Program Officer

GiveWell

3d • Remote

About The Position

GiveWell is seeking exceptional Program Officers to help direct hundreds of millions of dollars annually to the most cost-effective global health and poverty alleviation programs. As part of a lean research team, you will have an outsized influence on funding decisions and help save and improve lives on a global scale. You will own grant investigations and help manage a portfolio of grants, evaluating the best funding opportunities and helping shape new ones. You will answer hard questions and make funding recommendations by combining rigorous evidence review, cost-effectiveness modeling, grantee relationships, and thoughtful judgment. The role involves joining a small grantmaking team to own grant investigations and manage a portfolio of grants, sifting through opportunities and honing in on those that matter most. When the best opportunity doesn't yet exist, you will help bring a better one into being. Your decisions will inform the allocation of hundreds of millions of dollars to dozens of grantees. Your practical work will combine empirical evidence review, cost-effectiveness modeling, grantee engagement, ground-truthing of program delivery, discussions with subject matter experts, and developing your own judgment.

Requirements

• Around 3-5 years of professional experience, with a significant portion in similar or closely-related roles.
• Demonstrated ability to use empirical tools to make rigorous, evidence-based decisions, whether from graduate training or hands-on experience.
• Passionate about helping improve global health and alleviate global poverty.
• Highly skilled at critically analyzing and synthesizing empirical research and understanding how a body of evidence applies to real-world funding decisions.
• Ability to get things done and pivot when evidence shifts or a higher-value opportunity appears.
• Drawn to gaps and willing to help create missing programs, seed implementers, or improve grant structures, comfortable taking bets under uncertainty.
• Ability to plan an efficient approach to exploring complicated questions, focusing on decision-relevant aspects.
• Ability to consider the big picture and ask questions about project formulation and potential research errors.
• Clear communication of beliefs, reasoning, and uncertainties.
• Curiosity and effectiveness in interrogating one's own or others' work.
• Effective at building and managing relationships with external parties (grantees, experts, other funders).
• Respectful, effective, and efficient interactions with colleagues and external parties.

Nice To Haves

• Quantitatively-oriented advanced degrees.

Responsibilities

• Investigating and recommending grants: Own investigations into funding opportunities from scoping through recommendation. Discuss opportunities with potential grantees, assess plans and likelihood of achieving them, estimate cost-effectiveness, forecast likelihood of success, and recommend grant structure (conditions, milestones, gates). Solicit feedback from outside experts when necessary.
• Managing a portfolio of grants: Maintain a current view of grant progress and reasons for any deviations. Collaborate with grantees to assess whether reported outputs reflect real coverage, quality, and adherence to evidence-based practices. Ground-truth program delivery through monitoring data, site visits, and conversations with field staff for learning and course correction.
• Analyzing interventions: Analyze interventions (e.g., vaccine demand generation, vitamin A supplementation, seasonal malaria chemoprevention) at various depths to refine cost-effectiveness views and recommend deprioritization or further work. Review empirical evidence, build models, speak with subject matter experts, and use judgment to form a conclusion.
• Building cost-effectiveness models: Estimate costs and benefits of interventions, considering prior impact estimates, evidence strength, effect size, contextual similarity, negative/offsetting effects, and impact on other actors' decisions.
• Building relationships: Develop relationships with grantees, program staff at organizations being funded or considered, academics specializing in reviewed interventions, and program staff at other funders.
• Publishing reports and blog posts: Write up findings and reasoning for publication on the website or summarize key points in blog posts to maintain transparency.

Benefits

• Fully funded health, dental, vision, and life insurance (100% of premiums covered within the US for employee and 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 gross salary into 403(b) retirement plan (for US-based staff).
• Relocation expenses covered for candidates who wish to move to office locations (Oakland, CA; Brooklyn, NYC; or London, UK).
• Visa sponsorship for those needing a work visa in the US, with relocation expenses covered up to 100% on a case-by-case basis.

What This Job Offers

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