Program Associate

GiveWell is a research organization that identifies and funds cost-effective giving opportunities, focusing on global health and well-being. Our work is funded by tens of thousands of donors who rely on our research to inform their giving. We’ve grown from directing $1.5 million in 2010 to directing nearly $400 million in 2024.

The role

Our research team is seeking Program Associates who will provide critical support to the team to maximize the impact of a program portfolio of life-saving and poverty-alleviating programs. This is primarily a project management role, providing key support to GiveWell researchers during their research and grant investigations.

Responsibilities include:

• Project management of research and grantmaking plans. Program Associates are project management experts who manage the execution of research and grantmaking workflows. Program Associates make sure that a high volume of complex projects stay on track, our systems and tools are maintained and improved, and timelines are met. They bring excellent judgment for when to follow established processes and when to adapt them to their work. This could include:
• Keeping team trackers up to date and understanding how projects fit into broader team goals.
• Managing project timelines and deadlines, flagging risks and adjusting timelines as needed based on competing team priorities.
• Creating investigation templates and other tools to aid the research team in following consistent, high standards.
• Effective communication and coordination with internal and external contacts. Program Associates must clearly and effectively communicate with project contributors, internal teams, and external stakeholders about the projects they are managing. They will regularly interact  with external stakeholders, including grantees, with progressively more autonomy in those interactions. Program Associates facilitate smooth information flow and collaboration, including ensuring all parties have the information needed to do their jobs well. This could include:
• Writing and sending messages to grantees and other external contacts to request information, explain our process, or request feedback.
• Generating call agendas and tracking and communicating clear follow-up steps.
• Communicating the status of research projects to internal teams and ensuring smooth handoffs on fundraising and funding logistics. 
• Noticing unusual situations and flagging them to stakeholders early.
• Maintaining high attention to detail and accuracy. Program Associates are expected to maintain high standards for all work outputs, from system maintenance to content production. They ensure precision and reliability in data, documents, and processes. This could include:
• Ensuring that public-facing documents clearly cite sources and include important information for communicating our research and decision making.
• Updating team trackers with the most current information, so that teams and leadership can make decisions based on accurate and up-to-date project details.
• Assigning and following up on outstanding tasks in a timely manner, so the status of projects and next steps are clear.
• Maintaining organized and complete project files, ensuring information is accessible and usable for the broader team.
• Proactive problem-solving. Program Associates actively identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and areas for improvement within operational processes and systems, and propose and implement effective solutions to enhance workflows and overall team effectiveness. This could include:
• Creatively helping teams plan and execute on their top priorities, and assisting in re-prioritizing when needed.
• Improving guidance, templates, and processes that would better suit the team’s needs.
• Handling straightforward issues independently, and flagging more complex challenges early to managers or other team members, offering options for how to address them.

About you

We are growing and changing quickly, so above all we seek a team player who is flexible, organized, and eager to proactively seek out ways to support the team so that we can do more work, better. 

In addition, we expect you will be characterized by many of the below qualities. Exceptions may be made for excellent applicants who do not meet these criteria:

• You have a bachelor's degree (or higher) and 2 to 5 years experience in project management or operational support. 
• You are skilled at planning and managing projects, including identifying and focusing on the most decision-relevant aspects of a project and communicating effectively with teammates. You are known for proactively moving work forward – anticipating what’s needed, raising risks early, and creating momentum for the team.
• You enjoy creating order out of disorder, especially when there are many overlapping pieces and stakeholders.
• You are obsessed with details and love checking things off of your list, and you’re energized rather than overwhelmed by knowing there will always be more to tackle.
• You consider the big picture, asking questions like: is this project appropriately formulated and the best use of my time? How might we allocate our time more efficiently? Do we have the capacity to complete our goals?
• You clearly communicate what you believe and why, as well as what you are uncertain about.
• You are comfortable working in a document-heavy culture, where careful writing, clear documentation, and well-maintained systems enable effective collaboration.
• You ask a lot of questions, and are curious, rather than defensive, when interrogating your own or others’ work.
• You are respectful, effective, and efficient in your interactions with colleagues as well as external parties.
• You are passionate about helping improve global health and alleviate global poverty as much as possible.

Why this role might not be a good fit:

This Program Associate role is primarily focused on project management and operational excellence. We want to be transparent about some situations where candidates may struggle or be unsatisfied:

• You view project management as a stepping stone. This is a project management role, not a pathway into research or other functions at GiveWell. If you're primarily interested in becoming a researcher or working in another capacity, this position likely isn't the right fit. We're looking for people who are genuinely energized by excellent project management and operational support and would like to grow within this function.
• You're attached to specific systems or methodologies. In addition to some of the usual project management systems, we also use a number of custom workflows tailored to our research needs. If you're deeply committed to implementing particular project management frameworks (like Agile, Scrum, or some other specific PM software) rather than adapting to what makes sense for the project at hand, you may find this frustrating. We need people who focus on operational goals first and can flexibly use, adapt, or improve processes as tools to get there.
• You prefer lower-volume work or dislike task switching. Program Associates juggle many concurrent projects with competing deadlines in a fast-paced environment. If you prefer focusing on one project at a time or like the feeling of having wrapped up a project and having “nothing on your list,” the intensity and volume of this role may not suit your working style.
• You dislike a document-heavy culture. GiveWell uses extensive written documentation, and Program Associates are expected to navigate and contribute to that culture. If you find it frustrating to read through detailed documents, extract the key information, and keep track of many written threads at once, this role may feel overwhelming. Success here requires comfort with written communication and the ability to manage a large volume of documentation.
• You have significantly more experience than we're seeking. This role is designed for people with 2-5 years of relevant experience. If you have substantially more experience (e.g., 7+ years in project management or operations) or advanced credentials like a PhD, you may find the role's level and scope don't match your career stage. We want to ensure the position offers appropriate growth and challenge, and candidates with significantly more experience often find it doesn't meet those needs.

Details

• Compensation:
• NYC or the San Francisco Bay Area: $108,800
• All other U.S. locations: $98,600
• UK or Canada: We'll convert the non-New York/Bay Area U.S. salary into local currency using historical USD exchange rates.
• Location: GiveWell’s staff work primarily remotely within the U.S. and abroad.
• Offices: You are welcome but not required to work from our offices in Oakland, California, Brooklyn, NYC, or London, UK.
• International applicants: We currently hire team members in the UK and Canada through our Employer of Record. We may consider additional locations for exceptional candidates with residency/work authorization in other countries, however we cannot guarantee that we would be able to offer employment. If hired, we would require that you either work in a time zone that shares a 2 to 3-hour overlap with a 9am to 5pm Pacific time schedule or be willing to work hours compatible with regular meetings scheduled around U.S. time zones.
• 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.
• Benefits: Our benefits include:
• Fully funded health, dental, vision, and life insurance (we cover 100% of premiums within the US for you and any dependents)
• Four weeks of paid time off per year
• Four months of fully paid parental leave
• Ergonomic home workstations or coworking space memberships
• 403(b) retirement plan
• Travel: Research team members are sometimes required to attend international site visits and conferences; on average 1-2 per year, with additional travel (including internationally) for those interested in traveling more. Additionally, we strongly encourage staff members to attend quarterly whole-org and department retreats to bond with other team members and complete in-person work. We'll discuss travel obligations in more detail during late stages of the hiring process, and plan to work with staff who have family or other obligations.
• Visa sponsorship: We are not currently able to sponsor visas for this role.
• Start date: We’d like a candidate to start as soon as possible after receiving an offer.

Hiring Process

After the initial application, our application process uses a mixture of interviews and work trials, the first of which is anonymized before grading. 

The work trials in our process allow us to better understand how applicants’ skills will translate to the work we do and allows you to learn more about our work. They also reduce bias in our hiring process — we’re better able to hire candidates with nontraditional backgrounds who nonetheless excel in our trials.

Our typical interview process for this role includes the following stages, though we may adjust based on the specific needs of the search:

• Initial application: Our application asks for basic information about you and why you are applying, as well as a number of questions designed to help us assess your fit for the role. We request that you include a resumé. We do not plan to review other materials, like cover letters or letters of recommendation, so we encourage you not to submit these.
• Spreadsheet take-home assignment: You'll complete a capacity-planning exercise similar to the work Program Associates do when helping teams organize projects and timelines. This should take no more than 90 minutes.
• Initial interview: If you move forward, we’ll invite you to a 25-minute call with someone from our recruiting team to talk through your thought process on the spreadsheet assignment and dig into any questions they have about your background.
• Work history interview: You will have an interview with 1-2 people from our hiring team. In one, you’ll meet with the two hiring managers for this role to talk about your own work experience and you’ll get a chance to ask any questions you have.
• Coordinating an RFP work trial: This will be a set of live role-playing meetings with our hiring team, accompanied by about 30 minutes of at-home preparation and 80 minutes of post-meeting work. This exercise should take approximately 2.5 hours total and you will be compensated at a flat rate of $115.
• Values interview: In the final interview, you’ll meet with someone from our research team and discuss your own and GiveWell’s values.
• Reference checks: The final step in our process is to request and contact two references. If possible, we prefer for at least one reference to be a former or current manager.

You will receive communication about whether you are advancing after each stage of the process. We strive to respond to applications within two weeks across all stages of the process; however, we expect a large volume of applications for this particular position and may not be able to achieve our desired response times. Let us know if you have specific circumstances (e.g., a competing offer or tighter timeline) that could impact timing. 

If you have questions about the process before you begin, feel free to reach out to us at careers@givewell.org.

About GiveWell

GiveWell is dedicated to finding and funding outstanding giving opportunities in global health and development, sharing the full details of our analysis with everyone for free. Our giving funds enable donors to contribute to the most impactful and cost-effective programs our researchers identify. 

Since 2007, we’ve directed over $2.6 billion to cost-effective programs and interventions. In the last two years, we’ve made more than $500 million in grants. GiveWell is one of the world’s largest private funders of global development efforts, and we estimate that the funding we’ve directed will save more than 340,000 lives.

GiveWell is most well-known for recommending a small number of Top Charities, which currently support seasonal malaria chemoprevention, antimalarial nets, vaccine incentivization, and vitamin A supplementation. However, most of our research capacity is devoted to finding cost-effective opportunities outside of those programs.

GiveWell grants have:

• Helped governments to implement high-impact health programs, like in-line chlorination of drinking water in India and HIV/syphilis screening and treatment for pregnant people in Zambia and Cameroon.
• Funded program delivery alongside strengthened monitoring and evaluation, as in our grants to support treatment of clubfoot and to evaluate the program.  
• Sought to scope and scale promising interventions that don’t have clear existing implementers. We are supporting the Clinton Health Access Initiative’s Incubator and Evidence Action’s Accelerator to identify potentially cost-effective interventions and create programs that we would be excited to support in the future. For example, we funded a program to provide diarrhea treatment to children in Nigeria that we co-designed with CHAI through the Incubator program.
• Tested our assumptions through further research, including studies on the effect of water chlorination on mortality, the impact of a tree-planting program on farmers’ income, and the effects of combining the RTS,S malaria vaccine and perennial malaria chemoprevention.

We never take for granted that GiveWell’s work is good for the world. We make our reasoning public and transparent so others can challenge it (sometimes we even pay people to point out our errors). We go to unusual lengths to check our assumptions and assess our impact, including funding research and external analysis to address our uncertainties and insisting that our grantees conduct rigorous monitoring and evaluation. We change our minds when the evidence demands it.

Additional information

We don’t want to miss candidates that could do great things at GiveWell. Practically, that means a GiveWell staff member reviews every application carefully, considering the whole picture of your background and potential. If you’re on the fence about applying because you meet some but not 100% of our preferred qualifications (some studies suggest this hesitation is especially common for women and people of color), we encourage you to apply anyway.

GiveWell is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer by choice. At minimum, this means that we comply with all federal, state, and local EEO and employment laws. Beyond the requirements of those laws, we value our team’s diversity in all respects, and we desire to maintain a work environment free of harassment or discrimination—we want our team members to thrive at GiveWell. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, contact us at careers@givewell.org. We will consider employment for qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

By submitting an application, you acknowledge that you have read and consent to GiveWell’s Privacy Statement for Applicants. By completing an application exercise, you acknowledge and assent to GiveWell’s Work Trial Policy.