ABOUT US:

At Founders Pledge, our mission is to empower entrepreneurs to do immense good. Since launching in 2015, we’ve raised over $10 billion for the most impactful social causes. We offer the simplest path to impact for successful entrepreneurs, providing end-to-end giving infrastructure, pioneering research, and access to a worldwide network of experts. In other words, we help tech leaders become strategic philanthropists. Our 1900+ members include the people behind industry-leading companies such as Airbnb, UiPath, Dropbox, Skype, Spotify, and Uber.

ABOUT THE ROLE:

We’re looking for an Applied Researcher with a focus on global health and development (GHD) to work on our Research team, which identifies and evaluates high-impact funding opportunities (HIFOs) to enable our broader member-base to give as effectively as possible. Our member base consists of high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) who use our HIFO recommendations to guide their giving. 

Reporting to our GHD Lead, you’ll research new potential cause areas and investigate potential funding opportunities. In this role, you might investigate the intergenerational effects of different educational interventions, work on methods for weighing lifesaving programs against life-improving ones, or look into the cost-effectiveness of programs to incentivize childhood vaccinations.

This role is multifaceted. Your work will include charity evaluation and methodological improvement, and you’ll do in-depth research projects in order to uncover new cause areas for FP to begin work on. You’ll also have an uncommon opportunity for dramatic impact. Individual researchers at Founders Pledge regularly source, evaluate, and recommend grants of between $2 million and $10 million to a small number of HNWIs. Though subject to extensive review, this work is highly autonomous: if you are good at your job, you’ll be directly steering millions of dollars to the highest-impact opportunities available.

You’ll conduct:

• Cause area investigations: Identifying the most pressing problem areas, cost-effective solutions, and recommending funding opportunities.

• Charity evaluation: Individual investigations into promising funding opportunities to see if they meet our bar for recommendation, contributing to reports or other internal or external materials.

• Shallow investigations: Internal investigations of less than a week into a particular problem area or methodological question relevant to your research.

• Methodological improvement: Changes to our moral weights, discount rates, and other internal standards and methods that we use to compare charitable opportunities.

  You’ll also support our Philanthropic Advisors and Community Managers to provide expert advice and recommendations to our members based on our research.

Salary: Up to £65k/$95k/€65k.

Location: UK, USA (ideally East Coast), or Europe (flexible remote)

ABOUT YOU: 

You’re likely to have:

• 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: 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).

To begin the application process, please upload your CV. Once submitted, you will receive a follow-up questionnaire that must be completed to finalize your application. Please note that applications without a completed questionnaire will not be reviewed or considered further.

There is no need to upload a cover letter or supporting letter as part of your application.

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.

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. 

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, colour, 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.

Please note: When you apply to this role, you’ll be asked to complete an equal opportunities form. As this role is being advertised in multiple countries, you’ll be asked to complete a UK equal opportunities form, as this is where our HQ is based.