Job Description

About the Foundation

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is one of the nation's largest independent foundations. The Foundation supports creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. We work on a few big bets that strive toward transformative change in areas of profound concern, including the existential threats of climate change, the challenges of criminal justice reform, revitalizing local news in the U.S., and corruption in Nigeria.

In addition, we maintain enduring commitments in our hometown Chicago, where we invest in people, places, and partnerships to build a more inclusive Chicago and in journalism and media, where we invest in more just and inclusive news and narratives.

We also make awards to extraordinarily creative individuals through the MacArthur Fellows program and for solutions to critical problems of our time through 100&Change.

For more information, please visit our website at www.macfound.org.

The Opportunity

The technologies collectively known as AI have the potential to transform many aspects of social, cultural, and economic life, from the classroom to the arts to the workplace. AI tools are being integrated across society, but often in ways that are not community-centered. Future generations must be able to see themselves in a world shaped by AI and have pathways to engage productively and equitably. AI Opportunity seeks to answer this call.

For many years, the MacArthur Foundation has advanced democratic oversight, accountability, and governance of AI and other technologies by funding research, policy, and practice through its Technology in the Public Interest (TPI) program. Now, we are building on this work through a dedicated program on AI Opportunity. AI Opportunity will focus on the intersection of AI, the economy, and the workforce—with a focus on young people in Chicago; community-centered AI development and use; and nonprofit AI applications.

Simultaneously, the Foundation is also helping launch and sustain Humanity AI, a funder collaborative organizing U.S. philanthropy to respond to and anticipate the opportunities and harms of widespread AI adoption.

What You’ll Do

We are seeking a Director who is a technologist to lead this program. As the inaugural Director, you will apply your fluency in AI to fund work that shapes how these technologies might expand access to good jobs and economic mobility, particularly in the Foundation’s home city of Chicago. This is a rare opportunity to support efforts to build and shape AI that serves communities, workers, and the public good.

In this role, you will bridge worlds: translating between AI researchers and civil society leaders, forging partnerships with employers and educators, and guiding philanthropic investments that demonstrate what responsible, equitable AI adoption looks like in practice. You will support innovative approaches, publish insights that shape the field, and represent the Foundation in national and international conversations on the future of work ensuring that its benefits reach those excluded from technological opportunity.

You will build a team to develop and implement this program’s strategy, and partner closely with the Director of TPI, the incoming Executive Director of Humanity AI, and other foundation partners in contributing to ideas and implementation of the initiative’s pooled fund grantmaking strategy.

This role is time-limited for an initial period of 5 years with the possibility of extension.

As the first person in this role, you will help shape the vision, approach, and ways of working for this Big Bet program. You will be expected to provide expertise, guidance, and oversight of:

Strategy Momentum and Progress

• Oversee the design and development of grantmaking strategies

• Understand the impact, progress, interactions and relationships of individual grants

• Monitor and evaluate progress of work to ensure grantmaking, team, and Foundation goals are met and modify strategies to ensure achievement of goals

• Identify and develop strategic initiatives that respond in a timely way to special opportunities or critical challenges that emerge

• Connect the dots, translate ideas into action, and guide long-term strategy with humility and clarity

• Coordinate with Humanity AI and TPI to ensure alignment of intent and coherence of execution

Field Leadership

• Make prepared remarks and participate on panels and media interviews as well as publish papers, articles, and/or opinion pieces

• Participate in task forces and working groups and collaborate with other funders on shared interests and challenges

• Align with leaders of Humanity AI and TPI on coordinated thought leadership, messaging, and engagement

Staff Management and Motivation

• Design and build a team fit to purpose while fostering a positive culture and environment of collaboration, learning, and progress towards shared goals

• Hold space as a manager and embrace the support of team members’ personal and professional growth as a shared responsibility across the organization

• Instill a sense of leadership and accountability among team members by carefully monitoring individual and team performance standards

• Co-create opportunities for the team in alignment with the Foundation’s values and in relationship with the communities we seek to walk alongside while adhering to performance standards and Foundation values

Program Leadership

• Seek and manage external partnerships to enhance impact, and internal cross-area and inter-program synergies

• Find opportunities for continuous program and process improvement

• Identify and develop collaborative relationships with public and private partners and build local, regional, and national relationships

Internal Collaboration

• Participate in multiple internal collaborative relationships; join Team Leader meetings, develop learning questions and an evaluation framework together with our Evaluation colleagues, and collaborate with Communications

Process Management

• Oversee active grants, prepare and submit process management tools and documents ensuring to adhere to deadlines

• Write grant briefs as well as review and edit grant briefs written by the team maintaining objectivity, demand rigor in thinking, ensuring that strategy documents are well written and comply with Foundation standards

• Maintain effective and transparent communication with grantees regarding progress and challenges in executing their work

The position is hybrid and based in Chicago, Illinois.

Annual salary for this role will start at $210,100. We offer a generous total compensation package that emphasizes both base salary and a comprehensive benefits package to support your life, health, and well-being.

Physical Requirements and Work Environment

The work environment is an office setting.  Intermittent physical activities will include bending, reaching, sitting, and moving around the office during working hours.  Reasonable requests for accommodation will be considered to enable a person with disabilities to perform the job. Reasonable accommodations will also be made available to candidates during the interview process.