President, U.S. Program 

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, we’re committed to creating an environment for you to thrive both personally and professionally.

The Team

Application Instructions:

The Gates Foundation is partnering with Spencer Stuart to support the search for this role.  To be considered for this position, all candidates must submit their application materials directly to Spencer Stuart at [email protected]. This is the required application channel for the search. Nominations may also be sent to this address.

Application Deadline: This role will be open for applications until October 19th, 2026.

U.S. Program

The U.S. Program (USP) is advancing a recently updated division-wide strategy to accelerate equitable upward mobility through educational attainment.  Guided by the belief that every person should have the opportunity to achieve their full potential, the division works to ensure that education is a true engine of opportunity and economic mobility in the United States.

To realize this vision, the U.S. Program is focused on doubling the growth rate of credential attainment among 18–34-year-olds, resulting in 10 million more learners attaining credentials that reflect their skills and knowledge and deliver sustained economic value. Delivering on this vision requires a step-change in how the division makes decisions, allocates resources, and translates evidence into action across a complex, interdependent portfolio.

The U.S. Program advances this goal through an integrated strategy spanning K-12 Teaching and Learning, Postsecondary Learning and Navigation, Data and AI Infrastructure, and Advocacy and System Improvement. Working with educators, institutions, students, families, policymakers, employers, researchers, technology leaders, community organizations, and other partners, the division identifies, develops, and scales evidence-based solutions that improve outcomes and reduce inequities across the education-to-workforce continuum.

Your Role

The President, U.S. Program, leads the foundation’s U.S. education strategy and the division’s long-term effort to make education a true engine of upward mobility. This role sets and stewards the division’s vision, strategy, operating model, culture, talent, partnerships, investments, and impact in the field.

The President leads a complex, multi-disciplinary division through a period of significant strategic and organizational evolution, moving from strategy design to disciplined implementation and execution.  Success in this role requires exceptional  people  leadership, including the ability to build trust, develop leaders, foster accountability, and guide a high-performing organization through  significant change  and transformation. The President builds and empowers a strong leadership team, creating the clarity, ownership, and decision-making authority needed for leaders to drive the division’s work forward. The President is responsible for ensuring that the U.S. Program’s structure, capabilities, decision-making, resources, and partner ecosystem are aligned to the division’s long-term ambition and near-term 2030 milestones. These include learning acceleration, gateway course completion, postsecondary enrollment, credential completion, learning mobility, AI and data infrastructure, public goods, state policy, funding, communications, and engagement.

The President brings deep knowledge of U.S. education, workforce and economic mobility, philanthropy, public systems, policy and advocacy, product development, and AI-enabled innovation. They combine strong programmatic judgment with enterprise leadership, public credibility, disciplined management, and the ability to lead through ambiguity, complexity, and change. The President  represents  the foundation externally, serves as a strategic partner to the CEO and Chair/Board, and as an active member of the Executive Leadership Team, contributes to the leadership and direction of the foundation. The President ensures the U.S. Program advances measurable impact while modeling the foundation’s values.

What You'll Do

Drive the U.S. Program Strategy

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Lead the U.S. Program’s strategy to make education a true engine of upward mobility in the United States.

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Translate the division’s long-term ambition into clear strategies, investment and resourcing priorities, operating plans, decision rights, metrics, and  accountabilities .

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Remain actively engaged in the division’s programmatic and investment work, including reviewing and approving grants over $5 million, to  maintain  a strong connection between strategy, execution, partner realities, and intended impact.

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Make disciplined tradeoffs across competing priorities, emerging opportunities, legacy commitments, and enterprise constraints.

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Ensure strategies are grounded in evidence, equity, learner and community experience, external context, and a clear view of where the foundation can have  distinctive  impact.

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Maintain focus on reducing opportunity and outcome gaps for historically underserved populations while expanding opportunity at scale.

Advance System-Level Impact Across the Education-to-Workforce Continuum

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Lead an integrated portfolio spanning K-12 teaching and learning, postsecondary learning and navigation, data and AI infrastructure, advocacy and system improvement.

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Ensure the division develops and scales solutions that improve learning, navigation, persistence, completion, and mobility for millions of learners.

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Guide  strategies that strengthen enabling conditions for impact, including policy, advocacy, funding, communications, field-building, data infrastructure, and partner capacity.

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Oversee thoughtful transition, wind-down, or integration of legacy bodies of work as the division aligns around a unified strategy.

Lead Responsible Innovation in AI, Data, and Infrastructure

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Ensure AI and data infrastructure are central to the U.S. Program’s strategy and operating model.

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Support investments that use AI and data to accelerate learning, improve advising and navigation, strengthen system feedback loops, reduce friction for learners, and support responsible  scale .

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Ensure AI-enabled strategies are designed responsibly, ethically, and with attention to learner needs, educator practice, equity, privacy, and public trust.

Build and Mobilize the Partner Ecosystem

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Cultivate trusted relationships with senior leaders across education, workforce, philanthropy, government, advocacy, research, technology, business, and community organizations.

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Represent the foundation externally with credibility, humility, and sound judgment in complex and sometimes polarized U.S. education and policy environments.

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Ensure grantee and partner strategies are aligned to the division’s goals, grounded in field insight, and capable of supporting durable  systems  change.

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Mobilize coalitions, champions, and partner networks that can advance shared outcomes beyond what the foundation can achieve alone.

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Partner closely with Communications, Global Policy & Advocacy, Legal, and other divisions to align external engagement, policy priorities, public positioning, and reputational risk management.

Lead and  Evolve  the U.S. Program Division

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Lead the division through continued organizational evolution, aligning structure, talen