
  • In partnership with internal teams, scope measurement, learning and evaluation projects related to their strategies; execute projects as needed. Historically, this role has worked with the Teachers, Leaders and Charters (TLC) and Networks for School Improvement (NSI) portfolios. 
  • Help the K-12 team build measurement, learning and evaluation capacity through the development of templates, toolkits and protocols to support the rigorous use of data and evidence across the strategy.
  • Plans, manages and executes a wide range of activities in support of strategic planning, prospect and develop complex investment opportunities, grant management and external relationship management. 
  • Consult with grantees to achieve desired impact of grants; conduct site visit, provide technical guidance, convene meetings, and apply and evaluate milestone-based performance objectives.
  • Manage internal processes and portfolio progress while ensuring appropriate documentation, grant budgeting and reporting.  Improve operational efficiency and effectiveness.
  • Lead communication of research and evaluation findings in collaboration with Communications and Knowledge Management teams. Lead learning efforts to ensure findings are understood and used. 
  • This role is responsible for high quality interactions and clear and consistent communications with grantees and partners in the field.
Educational Background: 
Master’s degree or Ph.D. (in economics, policy, or a related field) with 6-10 years of experience preferred.
Skills/Experience: 

We believe that energized people, working well together, fueled by great leadership in an inclusive environment in which they thrive, will do phenomenal things.

  • Expertise in education research, measurement, and evaluation methods
  • Ability to interpret and explain complex, technical research findings to a wide range of audiences
  • Extensive project contribution and project management experience
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills
  • Understanding of broad field of education reform
  • In-depth knowledge of statistical methods, evaluation design, qualitative research methods, data collection and management.
  • Excellent written & oral communications skills effective with a broad & diverse audience.

Organization Info

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Overview
Headquarters: 
Seattle, WA, United States
Annual Budget : 
More than $500M
Founded: 
2007
About Us
Mission: 

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Dr. Susan Desmond-Hellmann and Co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.

We work with partner organizations worldwide to tackle critical problems in four program areas. Our Global Development Division works to help the world’s poorest people lift themselves out of hunger and poverty. Our Global Health Division aims to harness advances in science and technology to save lives in developing countries. Our United States Division works to improve U.S. high school and postsecondary education and support vulnerable children and families in Washington State. And our Global Policy & Advocacy Division seeks to build strategic relationships and promote policies that will help advance our work. Our approach to grantmaking in all four areas emphasizes collaboration, innovation, risk-taking, and, most importantly, results.

Programs: 
  1. Global Health
  2. Global Development
  3. United States
  4. Global Policy & Advocacy

Listing Stats

Post Date: 
Apr 6 2019
Active Until: 
May 6 2019
Hiring Organization: 
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
industry: 
Nonprofit