The AI Access Initiative, Program Manager

About The AI Access Initiative

About The AI Access Initiative, incubated at Evidence Action 

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 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 building an AI-native organization focused on designing solutions to reach tens or hundreds of millions of individuals living in poverty. We will focus both on delivering near-term, tractable direct impact as well as assisting governments to grow capacity and build enabling environments for the AI for Good ecosystem, including: 

• Scaling “big bet” AI 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. 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 recent Cross-Sector 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 AI-enabled weather forecasting for smallholder farmers, and are now running deeper analysis on opportunities in global health.

The Role

We are seeking two ambitious, analytically rigorous, and mission-driven team members at Manager or Senior Manager level to join our founding team and support the design, research, and execution of high-impact AI programs in LMICs. Reporting to our Program Lead, you will be at the heart of translating frontier AI research into scalable, government-ready solutions - helping to shape the work our growing organization does building and influencing this new sector of development. You will play a critical supporting role in bridging researchers, AI labs, implementing partners, and government counterparts to ensure our programs are evidence-based, rigorously tested, and positioned to reach 10M+ beneficiaries.

Every day, you’re likely to be:

• Supporting design and execution of LMIC pilots by managing workstreams, coordinating with partners, tracking deliverables, and ensuring quality and timelines are met.
• Developing high-quality deliverables to drive decision-making including research memos, slide decks, strategy briefing documents, and reports that synthesize complex technical and programmatic information for diverse audiences.
• Managing relationships with multiple program stakeholders by supporting engagement with government counterparts, AI labs, researchers, and implementing partners.
• Experimenting with AI tools and approaches to test hypotheses, prototype solutions, and contribute creative ideas to improve how the program and broader org function.
• Driving project management across multiple workstreams, maintaining clear trackers, action items, and communication with internal and external stakeholders.
• Conducting rigorous analysis and research to inform the strategy of new programs, including evidence reviews, cost-effectiveness analyses, landscape scans, expert interviews, and technical scoping across priority verticals (e.g., likely health and agriculture to begin)
• Learning and growing rapidly by taking on increasing responsibility as you demonstrate strong performance and ownership.

Background

You are a strong fit for this role if you thrive in changing environments where you might analyze user data on Monday, prototype an AI solution on Tuesday, and present recommendations to partners on Wednesday, all while priorities shift based on what's most urgent. You approach ambiguous problems with structured thinking, breaking down "How do we improve X?" into testable hypotheses, clear success metrics, and actionable next steps within days, not weeks. You take ownership of problems end-to-end without needing detailed instructions, whether that means sourcing missing data independently, running calls and investigations with field-leading experts, or translating between technical and program teams to move work forward. If this sounds like you, you might be a great fit for our team. 

In return, our team has a lean, get-things-done, start-up energy. We’re committed to providing you a high-trust and opportunity-heavy experience, helping to shape the work our growing organization does. We’ll provide continuous feedback and learn from each other along the way. 

The ideal AI Program Manager will join us with:

• 2-6 years of experience driving measurable impact at speed and scale, with demonstrated outcomes such as:
• Scaled a program, product, or initiative to reach 100,000+ people within 12-18 months
• Achieved a 20%+ improvement in a key metric (e.g., health outcomes, educational attainment, income, access) within 12-18 months
• Led rapid iteration cycles that moved from pilot to scaled implementation in under 2 years
• Operated in environments where decisions are made on data within weeks, not quarters
• What we're not looking for: Traditional multi-year development programs, grant compliance-focused roles, or primarily research/advisory positions without direct implementation responsibility
• Strong analytical and quantitative skills, with demonstrated ability to structure ambiguous problems and synthesize insights from diverse data sources. Examples of this could include: consulting casework, academic research, policy analysis, or data science projects.
• Strong project management capabilities, including attention to detail, ability to manage competing priorities, and track record of delivering on time.
• Interest in international development, global health, or adjacent fields with a strong preference for familiarity with evidence-based interventions and cost effectiveness.
• Comfort with ambiguity and fast iteration; able to adapt quickly, take initiative, and maintain focus on impact.
• Curiosity and creativity with AI tools, including a testing mindset and eagerness to experiment with emerging technologies. Experience with coding or data analysis tools is a plus.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to produce clear, concise deliverables for technical and non-technical audiences.
• Balances high EQ, rigor, and strong throughput with the levity and humility to tackle hard problems in a diverse, collaborative team 

Position Location

This role location is flexible anywhere within the United States for fully remote candidates. Please note this role may require travel (~10-30%) to partner countries.

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.

Note: 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: $75,000 - $95,000 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!