CHIEF Program Officer

About The AI Access Initiative (2AI) We’re at an inflection point in artificial intelligence – presenting both tremendous potential opportunity and risk for people in developing countries: rather than allowing the poverty gap to expand, low-income countries have an opportunity to leapfrog development milestones with AI-powered innovations. Incubated at Evidence Action, we’re launching The AI Access Initiative, an organization focused on scaling AI-enabled ‘big bets’ to benefit tens or hundreds of millions of people in poverty in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We will operate at the intersection of global development actors, top AI labs, and leading researchers to drive meaningful access to the benefits of AI for the 3.5 billion people living in poverty globally. We will create “public good,” open-sourced playbooks, toolkits, and insights that define how to design and launch tractable and impactful AI-enabled programs. Given the scale of opportunity, we expect our portfolio to expand substantially, but to start, we’re scaling two programs focused on AI in Agriculture and AI in Health. We are led by former Evidence Action CEO Kanika Bahl, a founding member of Anthropic’s Long-Term Benefit Trust, and advised by Nobel Laureate Michael Kremer; Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic; and Kent Walker, President, Global Affairs for Alphabet and Google. This work builds on Evidence Action’s track record reaching 530M+ people with cost-effective, evidence-based programs across 9 countries in Africa and Asia, with a focus on last-mile delivery. Our Approach We’re scaling AI-enabled big bets to benefit tens or hundreds of millions of individuals living in poverty. We will focus both on delivering near-term, tractable direct impact and supporting governments to establish an enabling environment for the ‘AI for Good’ ecosystem, including: Launching AI-enabled interventions to impact tens or hundreds of millions, such as delivering AI-enabled forecasts to smallholder farmers to improve yields and earnings, leveraging AI to dramatically improve medical diagnosis and treatment, implementing frontier systems to identify and mitigate disease outbreaks, or putting personalized AI tutors into the hands of students to drive reductions to system-level educational attainment gaps. As part of this work, we will create “public good,” open-sourced playbooks, toolkits, and insights that define how to design and launch tractable and impactful AI-enabled programs. When relevant, we will partner with leading AI labs to shape technical offerings, including adapting for underrepresented languages, bandwidth constraints, etc. Partnering with governments in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to drive regulatory changes, policy, and investments necessary to unlock beneficial use cases at national scale, while proactively mitigating the downside risks of AI. Building on our analysis of near and medium-term AI opportunities in LMICs, we are advancing the highest-scoring interventions through a rigorous vetting process, including evidence reviews, cost-effectiveness analyses, risk assessments, and early operational/technical scoping. We are excited about the opportunity to deliver, and are now running deeper analysis on opportunities in global health. The Role 2AI is building fast. We have a founding team, two live program portfolios, government partnerships in India reaching millions of farmers, and a pipeline of opportunities that will drive significant expansion. The programs we are running have credible pathways to 100s of millions of people. What we need now is the person who can turn that momentum into a high-performing, multi-geography program operation and who is energized by that challenge. As 2AI's first Chief Program Officer, you will set programmatic strategy and standards across our Agriculture and Health portfolios, working in close collaboration with our regional leaders, including our India Country Director, and building the program teams, systems, and partner infrastructure required to scale. We have an ambitious goal to reach 100M+ farmers with AI-enabled weather forecasts, while scaling clinical decision support to 10M+ via telemedicine platforms. You will also be a key face of 2AI to funders and partners. As a core member of the leadership team, you will have a meaningful hand in shaping the direction of where 2AI goes next. This is a builder role: recruiting and developing program teams, designing organizational infrastructure that doesn't yet exist, pushing into new geographies and intervention areas. History shows that without a clear driver and coordinated action, complex innovations in the developing world risk languishing for decades. The cost of moving slowly here is measured in lives and livelihoods — hundreds of millions of people who could benefit from AI-powered health and agricultural tools if the field acts with sufficient urgency and rigor. You Will: Build, Scale, and Learn Serve as a core member of the executive leadership team, shaping organizational strategy, culture, and enterprise-wide priorities. Hire and mentor a high-performing leadership team and staff, creating a highly mission-driven culture focused on moving with the scale, thoughtfulness, and urgency required. Ensure every program has a strong learning architecture: clear hypotheses, rigorous measurement, rapid iteration cycles, and honest reporting. Use cost-effectiveness evidence to guide resource allocation — scaling what earns it, cutting what doesn't. Develop and steward 2AI's open-sourced playbooks and insights — building durable field knowledge, not just running programs. Program Strategy & Design Set and achieve ambitious program strategies for 2AI's Agriculture and Health portfolios — vision, priorities, delivery models, and expansion roadmap — in close collaboration with the CEO and regional and program leads. Achieve high-caliber reach and impact for hundreds of millions of people. Design and run fast, rigorous pilots. This includes strong measurement and feedback loops from day one, rapid iteration on what isn't working, and clear-eyed calls on what deserves to scale. Stay at the frontier of AI-enabled solutions for LMICs; actively tracking, testing, and integrating emerging tools and approaches. Bring intellectual curiosity and the ability to learn rapidly in a fast-moving space, translating what's technically possible into what's practically scalable for underserved populations. Partner with technical and research teams to ensure AI-powered approaches are grounded in rigorous evidence, adapted to local realities, and designed for sustainable delivery. Build Partnerships and Mobilize Resources Serve as 2AI's programmatic bridge among AI labs, global development actors, leading researchers, frontline implementers, and regional governments — translating credibly across all of these worlds. Shape technical offerings in partnership with leading AI labs, including adapting AI tools for underrepresented languages, low-bandwidth environments, and last-mile contexts. Support regional leaders — including our India Country Director — in navigating government relationships, adoption pathways, and policy enablement, providing strategic input and senior representation where needed. Lead efforts on fundraising — contributing to compelling narratives for major funders, leading grant development, and making the case for ambitious investment in the portfolio. Represent 2AI at senior levels in public and private forums, building 2AI's profile as the leading ecosystem coordinator for AI deployment in LMICs. The ideal candidate has built things — programs, teams, organizations — in complex, resource-constrained environments, and is excited to do it again at an entirely new frontier. This is not a role for someone who wants to manage a steady-state portfolio. It is for someone motivated by the prospect of programs that reach 100s of millions of people, who understands that the window to shape how AI lands in the developing world is open now, and who brings the urgency, rigor, and ambition that moment demands. You will likely have: 15+ years of experience building and leading programs in global health, international development, or adjacent fields, with a demonstrated track record of scaling complex initiatives to national or regional scale in low and middle income countries. A track record as a successful builder: you have built new programs and organizational functions in 3-5 countries, scaled programs nationwide across these countries, recruited and developed top talent, and cultivated a culture of rigor and urgency. Experience with AI clinical decision support, digital health, or AI in agriculture at the program design or deployment level is preferred. Experience in fundraising or major donor engagement — comfortable making the case to large HNW or institutional funders. You have raised $5M+ annually. Familiarity with how African and/or Asian governments operate, with enough experience to support regional leaders in navigating institutional processes. Experience bridging technical and programmatic worlds — global health delivery, market-shaping, technology for development, or related fields. Comfort translating between AI labs, researchers, delivery organizations, and government counterparts. Strong AI fluency: strong working knowledge of frontier AI tools and LLMs, and their practical application in low-resource settings. Active curiosity about frontier development. Existing relationships with major global health or agriculture funders, including bilateral donors, large foundations, and tech sector philanthropists a plus. Position Location This role location is flexible anywhere within the United States for fully remote candidates. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of a U.S. employment visa at this time. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. for roles based in the U.S. Evidence Action is an Equal Opportunity Employer with a commitment to diversity. All individuals, regardless of personal characteristics, are encouraged to apply. The expected role range for this US position is listed below. We consider multiple factors when determining the base salary for a role, including but not limited to: role scope, program budgets, internal equity, and a candidate's qualifications and/or prior experience. Pay and benefits will be commensurate with the role specifications, local statutory requirements, and the cost of labor in the markets where we operate. The pay range for this role is $210,000 - $250,000 per year. This role will initially be housed at Evidence Action, with the explicit plan to transfer with the AI Access Initiative as a founding member of the team when that project is spun out as a new entity later this year. At that point, benefits and policies may change. For US based roles, Evidence Action provides comprehensive benefits including international health care, HSA/FSA options, life insurance, disability coverage, retirement plans with a matching component, generous and flexible leave options, as well as other employee perks on a reimbursement basis. For more information visit our careers page or ask our recruiting team! #J-18808-Ljbffr