The Foundation
We are the largest nonprofit fighting 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, weโre committed to creating an environment for you to thrive both personally and professionally.
The TeamThe foundationโs U.S. Program (USP) works to expand access to life-changing opportunities. The evidence is still clear that having an education after high school is critical for success in todayโs economy and we are deeply committed to transforming postsecondary education to become a better and more equitable producer of credentials of value for all students. Critically important is that race, ethnicity, income, and wealth are not predictors of student success. To drive the change we believe is necessary, we invest in large-scale transformation of postsecondary policy and practice that results in increased attainment of credentials of value with special attention to addressing the systemic inequities that impact students, including Black, Latino and Indigenous students, and students from low-income backgrounds.
The Postsecondary Success strategy supports institutional transformation, the development of technologies, and the sharing of those technologies and other tools, practices and policies that lead to increased attainment of credentials of value. Our aim is to help higher education evolve to more effectively deliver economic mobility for students and to more fully realize the public benefits that accrue when more adults earn meaningful credentials equitably across all races, ethnicities, and levels of income and wealth.
Your Role
We are seeking an outstanding candidate for a limited-term Senior Officer to support the Digital Holistic Student Supports strategy. Reporting to the Deputy Director, Digital Holistic Student Supports (DHSS), the Senior Officer will implement a strategic approach to increasing the adoption of AI-powered products and tools that enable the delivery of high-quality digital comprehensive student supports so that students have a more seamless experience, practitioners shift from reactive to proactive guidance, and administrators can access insights to empower effective resource provision.
The Senior Officer holds a cross-cutting role requiring internal and external engagement, investment and portfolio management, and strategic leadership. The role includes collaborating on a go-to-market and AI innovation monitoring strategy for bringing innovative solutions, services, and public goods to broad-access institutions and minority-serving institutions that will enable scaling of digital comprehensive student supports. As part of this responsibility, the individual will collaborate across a highly interconnected team to ensure product development and enablement services are design and positioned to drive cohesive strategic impact.
What Youโll Do
Lead the development and refinement of the DHSS Go-To-Market (GTM) and Scaling & Market Impact visions and strategic plans across products, services, and public goods (e.g., Unified Data and Technology System, System of Engagement, Institutional Readiness & Adoption) with critical input from other DHSS Officers
Collaborate with DHSS Officers and partners to scope and lead market research and engagement efforts toward determining target customers, pricing, sales channels, and marketing tactics (e.g., differentiation strategies)
Collaborate with DHSS Officers and partners to plan and coordinate DHSS-related external presentations and marketing releases as part of socializing DHSS to broader market (e.g., conference presentations, roundtables, insight papers, etc.)
Define key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure go-to-market success, with input from DHSS Officers and partners
Set scaling and market impact goals, with input from DHSS Officers and partners
Facilitate communication and alignment across teams to ensure smooth execution of Go-to-Market (GTM) and scaling strategies
Collaborate with DD and DHSS Officers to resolve conflicts that arise during GTM planning process
Monitor market activities and trends, particularly related to AI, and produce regular insights and guidance to the team on implications for product development and scaling
Lead AI Advisors and the Technical & Market Impact Advisory Group, including bi-weekly meetings and asynchronous materials review and engagement
Lead DHSS Strategic Advisory Board, including quarterly meetings
Synthesize key findings from multiple sectors (across higher education and education technology markets) to develop, plan, and implement a wide range of activities in support of the strategy; provide research and analysis to support leadership decisions
Supply DHSS Officers with critical inputs to optimize product development and implementation strategies
Support Senior Strategy Officer with DHSS external partner project management office (PMO) functions to ensure cohesion in design, development, and collaboration across partners
Lead the backbone partner who coordinates and maintains PMO tools and meetings
Develop strong relationships with cross-functional teams
Partner across the broader project to routinely and proactively identify and lead cross-cutting project risks and opportunities and develop creative and timely solutions
Represent objectives and activities to foundation leadership; represent the foundation with partners who may include public and private entities, grantee organizations, other funders, or government agencies
Your Experience
Creative, analytical, self-starter (ability to lead and implement complex tasks autonomously, sometimes with limited Deputy Director guidance and oversight)
Experience developing go-to-market strategies for products or services in higher education or similar markets.
Excellent quantitative, analytical, written, and verbal communication skills
Strong facility in complex, multi-stakeholder strategy development processes
Ability to create structures and develop frameworks to increase clarity and visibility of decisions, trade-offs, and impact on financial and organizational resources via detailed, clear, visual presentation material and deliverables.
Demonstrated program management skills and a successful history of leading multiple, complex projects at a time โ often with minimal supervision.
Outstanding relational and collaboration skills โ comfortable working within a team that values collaboration and agility
Excel at using informal influence and non-positional leadership to accomplish work; as a leader you build trust with others
Strong leadership and management skills โ consistently model and demonstrate initiative, persistence, prioritization, tact, pragmatism, and flexibility
Ability to reconcile multiple diverse viewpoints and often to negotiate across a variety of internal/external stakeholders or partners