Job Description

Role Description

Senior Program Officers are the leaders of GiveWell's grantmaking. In this role, you'll take primary responsibility for a significant grantmaking portfolio, setting its strategy and sifting through the many opportunities we could fund to focus on those that matter most. Your decisions will inform the allocation of hundreds of millions of dollars to dozens of grantees. You'll also communicate externally about our work and mentor and advise other members of the team.

You will build and lead a grantmaking portfolio that brings rigor and creativity to GiveWell's hardest funding problems. You'll combine:

• Rigorous review of empirical evidence
• Cost-effectiveness modeling
• Strong grantee relationships
• Ground-truthing of how programs are actually delivered
• Discussions with subject matter experts
• Understanding of the broader context
• Your own judgment

In the course of your work, you might approach questions like these:

• How should we balance exploring and seeding new, smaller opportunities with funding cost-effective opportunities at scale today?
• When the best opportunity doesn't exist yet, how do we create it, whether through co-design, seeding an implementer, or shaping broader incentives?
• What is the best direction for our portfolio, and are we correctly prioritizing the programs and grantees we fund?
• Where are the highest-impact opportunities to expand the portfolio while improving its cost-effectiveness?
• How can we triangulate empirical evidence against expert opinion and other qualitative features, like a grantee's organizational track record?
• Do a grantee's reported outputs reflect real coverage, quality, and adherence to evidence-based practices on the ground?
• What research can we fund today that could substantially improve our grantmaking five years from now?
• How much uncertainty are we willing to accept before making a grant, and which questions do we need to answer first?

Senior Program Officers work closely with Senior Researchers, an equivalently-leveled, parallel role on our team. Senior Researchers typically set the research agenda for grantmaking areas and tackle the thorniest, most open-ended questions we face, while Senior Program Officers own the grant and portfolio decisions — deciding what we fund and why, and incorporating Senior Researchers' analysis into their decision-making. Senior Program Officers have a research mindset, too: they're comfortable digging into a cost-effectiveness model and forming their own view of the evidence.

Qualifications

• 5-10 years of professional experience in similar or closely-related roles
• Experience with funding, building, or scaling new programs, initiatives, or organizations
• Strong track record in using rigorous quantitative analysis and cost-effectiveness modeling to support decision-making
• Ability to build relationships with diverse stakeholders
• Experience owning large budgets and/or grant portfolios
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with an emphasis on directness and clarity
• Experience setting and iterating on strategy in complex, fast-moving environments

Requirements

• Engagement with global health, development, or related fields (preferred but not required)
• Reviewing randomized controlled trials and impact evaluations (preferred but not required)
• Working with governments or multilateral organizations (preferred but not required)
• Gathering first-hand data to inform program design (preferred but not required)
• Managing a variety of grant types, including advocacy and market-shaping initiatives (preferred but not required)

Benefits

• Fully funded health, dental, vision, and life insurance (100% of premiums covered within the US for you and any dependents)
• Four weeks of paid time off per year
• 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave
• Ergonomic home workstations or coworking space memberships
• Automatic contribution equal to 5% of your gross salary into your 403(b) retirement plan (for U.S. based staff)

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