Giving What We Can (GWWC) is seeking a Research Director to lead our research team, enable our community to give $80+ million USD to the world’s highest-impact charities every year, and push the boundaries of effective giving research.
As a key member of GWWC’s leadership, the Research Director will lead and build out GWWC's research team, overseeing our core current workstreams of evaluating evaluators, internal impact evaluation, and supported programs selection. They will be responsible for setting an ambitious research vision and strategy that aligns with GWWC’s goal of growing to 1 million pledgers giving $3 billion USD to high-impact charities every year.
Your impact in this role
Your work will immediately inform where a growing $80 million USD of charitable dollars flow every year, and ensure the quality of our recommendations as we scale their reach. Ultimately, you will help solve some of the world's most pressing problems, such as extreme poverty, the suffering of animals in factory farms, and global catastrophic risks facing current and future generations.
Role overview
Start date: May 1st 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter
Hours: 0.8-1.0 FTE
Location: Global/Remote (preference for UTC-8 to UTC+4 timezones)
Salary: Up to 150,000 USD, depending on experience and location (see how we approach pay) Some example ranges:
120,000-145,000 USD in New York City, United States
85,000-105,000 GBP in London, United Kingdom
75,000-90,000 EUR in Barcelona, Spain
Reporting to: Chief Executive Officer (Sjir Hoeijmakers)
Lead, develop and grow GWWC's research function and strategy (~30%)
Set multi-year research strategy aimed at GWWC's goal of 1 million pledgers giving 3 billion USD annually to high-impact charities
Manage, mentor and develop our current researcher and build out the research team as needed to achieve our ambitious goals
Represent the research team in the GWWC leadership team and in organizational strategy setting.
Ensure the quality of our grantmaking and giving recommendations (~30%)
Oversee, support and grow our work on evaluating evaluators to select which impact-focused evaluators we rely on for recommendations across worldviews and cause areas to inform a growing ~$80M in donations annually
Manage and further develop our in-house cause area funds which grant to our recommendations in various cause areas
Oversee the selection of which promising other supported programs we make grants to and highlight to our community of pledgers.
Push the boundaries of global effective giving research (~20%)
Build productive relationships and collaborations with impact-focused evaluators, grantmakers, and other organisations both within the current effective giving ecosystem and beyond.
Guard the epistemic quality of GWWC’s content and communications (~10%)
Review key content and communications to ensure it is in line with our research views, high epistemic standards, and team values.
Set up review processes to guard quality as we scale the quantity of our communications (e.g. social media posts, videos, press releases).
Oversee our internal monitoring and evaluation (~10%)
Ensure our impact evaluation keeps meeting the highest epistemic standards, yielding useful lessons that directly inform our organisational strategy, and contributing to positive norms in the effective giving ecosystem.
Building, leading and developing a high-performing team (particularly a remote, international team)
Prioritisation and judgement; a scout mindset and a commitment to communicating accurately and truthfully; strong probabilistic reasoning and calibration (e.g. Bayesian thinking); and broad research and analytical skills
Previous work at impact-focused charity evaluators or grantmaking organisations, or other effective giving or effective altruism research institutions
Academic research background in relevant fields (e.g. economics, philosophy, global health), or deep knowledge in major cause areas in effective giving
Exceptional writing or public speaking skills and experience
About GWWC
Giving What We Can (GWWC) is working towards a world without preventable suffering or existential risk, where everyone is able to flourish. We do this by making giving effectively and significantly a norm.
Founded in 2009, we are best known for the 🔸10% Pledge, where over 10,000 people have committed to donating at least 10% of their lifetime income to highly effective charities. Our larger community of pledgers and donors currently gives ~$80M USD annually, of which GWWC processes and grants ~$40M through our own donation platform.
We've set ourselves the audacious goal of reaching 1 million pledgers donating $3B USD annually to high-impact charities. The current ~17 FTE global team is mission-focused, with strong commitment to our team and community values.
Benefits
We offer a comprehensive benefits package, including health insurance, budgets for mental health and wellbeing and professional development, flexible working arrangements, parental leave and support, and pension and income protection.
Diversity & inclusion
GWWC is an equal opportunity employer, and we value diversity in our organization. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability status. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to ensure an inclusive and accessible recruitment process.
Application process
See below for the preliminary stages and timeline of this hiring process (please note these are subject to change):