Position: Operations Specialist (Recruiting)
Salary: Our salaries are competitive with peer organizations like private foundations, academic institutions/think tanks, and the World Bank. We adjust the salaries of remote employees using a tier system. Our pay for this role:
- Tier 1 (San Francisco Bay Area or New York City): $98,000
- Tier 2 (all other US locations): $90,600
Benefits: GiveWell provides health, vision, and dental insurance for staff and their families. Read more about the benefits we offer here.
Location: You will be joining a hybrid team that works remotely throughout the US and elsewhere. GiveWell has an office in Oakland, California that you are welcome (not required) to work from. Part of our staff also works from a coworking space in New York City. As a general rule, we request that employees either work in time zones shared by the continental US or, if working outside those time zones, be willing to work hours that are compatible with regular meetings scheduled around California’s timezone.
Flexibility: We support and encourage flexible working, including flexible hours, working remotely, and working from the office when you choose. The majority of our staff, including senior management, work flexibly in one way or another.
Visa sponsorship: Please note that for this position, we're currently not accepting applications from candidates who need authorization to work in the U.S.
Timeline: We're reviewing applications on a rolling basis.
About GiveWell
GiveWell is motivated by the simple question: how can we do as much good as possible?
In our efforts to answer this question, we search for and recommend outstanding philanthropic giving opportunities. We currently focus on global health and poverty alleviation programs in the lowest-income parts of the world because that is where we've found we can have the greatest impact, according to our criteria.
Our primary impact is achieved by directing funding to our recommended charities. We rigorously vet and recommend a short list of top charities that meet our criteria of being evidence-backed, cost-effective, transparent, and in need of more funding. Our four current top charities work on life-saving programs, including malaria chemoprevention, antimalarial nets, vaccine incentivization, and vitamin A supplementation.
We also direct funding to high impact opportunities outside of our top charities that are consistent with our mission to maximize global well-being.
Based on our recommendations, donors have given more than $1 billion to our recommended programs since our founding in 2007. In 2021 alone, we directed more than $525 million.
Our operations team supports critical organizational functions and is integral to the success of our mission to direct hundreds of millions of dollars to the best giving opportunities we can find.
The role
As an Operations Specialist (Recruiting) you will help GiveWell recruit, assess, and hire excellent candidates. Your role will be critical to helping GiveWell grow and achieve our long-term goals. You will report to our Operations Associate and join a team of motivated, capable operators. This is the role for you if you’re excited about helping a growing organization find passionate and mission-driven people!
Though specific responsibilities may shift based on team needs and capacity, your portfolio of work will include:
- Pipeline management and process improvement: Your number one responsibility will be to manage the pipeline of candidates for open searches. This includes (a) ensuring that all candidates are moving through the application stages in a timely manner and (b) recommending and implementing changes to make our processes more efficient, effective, or inclusive.
- Support hiring managers and help design new recruiting processes: You will onboard new hiring managers to our existing recruiting processes. You will also help hiring managers develop job descriptions and design application processes for new roles in line with GiveWell’s approach to recruiting.
- Promote open roles. You will promote open roles and help us develop new ways to attract excellent candidates. This might involve tactics you implement yourself (like direct outreach) or might involve better leveraging of other resources like advertising.
- Proactively recruit and manage candidates. You will be responsible for cultivating relationships, identifying new recruits,and shepherding them through our application process. This includes hosting informational interviews, answering questions, and coordinating with other GiveWell staff as necessary.
- Develop relations with external counterparts: You will have discretion to identify, vet, and establish relationships with external third parties that could help expand the pool of candidates looking at GiveWell. These could include U.S. or international recruiters, or other organizations or individuals with potentially valuable networks.
- Track and report on recruiting data: You will provide hiring managers and GiveWell senior management with information to help us make better decisions around recruiting, for example, how effective different searches are, what the diversity of our pipeline is, and what the return was for certain experiments.
About you
Note: Confidence can sometimes hold us back from applying for a job. Here’s a secret: there's no such thing as a "perfect" candidate. GiveWell is looking for exceptional people who want to make a positive impact through their work and help create an organization where everyone can thrive. So whatever background you bring with you, please apply if this role would make you excited to come to work every day.
We expect you will be characterized by the below qualities and would be eager to grow and develop your abilities across these areas. Specific recruiting experience is not required. We encourage you to apply if you would use the majority of these characteristics to describe yourself:
- You’re highly productive and excel at juggling a wide variety of competing tasks. You’re great at just knocking out a high volume of work. You’re very motivated to complete tasks and projects, and good at identifying the quickest path to completing a project well. You’re comfortable juggling a wide set of tasks and projects while still ensuring that things get done (or proactively checking to make tradeoffs when needed). You can switch between many different projects during the day and still move things forward quickly.
- You enjoy and excel at connecting with people. You’re excited to help staff and job candidates, and provide great customer service even in challenging situations (e.g. communicating bad news to an applicant). People enjoy interacting with you, and you enjoy interacting with people.
- You have strong project management skills and take ownership of your work. You can independently carry out projects from concept to implementation, keeping the big picture in mind while completing detailed tasks. You see yourself as responsible for results. You proactively seek to troubleshoot problems and identify improvements based on good judgment and discretion rather than simply executing on a checklist.
- You’re mission-motivated and service-oriented. You want to contribute to GiveWell’s most pressing needs and are oriented around getting things done, even when it’s not glamorous. Any job is your job if it helps the team succeed. You structure your work to make it easy for others to engage with.
- You’re conscientious & attentive to details. You are thoughtful about your approach and perform high quality work, with or without supervision. Not much escapes your attention, including the fine print. You exhibit meticulous attention to detail and don’t cut corners. (This doesn’t mean you never make mistakes, but you learn from them and rarely repeat one).
- You’re a strong communicator. You are proactive about communicating, receptive to feedback, and willing to provide feedback. You take the time to communicate what you believe and why. You communicate productively in both oral and written exchanges and can convey detailed information to a variety of audiences who may be unfamiliar with the subject matter. You are responsive, professional, and unflappable.
- You’re good-humored and drawn to growing organizations. GiveWell maintains a small operations team. This means we expect a lot from each individual. You enjoy digging in to get things done and want to contribute to a general positive attitude. You are comfortable working with changing processes and priorities.
To apply
Apply here: https://www.tfaforms.com/5045245. We only accept applications through our website.
We plan to respond to all submissions. Please contact jobs@givewell.org with any questions.
Additional information
If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at jobs@givewell.org.
As part of our dedication to the diversity of our staff, GiveWell is committed to the principles of Equal Employment Opportunity and to making employment decisions based on merit and value. We are committed to complying with all federal, state, and local laws providing Equal Employment Opportunities, as well as all laws related to terms and conditions of employment. We desire to maintain a work environment free of harassment or discrimination due to sex, race, religion, color, creed, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, citizenship, physical or mental disability, marital status, familial status, ethnicity, ancestry, status as a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault, age, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local laws.
We will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.