Global Health & Development Researcher

Founders Pledge

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

Founders Pledge is hiring a Researcher to join its Research team, which identifies and evaluates high-impact funding opportunities (HIFOs) to help members make effective charitable giving decisions. The role focuses on research into organizations, programs, and interventions that can cost-effectively save and improve lives, particularly in the world’s poorest countries. The team has moved more than $200 million to highly cost-effective opportunities in global health, climate, and education over the past three years.

Reporting to the GHD Lead, the Researcher will investigate potential interventions and funding opportunities, assess whether they meet the organization’s recommendation bar, and communicate findings to donors in a transparent, honest, and compelling way. The work includes rigorous evaluations and multimillion-dollar grant recommendations on a monthly cadence, as well as expanding the interventions considered by the team, including novel interventions that may require active grantmaking to launch. Funding may support direct interventions, research, rigorously backed micro-interventions, and higher-risk, higher-reward big bets.

The role involves working with internal and external stakeholders to help fund opportunities and responding to detailed donor questions as the research expert. Founders Pledge is open to candidates of varying seniority, with a primary focus on mid- to senior-level hires. The position can be based in the UK, USA (ideally the East Coast), or Germany, and is flexible remote or hybrid, with no expectation of regular office attendance. The global team meets once per year for an offsite, and each team has the opportunity to meet at least once per year.

Requirements

• Domain expertise in a relevant topic, such as development economics, public health, or cost-effectiveness analysis; transferable expertise from fields such as medicine, finance, or the hard sciences is also considered.
• Excellent analytical skills, including comfort expressing views numerically, working with systematic quantitative frameworks, and understanding and building quantitative models.
• Ability to express nuanced evidence and complex concepts clearly in writing.
• Open-ended research skills, including the ability to identify potential HIFOs in new cause areas and find relevant academic research, reports, and experts.
• Good calibration and awareness of the limits of one’s knowledge and confidence.
• Intellectual curiosity, openness to alternative viewpoints, and willingness to change one’s mind when warranted.
• Conscientiousness, prioritization skills, and ability to work hard, quickly, and methodically on top priorities.
• Good judgment, including deciding how long to spend on a project and what to include in a report.
• Ability to work well with others, communicate honestly and directly, and be open to feedback.
• Willingness to work in a high-growth, dynamic startup environment and comfort with ambiguity.
• Confidence and experience to lead research independently.

Nice To Haves

• Ability to write quickly.
• Experience or seniority suited to leading independent research; candidates of varying seniority are welcome.

Responsibilities

• Undertake research investigations to answer key questions and conduct literature reviews.
• Investigate individual promising funding opportunities to determine whether they meet the organization’s bar for recommendation.
• Contribute to reports and other internal or external materials about funding opportunities.
• Work with internal and external stakeholders to get funding opportunities funded.
• Present research findings to donors transparently, honestly, and compellingly, and answer thorough and detailed questions as the research expert.
• Conduct rigorous evaluations and make multimillion-dollar grant recommendations on a monthly basis.
• Expand the set of interventions considered, including uncovering novel interventions that may require active grantmaking to launch.

Benefits

• Opportunity to help shape the future of philanthropy.
• Flexible remote or hybrid working, with no expectation of regular office attendance.
• A coworking-space desk near home can be arranged if desired.
• The company provides the equipment needed to succeed in the role.
• Global team offsite once per year and an opportunity for each team to meet at least once per year.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed