Senior Cross-Cutting Researcher

The details

• Compensation: We set salaries using a location-based tier system. Our pay for this role:
• NYC or the San Francisco Bay Area: $308,000.
• All other U.S. locations: $280,000
• International: Similar to the “all other U.S. locations” salary, based on historical

The Cross-Cutting team focuses on methodological questions, research quality, and big-picture problems that don't sit naturally inside any single program area.

• Senior Cross-Cutting Researchers typically have quantitatively oriented advanced degrees and substantial relevant experience using empirical tools to make rigorous, evidence-based decisions in the real world.
• We expect that people with the soft qualities below will be the most successful and happy on our team. This isn’t a full list, but hopefully it conveys the gist of our team’s professional personality:
• GiveWell’s mission and methods are personally energizing—you like our approach to research and you find personal meaning in our story of impact.
• You’re abnormally curious—you ask lots of questions, and you’re willing to interrogate others’ work. Your curiosity also extends to your own work—you aren’t defensive when your research comes under scrutiny.
• You routinely think about and surface the value judgments, background knowledge, and strategic commitments that undergird your work. You understand the potential effects of mistaken mental models, so you strive to improve yours and your team’s.
• You dislike it when people express strong confidence in views that don’t seem to rely on commensurate evidence. You carefully and legibly communicate about your confidence levels.
• You appreciate the value of an excellent reputation and strong relationships. You can moderate your directness and intensity when you’re communicating with external folks.
• You love a gnarly problem. You figure out the most important questions to answer, go deep on the details where they matter (and move on where they don’t), and reassess your mental models based on what you’ve learned.
• You constantly assess whether you and the team are working on the most important things.

The teams and structure

• Our research department has over 60 people, and is currently organized into eight teams, including Cross-Cutting:
• Five of the teams (Water, Livelihoods, Nutrition, Malaria, and Vaccines) focus on specific areas of grantmaking.
• The New Areas team focuses on interventions in domains that are new to GiveWell.
• The Commons team provides generalized research support to each of the other teams, including landscaping research, vetting, and publishing.

The Cross-Cutting team works closely with other grantmaking teams. Projects typically involve partnering with a team to pressure-test or extend their work, or running methodological projects that set standards across the department.

Team values

We think our research team has unique qualities:

• We care deeply and centrally about finding and sharing truth. Truth-seeking is one of our core values. We post our mistakes and we prize our team members who keep our culture of free-flowing feedback strong.
• We are independent. We focus 100% on finding the most cost-effective opportunities to save and improve lives. Our researchers assist in communicating our research findings to the public and our donors, and on occasion we provide tailored advice to ultra-high-net-worth donors who want to rely on our expertise to direct their giving—but we never ask our researchers to trade off against honesty, or to hide their real beliefs.
• We don’t waste time. Once it’s clear that a particular research question is unlikely to change our bottom-line funding recommendation, we drop it as quickly as possible. We encourage our research staff to constantly re-evaluate their portfolios and only work on the highest-priority questions.
• Lean research team = huge personal impact. In 2026, our research team of ~80 people is directing close to 1 billion dollars and we expect grantmaking dollars per research team member to increase in the future.
• We work well together. Our research team is lean because we’re able to attract top-tier people, all of whom complete skills-based assessments before joining our staff. We maintain a high-performing, collegial culture and pay our staff accordingly.

About you

Senior Cross-Cutting Researchers typically have quantitatively oriented advanced degrees and substantial relevant experience using empirical tools to make rigorous, evidence-based decisions in the real world. Practically, our senior research staff typically has 5-10 years of post-grad work experience prior to joining GiveWell. We're happy to consider applicants who do not have advanced degrees, but we'll look for a commensurate amount of relevant experience.

We're hiring Senior Researchers for both our Cross-Cutting team and our grantmaking teams. If you're energized by variety and methodological questions that span multiple program areas, Cross-Cutting may be a better fit. If you're excited to develop deep expertise in a specific program area and eventually own a grantmaking portfolio, our grantmaking-team-specific Senior Researcher roles (e.g., Senior Malaria Researcher or Senior Livelihoods Researcher) may be a better fit.

Not sure? Apply to whichever sounds more appealing—we'll help you figure out the right fit during the process, and we're open to moving candidates between tracks.

The details

• Compensation: We set salaries using a location-based tier system. Our pay for this role:
• NYC or the San Francisco Bay Area: $308,000.
• All other U.S. locations: $280,000
• International: Similar to the “all other U.S. locations” salary, based on historical
• The Cross-Cutting team focuses on methodological questions, research quality, and big-picture problems that don't sit naturally inside any single program area.
• Senior Cross-Cutting Researchers typically have quantitatively oriented advanced degrees and substantial relevant experience using empirical tools to make rigorous, evidence-based decisions in the real world.
• We expect that people with the soft qualities below will be the most successful and happy on our team. This isn’t a full list, but hopefully it conveys the gist of our team’s professional personality:
• GiveWell’s mission and methods are personally energizing—you like our approach to research and you find personal meaning in our story of impact.
• You’re abnormally curious—you ask lots of questions, and you’re willing to interrogate others’ work. Your curiosity also extends to your own work—you aren’t defensive when your research comes under scrutiny.
• You routinely think about and surface the value judgments, background knowledge, and strategic commitments that undergird your work. You understand the potential effects of mistaken mental models, so you strive to improve yours and your team’s.
• You dislike it when people express strong confidence in views that don’t seem to rely on commensurate evidence. You carefully and legibly communicate about your confidence levels.
• You appreciate the value of an excellent reputation and strong relationships. You can moderate your directness and intensity when you’re communicating with external folks.
• You love a gnarly problem. You figure out the most important questions to answer, go deep on the details where they matter (and move on where they don’t), and reassess your mental models based on what you’ve learned.
• You constantly assess whether you and the team are working on the most important things.