Senior Accountant

Senior Accountant

United States + International (Remote)

GiveWell's mission is to help people in need as much as we can by researching the most cost-effective ways to save and improve lives, sharing our work openly, and directing donations to the programs we believe will do the most good. Our work, which focuses on global health and well-being, 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 more than $400 million in 2025and we expect to direct more than $500 million in 2026. Through years of deliberate groundwork, we've been growing our research capacity and scope in order to direct substantially more funding to the most impactful opportunities we can find.

The Role

We're looking for a Senior Accountant to own complex accounting areas at GiveWell, primarily focused on revenue reconciliation and grants recognition. You'll bring deep expertise to complex reconciliations, serve as a thought partner to our Controller on process improvements, and act as a mentor to junior staffall in service of an organization that moves large amounts of money conscientiously and transparently. You'll be joining our growing Finance team and reporting directly to our Controller.

Why we're hiring this role right now: GiveWell has grown from directing $1.5 million in 2010 to directing more than $400 million in 2025, and we're building our finance team to match that scale and prepare for additional growth in the coming years. Our Controller joined earlier this year, and we're now making the team's foundational hires to shift from outside contractors to a strong in-house finance team.

Specific duties include:

• Owning revenue reconciliation. You'll reconcile donations from several payment platforms including bank deposits, securities, and cryptocurrency to a CRM system for the purpose of general ledger uploads and ultimately regranting to charities.
• Preparing the quarterly grants reconciliation. You'll perform our quarterly reconciliation from the general ledger to our grants database, which ensures liabilities are accurately recorded, grants are correctly attributed by grantee, funds are allocated properly from our Top Charities and All Grants Funds, and that our net asset rollforward reconciles.
• Assisting with higher-complexity close processes. You'll participate in close processes beyond revenue and grants by reconciling investments and recording entries for more complex areas such as lease amortization, intercompany grants, and accrued vacation.
• Supporting audit and tax compliance. You'll draft portions of the financial statements and related footnotes, prepare Form 990 support documents, and work closely with our auditors and 990 preparers alongside the Controller.
• Driving process improvement. You'll help update our workflows, particularly around the grants reconciliation process, serving as a thought partner to the Controller on how we build a more efficient and scalable finance function.
• Mentoring the Staff Accountant. You'll serve as a go-to resource and sounding board as they grow in their role.

About You

The strongest candidates will have 4+ years of experience owning and improving technical accounting workstreams, such as revenue reconciliation, fund accounting, and financial reporting.

We expect that high-quality candidates will have all of the characteristics listed below:

• 4+ years of financial/accounting experience
• Licensed CPA
• Experience with US-based non-profit accounting, such as fund accounting
• Expert Excel skills. You always know when there is a formula to be used, you are a pivot table pro, and you leverage conditional formatting, filters, and other tools to make your work efficient and legible
• Proficiency with:
• Common accounting systems (we currently use Sage Intacct, Salesforce, and Bill.com)
• Supporting financial audits, including supporting drafting financial statement footnotes
• Preparing and reviewing 990s
• Comfort exercising independent judgment on technical accounting questions and knowing when to escalate
• Highly organized. You're meticulous in how you prepare, document, and track your work. You love a close checklist and clear documented procedures for each workstream
• Strong detail orientation. You bring accuracy and care to your work
• Curiosity. You're always trying to understand how a process can be improved and take initiative to do it
• Strong communication. You write and speak legibly and accurately, calibrated to your audience

We also think these preferred characteristics will help you do well in the role at GiveWell:

• Alignment with our values and passion about GiveWell's mission
• Experience in both public accounting (Big 4 or similar) and nonprofit or mission-driven organizations
• Experience mentoring or informally supporting junior staff
• Comfort working cross-functionally with non-finance colleagues and communicating complex accounting concepts clearly to non-accountants

Details

• Compensation:
• NYC or the San Francisco Bay Area: $135,500
• All other US locations: $123,000
• International: Similar to the "all other U.S. locations" salary, based on historical exchange rates and delivered in locally denominated currency.
• Location: GiveWell's staff work primarily remotely within the US and abroad. This position is eligible to work fully remotely.
• Offices: You are welcome but not required to work from our offices in Oakland, California; Brooklyn, NYC; or London, UK. We'll cover relocation expenses for candidates who wish to move to work in-person in NYC or Oakland.
• International work: Although we strongly prefer US-based candidates for this role, we are open to exceptional candidates in Canada or the United Kingdom on a case-by-case basis. A successful candidate will need to commit to a work schedule that has some overlap with American working hours and the schedules of key coworkers.
• 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: If you are already working in the United States on a work visa and wish to remain in the US, we'll do our best to sponsor it. For this role, we can currently only hire team members based in the UK, Canada, or the United States who have prior work authorization. Please note that government entities and policies ultimately dictate our ability to sponsor visas.
• Benefits: A few highlights of our benefits offerings:
• 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 plus an annual summer break
• 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave
• Ergonomic home workstations or coworking space memberships
• 403(b) retirement plan for US team members
• Automatic contribution equal to 5% of your gross salary into your 403(b) retirement plan (for US based staff)
• Travel: GiveWell hosts "Visit Weeks" twice a year in our Oakland, California office and up to two annual departmental retreats. Attending these in-person opportunities will be important to fulfilling the goals of this role. Occasional additional travel may be helpful for conferences or recruiting events
• Start date: We'd like a candidate to start as soon as possible after receiving an offer, but we'll offer flexibility for candidates whose personal or professional circumstances require them to moderately delay their start date
• Application deadline: We don't currently have an application deadline. If that changes, we'll update the posting. We're reviewing applications on a rolling basis, so we recommend applying as soon as possible

Key Questions

We expect you may want to know the answers to the following questions before you apply:

What is the Finance team like at GiveWell?

We approach accounting as more than keeping the books. It's how GiveWell demonstrates the integrity and transparency that our donors and grantees rely on. We are at an exciting and important moment: building out the processes and systems that will allow our finance function to operate with accuracy and efficiency at scale. You