Head of Project Management (Remote)

GiveWell is a research organization that identifies and funds cost-effective giving opportunities, focusing on global health and well-being. Our research team is seeking Project Managers 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.

Project management of research and grantmaking plans. Project Managers are project management experts who manage the execution of research and grantmaking workflows.Project Managers make sure that a high volume of complex projects stay on track, our systems and tools are maintained and improved, and timelines are met. 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.

Project Managers must clearly and effectively communicate with project contributors, internal teams, and external stakeholders about the projects they are managing. Project Managers facilitate smooth information flow and collaboration, including ensuring all parties have the information needed to do their jobs well. Writing and sending messages to grantees and other external contacts to request information, explain our process, or request feedback.

Communicating the status of research projects to internal teams and ensuring smooth handoffs on fundraising and funding logistics.

Project Managersare 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. 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.

Project Managers 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. Creatively helping teams plan and execute on their top priorities, and assisting in re-prioritizing when needed.

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. 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 consider the big picture, asking questions like: is this project appropriately formulated and the best use of my time? You are comfortable working in a document-heavy culture, where careful writing, clear documentation, and well-maintained systems enable effective collaboration.

You are passionate about helping improve global health and alleviate global poverty as much as possible.

This Project Manager role is primarily focused on project management and operational excellence. You view project management as a stepping stone. This is a project management role, not a pathway into research or other functions at GiveWell. We're looking for people who are genuinely energized by excellent project management and operational support and would like to grow within this function.

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. Project Managers 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 Project Managers 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.

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. S. salary into local currency using historical USD exchange rates.

GiveWell’s staff work primarily remotely within the U.International applicants : For this role, we can currently only hire team members based in the UK, Canada, or the United States who have prior work authorization. We cannot support visas for this role at this time.

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.

Fully funded health, dental, vision, and life insurance (we cover 100% of premiums within the US for you and any dependents)

Automatic contribution equal to 5% of your gross salary into your 403(b) retirement plan (for U.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. 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.

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.

They also reduce bias in our hiring process — we’re better able to hire candidates with nontraditional backgrounds who nonetheless excel in our trials.

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 do not plan to review other materials, like cover letters or letters of recommendation, so we encourage you not to submit these.

You'll complete a capacity-planning exercise similar to the work Project Managerss do when helping teams organize projects and timelines. 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.

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.

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.

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 . The position itself remains unchanged — we updated the title to "Project Manager" to better reflect the nature of the work.

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. 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 . 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 .

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. 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.

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 View email address on click.appcast.io 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 .