Responsibilities
- Shape ambitious research agendas that cut across GiveWell's portfolios and answer complex questions that inform grantmaking decisions across the organization.
- Sift through the countless questions we could try to answer, hone in on those that matter most, and partner with grantmaking teams (Malaria, Water, Nutrition, Vaccines, Livelihoods, New Areas) to pressure-test and extend their work.
- Communicate externally about your work and mentor and advise other researchers on the team.
- Shape a research agenda that brings rigor and creativity to the thorniest questions GiveWell faces across its grantmaking.
- Combine empirical evidence review and critical synthesis, cost-effectiveness modeling, discussions with subject matter experts, understanding of the broader context, and your own judgment.
- Approach questions like: Are our grants actually achieving what we predicted? How do we know, and how can we improve our decisions over time? How do we systematically incorporate field insights, monitoring data, and external feedback into our work? How do we design M&E systems that tell us whether grants are working, not just whether grantees are reporting what we asked for? How can we use AI tools to speed up or increase the quality of our work? How should we model spillover effects? Do health programs affect income, and vice versa? Are we consistent in how we handle this across program areas? How should we set our cost-effectiveness bar over time when funding and spending vary unpredictably year to year? How should we value averting a death versus improving health outcomes versus increasing income? (Our "moral weights" problem) Where are the systematic risks in our research (i.e., the areas where if we're wrong, we're making big mistakes in how we allocate funding)?
Requirements
- Quantitatively oriented advanced degrees and substantial relevant experience using empirical tools to make rigorous, evidence-based decisions in the real world.
- 5-10 years of post-grad work experience prior to joining GiveWell.
- GiveWell’s mission and methods are personally energizing—you like our approach to research and you find personal meaning in our story of impact.
- You’re abnormally curious—you ask lots of questions, and you’re willing to interrogate others’ work. Your curiosity also extends to your own work—you aren’t defensive when your research comes under scrutiny.
- You routinely think about and surface the value judgments, background knowledge, and strategic commitments that undergird your work.
- You understand the potential effects of mistaken mental models, so you strive to improve yours and your team’s.
- You dislike it when people express strong confidence in views that don’t seem to rely on commensurate evidence.
- You carefully and legibly communicate about your confidence levels.
- You appreciate the value of an excellent reputation and strong relationships.
- You can moderate your directness and intensity when you’re communicating with external folks.
- You love a gnarly problem. You figure out the most important questions to answer, go deep on the details where they matter (and move on where they don’t), and reassess your mental models based on what you’ve learned.
- You constantly assess whether you and the team are working on the most important things.
Benefits
- Fully funded health, dental, vision, and life insurance (we cover 100% of premiums 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)
Team values
We think our research team has unique qualities: We care deeply and centrally about finding and sharing truth. Truth-seeking is one of our core values. We post our mistakes and we prize our team members who keep our culture of free-flowing feedback strong. We are independent. We focus 100% on finding the most cost-effective opportunities to save and improve lives. Our researchers assist in communicating our research findings to the public and our donors, and on occasion we provide tailored advice to ultra-high-net-worth donors who want to rely on our expertise to direct their giving—but we never ask our researchers to trade off against honesty, or to hide their real beliefs. We don’t waste time. Once it’s clear that a particular research question is unlikely to change our bottom-line funding recommendation, we drop it as quickly as possible. We encourage our research staff to constantly re-evaluate their portfolios and only work on the highest-priority questions. Lean research team = huge personal impact. In 2022, we directed about $440 million with a research staff of less than 40 people. We work well together. Our research team is lean because we’re able to attract top-tier people, all of whom complete skills-based assessments before joining our staff. We maintain a high-performing, collegial culture and pay our staff accordingly.
Senior Cross-Cutting Researcher vs. other Senior Researcher roles
We're hiring Senior Researchers for both our Cross-Cutting team and our grantmaking teams. If you're energized by variety and methodological questions that span multiple program areas, Cross-Cutting may be a better fit. If you're excited to develop deep expertise in a specific program area and eventually own a grantmaking portfolio, our grantmaking-team-specific Senior Researcher roles (e.g., Senior Malaria Researcher or Senior Livelihoods Researcher) may be a better fit. Not sure? Apply to whichever sounds more appealing—we'll help you figure out the right fit during the process, and we're open to moving candidates between tracks.
Additional information
We don’t want to miss candidates that could do great things at GiveWell. Practically, that means a GiveWell staff member reviews every application carefully, considering the whole picture of your background and potential. If you’re on the fence about applying because you meet some but not 100% of our preferred qualifications (some studies suggest this hesitation is especially common for women and people of color), we encourage you to apply anyway. GiveWell is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer by choice. At minimum, this means that we comply with all federal, state, and local EEO and employment laws. Beyond the requirements of those laws, we value our team’s diversity in all respects, and we desire to maintain a work environment free of harassment or discrimination—we want our team members to thrive at GiveWell. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, contact us at careers@givewell.org. We will consider employment for qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. By submitting an application, you acknowledge that you have read and consent to GiveWell's Privacy Statement for Applicants. By completing an application exercise, you acknowledge and assent to GiveWell's Work Trial Policy.
Additional Information
- Location: GiveWell’s staff work primarily remotely within the U.S. and abroad. This position is eligible to work fully remotely.
- Offices: You are welcome but not required to work from our offices in Oakland, California; Brooklyn, NYC; or London, UK.
- We'll cover relocation expenses for candidates who wish to move to any of our physical office locations.
- International work: We are happy to employ staff internationally on a case-by-case basis. A successful candidate will need to commit to a work schedule that has some overlap with American working hours and the schedules of key coworkers.
- Flexibility: We support and encourage flexible working, including flexible hours, working remotely, and working from the office when you choose.
- Visa Sponsorship: If you want to work in the United States and need a work visa, we’ll do our best to sponsor it (and also cover up to 100% of relocation expenses on a case-by-case basis).
- Travel: Research team members are sometimes required to attend international site visits and conferences (on average 1-2 per year), with additional travel for those interested in traveling more. Additionally, we strongly encourage staff members to attend quarterly whole-org and department retreats to bond with other team members and complete in-person work.
- Start date: We’d like a candidate to start as soon as possible after receiving an offer, but we’ll offer flexibility for candidates whose personal or professional circumstances require them to moderately delay their start date.
- We’re aiming to hire four to six full-time Senior Researchers. We have a strong preference for full-time applicants, but we’ll consider applications for part-time work. We aren’t interested in reviewing applications for contract or project-based work at this time.
