Senior Manager, Growth, The AI Access Initiative

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. AI capabilities are improving on a timescale measured in months, while development systems often move on timescales measured in decades.

Much of the technology needed for positive impact exists today, but few organizations exist to bridge research, deployment, and scaled implementation: we must act now to ensure AI's benefits reach people in poverty in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Incubated at Evidence Action, we're rapidly scaling 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 LMICs. We operate at the intersection of global development actors, top AI labs, and leading researchers to drive meaningful access to AI's benefits for the 3.5 billion people living in poverty globally.

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 across Africa and Asia.

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.

The Role

As one of the first members of our Growth team, you'll build the engine that helps us mobilize resources and partnerships to ensure AI's benefits reach hundreds of millions of people living in poverty.

This is a builder role in a fast-growing startup, with a unique opportunity to shape our growth strategy, develop new approaches, and build AI-native systems from the ground up. We're looking for a strategic, analytical, and creative thinker who combines exceptional ownership with strong communication skills. In this role, you will work closely with senior leadership and across the 2AI team, moving between identifying opportunities, developing recommendations, building systems, and driving projects from concept through execution.

This role has strong breadth of ownership across key domains, and every day might look different: some days, you might design new ways to package our programs for funders, build AI-powered growth workflows, lead a website launch, or partner with technical teams to develop thought leadership on what it means to be an AI-native organization. We don't expect you to have done all these things before.

We're looking for someone who learns quickly, thrives on solving unfamiliar problems, and is excited to build in a dynamic, evolving environment.

Reports to: Chief Growth Officer (As the growth team expands; will report into a Director, Growth)

You Will:

• Build AI-native growth systems
• Design and implement the systems that enable our growth function to operate effectively and scale, including CRM, pipeline management, and reporting.
• Identify opportunities to leverage frontier AI tools and workflows to improve how we work.
• Use data and analysis to understand growth opportunities, improve decision-making, and help prioritize where we invest.
• Build lightweight, scalable processes that enable high-quality execution.
• Develop growth strategies and new approaches to fundraising
• Help shape how we translate our portfolio of AI initiatives into compelling funding opportunities, developing clear proposals, materials, and engagement strategies for different audiences.
• Develop and test creative approaches to external engagement, fundraising or awareness campaigns, and partnership development.
• Partner with leadership and program teams to develop high-quality proposals, presentations, and other materials that help advance fundraising opportunities.
• Lead creative projects and help shape our external narrative
• Lead high-impact creative and strategic projects, such as developing our brand, launching a website, coordinating convenings, or designing new fundraising campaigns, working with external specialists where appropriate.
• Develop compelling narratives that explain our work, our strategic approach, and the transformative potential of AI for people living in poverty.
• Support the CEO on high-priority external communications with external partners.
• Collaborate with leadership, technical experts, and program teams to develop thought leadership, translating complex ideas into clear and distinctive perspectives.
• Help shape how 2AI communicates with donors, partners, and broader audiences, balancing strategic thinking with hands-on execution.
• Own projects end to end
• Take ambiguous priorities and turn them into clear plans, recommendations, and finished deliverables.
• Drive projects across teams, proactively identifying dependencies, resolving bottlenecks, and keeping work moving.
• Bring strong judgment to prioritization and tradeoffs, knowing when to move quickly, when to seek input, and when to push for higher quality.

Requirements

• We're looking for a versatile builder who is comfortable moving between strategy and execution. You don't need deep experience in nonprofit fundraising or communications, but you should have a track record of solving difficult problems, creating high-quality work, and taking ownership of results.

We are still actively scoping our roles and structure, reflecting the dynamism of this fast-growing phase of the organization — both the fun and the realities that come with rapid growth. 2AI is open to candidates across a range of seniority levels for this role; title, scope, and compensation will be assessed candidly with each candidate throughout the process based on their experience and fit.

You will likely bring:

• Exceptional ownership and execution: You take initiative, create structure where it doesn't exist, and reliably drive projects to completion. You anticipate challenges and identify potential roadblocks to keep work moving.
• Strong analytical and strategic thinking: You can break down complex, ambiguous problems, structure analyses, evaluate tradeoffs, and develop clear, practical recommendations.
• Creativity and resourcefulness: You bring fresh ideas, challenge conventional approaches, and find inventive ways to solve problems with limited resources.
• Outstanding communication skills: You're a compelling writer and clear thinker, able to synthesize complex information, develop persuasive narratives, and communicate effectively with senior stakeholders.
• Adaptability and learning agility: You quickly get up to speed in unfamiliar domains, enjoy wearing multiple hats, and thrive in an evolving early-stage environment.
• AI-native working habits: You actively experiment with frontier AI tools and use them to improve the quality, speed, and ambition of your work. You're excited to build new workflows, not simply use AI to write faster.
• Strong judgment and collaboration: You balance independent action with thoughtful engagement, build trust across teams, and know how to move work forward without formal authority.
• Relevant experience: Approximately 3–7 years in a demanding, fast-paced environment, potentially including a startup, management consulting, growth strategy, business operations, product marketing, or a similarly entrepreneurial role.
• Position Location

This role location is flexible anywhere in North America for fully remote candidates. This role requires the ability to travel internationally up to 10% of the time. 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.