Global Health & Development Researcher and Grantmaker

You’ll have the opportunity to fund not just direct interventions but also research, and you’ll be able to fund not just rigorously backed “micro-interventions” but also high-risk, high-reward “big bets.”

It’s a big job, but we believe the right candidate will thrive and have enormous impact on the world.

You’ll be responsible for:

• Undertaking research investigations to answer key questions and working on literature reviews
• Funding opportunity investigations: Individual investigations into promising funding opportunities to see if they meet our bar for recommendation, contributing to reports or other internal or external materials.
• Working with internal and external stakeholders to get these opportunities funded. Though you won’t be expected to wear a “stewardship hat,” you will need to interact with UHNW donors as the expert in the room, answering thorough and detailed questions about your research.

What We’re Looking For

We’re looking for someone with excellent analytical skills, domain knowledge, generalist appetite, and an interest in impact maximisation.

You’ll likely have:

• Relevant expertise: You have domain expertise in a topic relevant to the role, including development economics, public health, or cost-effectiveness analysis. Those with transferable skills from other fields are also strong candidates: past successful researchers have had backgrounds in medicine, finance, and the hard sciences.
• Excellent analytical skills: Comfort expressing views numerically and working with systematic quantitative frameworks; understanding of, and the ability to build, quantitative models.
• Clear writing: The ability to express nuanced evidence and complex concepts in a clear way. Bonus points if you can write quickly.
• Open-ended research skills: The ability to identify potential HIFOs in a new cause area, relevant academic research, reports and experts.
• Good calibration: Knowledge of the extent of your own knowledge, and a good sense of how confident you should be in your beliefs.
• Intellectual curiosity and openness: A willingness to consider alternative points of view, to follow good arguments wherever they lead, and an openness to changing your mind.
• Conscientiousness and prioritisation skills: A willingness to work hard and to focus time on top priorities, while working quickly and methodically.
• Good judgement: For example, the ability to decide how long to spend on a project, or what sections to include in a report.
• The ability to work well with others, to communicate honestly and directly, and to be open to feedback.
• Willingness to work in a high-growth, dynamic start-up environment and be comfortable with ambiguity.
• The confidence and experience to lead your own research, working independently (we are open to candidates of varying seniority).

Location and Travel Requirements

UK, USA (ideally East Coast), or Germany (flexible - remote or hybrid).

There's no expectation for you to attend an office on a regular basis. At the same time, if you think you’d benefit from a desk in a co-working space close to your home, this can be arranged. Otherwise, you just need a great home wifi connection and we’ll provide you with everything else you need to be successful in your role.

We bring the global team together once per year for a global offsite. This is a week of collaborative learning, ideas generation and socialising. In addition to this, each team has the opportunity to meet together at least once per year.

Why Work With Us?

You can find more about the benefits we offer here, but what makes us truly special is both our mission and our people.

We’re a diverse team, from both charitable and commercial backgrounds, who believe that amazing things can happen when we tackle problems together.

We offer a flat structure and an opportunity to help shape the future of philanthropy.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at Founders Pledge. We seek people with different strengths, experiences, and backgrounds, who share our drive to understand and solve complex social challenges.

We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. Finding solutions to the world’s most pressing problems requires different perspectives and unique ways of thinking, and we are committed to building an inclusive and diverse workplace where everyone can do their best work.

If you’re excited about our mission but don’t meet every requirement, we still encourage you to apply.