Senior Communications Officer, Strategic Communications

GiveWell

2d • $225,000 - $250,000 • Remote

About The Position

GiveWell is seeking a Senior Communications Officer, Strategic Communications to lead the development of messaging and narratives that explain its work across different audiences and contexts. This role involves translating the organization’s complex work into clear, accurate communications and leading major initiatives that require cross-functional coordination. The position reports to the Vice President of Communications and will lead a small, growing team. This is a hands-on leadership position with end-to-end responsibility for an emerging function, including strategy setting, hiring, system building, and direct ownership of challenging work. The role offers an opportunity to build a function at a critical point in GiveWell's development. While the role is at the Senior Communications Officer level, exceptional candidates may be considered for a Communications Director role with greater responsibilities and compensation.

Requirements

• Skilled at using communications to help people understand complex ideas, build trust, and take action.
• Comfortable being accountable for outcomes and making consequential decisions with limited oversight.
• Energized by intellectually demanding work and the challenges of creating engaging communications within a careful and precise style.
• Ability to engage deeply with GiveWell’s research and understand and communicate about data in detail.
• Long track record of getting up to speed quickly on complex subject matter and communicating to a very high standard.
• Ability to build a compelling narrative that is entirely factual, representing what is known and unknown without overstating or hedging into vagueness.
• Significant experience leading communications in complex, high-stakes environments.
• 10+ years of experience developing institutional narratives and messaging, advising senior leaders, communicating complex or technical material, and leading cross-functional initiatives.
• Deep experience owning work end to end, not just contributing to it.
• Hands-on leadership style, enjoying the work itself as well as the strategy and systems behind it.
• Ability to assess a situation from multiple angles, determine what an organization should say and how it should frame the issue, and turn that judgment into usable messages and communications.
• Exceptional communications judgment, including the ability to understand audience, context, risk, timing, and the underlying substance of a message.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and the ability to quickly make complex ideas clear and compelling without sacrificing rigor or nuance.
• A track record of building and leading: created or substantially rebuilt a team or function, and hired, developed, and managed people.
• Recent, hands-on excellence at your craft, with work from the past few years that was personally produced or substantially shaped.
• Experience producing communications that are direct and factual while being engaging and effective with target audiences—work that succeeds through substance and clarity rather than embellishment.
• Intellectual curiosity and the ability to engage deeply with GiveWell’s research and ideas.
• Experience advising executives or other senior decision-makers directly.
• Strong alignment with GiveWell’s mission and values, including truth-seeking, transparency, and a commitment to communicating accurately and thoughtfully.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with organizational positioning, brand strategy, donor communications, web strategy, and internal communications.

Responsibilities

• Own how GiveWell’s brand positioning and guidelines are applied across teams, channels, and partnership communications, and work closely with the Vice President of Communications on developing and maintaining them.
• Own the messaging and narrative that make GiveWell’s work accessible and relevant without sacrificing rigor, precision, or clarity about uncertainty.
• Translate GiveWell’s research, grantmaking, and ideas into messages and frameworks tailored to the audiences we most need to reach.
• Partner with Philanthropy on GiveWell’s donor communications strategy and lead donor-facing communications that require new or tailored messaging.
• Lead complex, cross-functional communications initiatives, including major partnership campaigns and other high-priority communications involving grantees and external partners.
• Serve as a strategic communications advisor to senior leaders and teams across GiveWell, bringing a clear point of view on audiences, framing, opportunities, and risks.
• Lead GiveWell’s internal assessment of emerging issues that may affect the organization and develop our position and messaging, working with relevant teams and the Senior Communications Officer, Media & Public Affairs.
• Own the strategic direction and institutional messaging for GiveWell’s website, working with communications colleagues on execution.
• Own GiveWell’s internal communications strategy and major internal communications, helping our growing organization stay informed and aligned.
• Manage and develop one or two team members initially, and help determine how the function’s team, systems, and capabilities should grow over time.

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
• 403(b) retirement plan

What This Job Offers

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