Javier is an economist specialized in education, inequality, social mobility, innovation, and social development. He is the director of SUMMA; an organization dedicated to policies and innovation in education created in 2016 by the Inter-American Development Bank and ten ministers of education in Latin America. He is also an affiliated professor of the Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge; researcher of COES (Center of Social Cohesion and Conflict) at University of Chile. Member of the advisory board of the international initiative "Millions Learning" at Brookings Institution; former member of the advisory committee of UNESCO (GEM) and co-editor of the Education Global Monitoring Report 2020 for Latin America focusing on inclusion and inequality.
He has been a senior consultant for UNESCO, IADB, World Bank, and held relevant positions at the Minister of Education and Minister of Finance of Chile. He has worked as academic for several universities, such as Cambridge, Autónoma de Barcelona, Chile y Católica de Chile.