Director of Data

About GiveDirectly

GiveDirectly (GD) aims to reshape international giving – and millions of lives – by providing cash grants directly to the world’s poorest. The Brookings Institution estimates that $70B of cash transfers would be required to eliminate the poverty gap; the aid sector currently spends $135B each year, much of it on evidence-free interventions. GiveDirectly wants to change that, establishing cash transfers as a benchmark for foreign aid – as the index fund is a benchmark for the financial industry – and in the process accelerating the end of extreme poverty.

GD has raised over $1B since launching in 2011, delivered cash to more than 1.5 million people in 15 different countries. We’ve also supported large-scale, experimental research that indicates strong recipient impact of our programs. As a result, GD has been celebrated as one of the most innovative non-profit companies by Fast Company, while the growing cash transfer movement (and GD’s leading role within it) have been featured in the New York Times Magazine, This American Life, Foreign Affairs, and The Economist.

Our culture is candid, analytical, agile, and non-hierarchical. Our global team of ~150, and country operations teams of ~650, together come from 21 different countries speaking 69 different languages. Team members bring experiences from the private sector, NGOs and government. From software engineers to seasoned humanitarian workers, former management consultants to public servants, researchers to field operations -- it’s an incredible group of people.

Our values are central and deliberately opinionated. We genuinely center the people we serve in our decision making, and strive to build an ambitious, fast moving and high performing environment. We strongly encourage you to read through our values carefully, if they reflect how you like to work and energize you, this could be a great fit.

We work hard to create an environment in which all our team members can thrive, succeed and grow. We actively seek to recruit individuals from the communities we serve, and are constantly working to foster a workplace that supports diversity, and is truly inclusive in reality, not just intent. We support flexibility, take care of each other, have fun, and create professional growth opportunities.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other status protected by law.

About this role: 

We are looking for a Director of Data to lead our data infrastructure, strategy, and analytics function, which aims to improve recipient outcomes, improve efficiency, reduce risk, improve recipient experience, and increase revenue, by improving organizational decision making and using data to tell GD’s story to donors. You will lead a team responsible for the full end-to-end of our analytics stack: 

• Developing and running our data lakehouse and integrating source systems
• Automating data quality checks
• Building trusted metrics dashboards
• Providing insights in monthly KPIs reviews
• Building tools for technical teams to access data
• Doing deep analysis for big decisions
• Developing data science capabilities for delivering cash

You’ll work directly with leaders across all departments of the organization to understand business needs, prioritize and deliver on the data product roadmap, and help empower org leaders with a culture of rigorous decision making. You’ll be hands-on enough to set a high technical quality bar and weigh in on design decisions, and also be able to plug into strategic leadership conversations to identify the highest leverage data and insights to inform decisions. You’re not just making data available but actually making sure that it makes us more effective.

Our current stack includes Spark, Databricks, Great Expectations, AWS, Tableau, and Salesforce.

Level: Director

Reports to: VP, Technology

Responsibilities: 

• Set the vision, strategy, and roadmap for the central data team, which includes data engineering, analysis, data science, and our donor CRM
• Oversee core data infrastructure, ensuring scalability, reliability, and security
• Develop and motivate the team; recruit and retain inspiring teammates
• Work with leaders across the org to deeply understand data needs and negotiate priorities to create clear focus for your team and avoid getting caught in reactive, service-provider mode
• Make sure that the data and insights your team surfaces are actually having high impact on other teams’ work – without having direct formal authority – through deep understanding of user needs, strong product mindset, and strong informal influence
• Make our data more usable and trusted through working with source data owners to drive data quality improvements and creating a culture of high follow through on preventing and fixing bugs
• Identify and drive investments that improve your team’s output over time and ensure our data is secure, balancing investments with new features
• Identify and lead the development of new data science capabilities for delivering cash, such as fraud detection or leveraging big data sources for poverty prediction

What you’ll bring: 

• Exceptional alignment with GiveDirectly Values and active demonstration of our core competencies: emotional intelligence, problem solving, project management, follow-through, and fostering inclusivity. We welcome and strongly encourage applications from candidates who have personal or professional experience in the low-income and/or historically marginalized communities that we serve.
• 8+ years of relevant experience in data engineering, analytics, or data science
• 4+ years of people management experience with a track record of developing high performing teams
• Demonstrated expertise in guiding business decisions with data and designing metrics
• Track record of being able to impact change even without direct formal authority
• Strong ability to navigate ambiguity, many stakeholders, and competing priorities and create clear focus for the team
• Strong product mindset and ability to pair deep understanding of business needs with technical expertise to spot high leverage opportunities
• Strong ability to communicate complex technical concepts effectively across cross-functional teams and senior business and technical stakeholders
• Strong understanding of engineering and data science best practices to be able to create systems and processes that make the team more effective, and to prioritize technical investments against new features
• Proficiency in SQL, Python, and modern data stack tools (e.g., Databricks, Snowflake, or BigQuery; Tableau, Looker, or PowerBI, etc.)
• Strong analytical skills with a solid understanding of data science and machine learning principles
• Bonus: experience with Databricks, Spark, AWS
• Must be able to travel ~1-2 times per year to one of our countries of operation for team retreats or field visits

Compensation

At GiveDirectly, we strive to pay our employees generously and equitably. We use an accredited third party salary aggregator to ensure that staff’s total compensation package (base compensation + bonus)  falls within the 75th percentile of similar roles, at similar organizations. We also have a no negotiation policy to ensure we are paying staff equitably across roles. 

• The United States base salary for this role is $130,000.
• The Kenya base salary for this role is $101,221.

This role is fully remote, so if you are not based in the US or Kenya, we will share an estimated salary benchmark for the country you are based in during the hiring process. 

Why work at GiveDirectly?

At GiveDirectly, we work to ensure that you have everything you need to excel in your role and on your team, including:

• A positive and supportive team with opportunities for advancement 
• A demonstrated commitment to helping all staff develop and grow
• A competitive salary, including bonus
• A robust health benefits plan (exact details will vary by country)
• Flexible paid time off
• Allowances for desk set-up and learning and development

 #LI-REMOTE

Read more about our ongoing diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts here and about our decision to move our central support teams to remote first here.

GiveDirectly is an Equal Opportunity Employer that values the strength diversity brings to the workplace. All qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to the person’s race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

US applicants only:  We invite you to "Know Your Rights" as an applicant.

Commitment to Safeguarding

As a global organization serving some of the world’s most vulnerable communities, GiveDirectly takes the safeguarding of its recipients, staff, and partners seriously. To that end, GiveDirectly is a member of the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme, and will systematically check with previous employers about any sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment issues relating to potential new hires. We may also employ other robust pre-hire screens, including in-depth reference checks, criminal background checks, and sanctions screens.

GD is committed to observing all local, national and international laws that protect children, vulnerable adults, and basic human rights of all. GD is committed to a policy of “zero tolerance for sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment (SEAH)” and expects anyone who works for GD to uphold the protection and safeguarding of our recipients as a priority.

These efforts help us continue to build and maintain trust with the communities we serve, and prevent harm to our recipients.

Interview Venue and Accessibility

We conduct interviews over Google Meet with camera on (unless communicated otherwise).

Closed captioning is available during all Google Meet interviews, and interviewers will also post interview questions in the chat box throughout the call. If you need assistance accessing either of these features, please let your interviewer know at the start of your interview! 

We’re committed to running an inclusive and accessible application process for all of our open roles. If there are questions or concerns you have about the accessibility of our hiring process, we warmly invite you to reach out to careers@givedirectly.org. Please include the word "Accessibility" in the email title.

Want to put your best foot forward on your GiveDirectly application? Take a look at our Candidate Application Prep Guide!