Strategy Fellow – Global Health and Wellbeing, Partnerships

Open Philanthropy is looking for a Strategy Fellow to help shape our growing Partnerships work in Global Health & Wellbeing (GHW). This role offers a unique opportunity to develop and implement initiatives that connect philanthropic resources with evidence-based giving opportunities. You'll work at the intersection of research, program strategy, and donor engagement, helping to design funding vehicles and craft compelling narratives about our work.

About Open Philanthropy 

Open Philanthropy is a philanthropic advisor and funder; our mission is to help others as much as we can with the resources available to us. We stress openness to many possibilities and have chosen our focus areas based on importance, neglectedness, and tractability. Our current giving areas include potential risks from advanced artificial intelligence, global health and development, scientific research, global public health policy, farm animal welfare, and biosecurity and pandemic preparedness. In 2024, we directed $650 million to high-impact causes, and we’ve directed over $4 billion in grants since our formation.

About the GHW Partnerships team

Open Philanthropy spent our first decade laying the groundwork for Good Ventures to scale its giving to meet its founders’ goal of spending down in their lifetimes. With that work on track, and drawing on the infrastructure and expertise we’ve built to deliver impact at scale., in 2024, we accelerated our work to support other donors in earnest, bringing their financial resources to high-impact Global Health and Wellbeing (GHW) causes. This work is central to Open Philanthropy’s strategy and goals for 2025 and beyond. 

The GHW Partnerships team drives that work. We offer bespoke support to philanthropists pursuing giving at scale, working with our program, research, and operations teams to offer a unique experience to donors and prospective donors. In the past year, we have raised over $150M from new partners, launched two major collaborative funds, and are looking to expand further. You will be joining a team at the ground floor of this major strategic shift, helping us to grow and deliver significant impact. 

Day to day, the team works on the key strategic partnerships questions facing Open Philanthropy:

• Which cause areas should we prioritize trying to raise additional funding for?

• Which partnership models should we pursue for each of those cause areas?

• Which partners should we work with to try to achieve impact in those cause areas?

In addressing these questions, we translate and shape our internal research and grantmaking expertise for a wider audience of potential partners.

About the role

As a Strategy Fellow on the GHW Partnerships team, you will play a critical role in developing and implementing initiatives to help direct funding to the high-impact causes we work on. You will work at the intersection of our research and programmatic expertise and donor engagement, creating compelling materials and building relationships to effectively communicate our work and impact. This role will report to Chris Smith, Program Officer on the Global Health & Wellbeing Partnerships team.

Why we’re hiring now: Building new partnerships is one of Open Philanthropy’s core strategic priorities in the coming years. We want to build on our early successes in 2024 and 2025 — such as launching the Lead Exposure Action Fund and the Abundance and Growth Fund — and scale up these efforts. 

In this role, you will:

• Manage strategy and development of complex partnership initiatives, such as creating new collaborative funding vehicles (like our Lead Exposure Action Fund) and designing and implementing new models of engagement with donors.

• Prepare donor-facing materials that accurately reflect our latest research and programmatic strategy, working closely with our program and research teams to ensure alignment.

• Develop and maintain a clear value proposition for donors and prospects, and help communicate this externally.

• Work with leadership to design and implement engagement strategies for donors and prospects.

• Help develop and maintain our internal prioritization of funding opportunities across our cause areas.

• Serve as a relationship manager and/or directly own relationships for a defined set of donors and prospects, ensuring all touchpoints happen on a timely basis.

• Lead on specific donor engagement projects (e.g., research projects, grant investigations, cause assessments), working with program or research teams as appropriate.

Who might be a good fit

You might be a great fit for this work if you:

• Have excellent strategic thinking skills, with the ability to design and develop major new initiatives.

• Have the ability to manage and execute complex projects with many stakeholders.

• Are able to interpret, challenge, and communicate academic evidence, internal research, and grantmaking strategy.

• Can build strong relationships with both internal and external stakeholders.

• Have strong written communication and attention to detail.

• Have good judgment around sensitive interpersonal dynamics and high-stakes decisions.

• Enjoy working both independently and as part of a team.

• Have a strong interest in and understanding of Open Philanthropy's work and approach.

We welcome candidates from a variety of professional backgrounds, including (but not limited to):

• Strategy and management consulting.

• Donor relations, philanthropic advising, or fundraising.

• Research or program roles in philanthropic organizations.

• Investment research.

• Evidence-based or data-driven project management or leadership roles.

A background in or knowledge of one or more of our GHW cause areas would be a plus, as would experience with or familiarity with evidence-based research and grantmaking processes.

We’re hoping to make two Strategy Fellow hires, who may (or may not) be from different backgrounds. As such, this job description is intentionally broad and covers a range of potential outcomes. This reflects our willingness to shape the role around the experience and strengths of successful candidates. Strategy Fellows could lean more toward donor strategy and relationship management, or toward supporting strategic initiatives and program development. 

The ideal candidate for this position will possess many of the skills and experiences described above. However, there is no such thing as a "perfect" candidate. If you are on the fence about applying because you are unsure whether you are qualified, we would strongly encourage you to apply. Above all, we are looking for people motivated to contribute to our mission of helping others as much as we can with the resources available to us.

Process and timeline

Our application process will include:

• An initial application that consists of answering a series of questions along with a short exercise.

• An initial paid work test.

• A second paid work test.

• An initial interview with Chris Smith, who this role will report to.

• A series of final interviews with several Open Philanthropy team members, followed by reference checks.

We expect to make offers by late July, and strongly encourage candidates to let us know if they need to hear back from us sooner at any point during the process.

Please note that due to time constraints, we cannot give feedback during the early stages of the process, including on work tests. Thank you for your understanding.

Role details & benefits

• Compensation: The baseline compensation for this role is $172,388.73, which would be distributed as a base salary of $149,903.24 and an unconditional 401(k) grant of $22,485.49 for U.S. hires. All compensation will be distributed in the form of take-home salary for internationally based hires.

  • These compensation figures assume a remote location; there would be geographic adjustments upwards for candidates based in the San Francisco Bay Area or Washington, D.C.

• Time zones and location: We offer remote work in many countries. We are flexible with work timings and are open to hires outside the U.S. willing to consistently overlap for 5-10 hours per week with Pacific Time (PT) business hours. Our team currently has members based in San Francisco and Belgium. 

  • We are happy to consider sponsoring U.S. work authorization. We strongly encourage candidates outside the U.S. to consider being based in San Francisco if they’re able to do so. However, we don’t control who is and isn’t eligible for a visa and can’t guarantee visa approval.

• Benefits: Our benefits package includes: 

  • Excellent health insurance (we cover 100% of premiums within the U.S. for you and any eligible dependents) and an employer-funded Health Reimbursement Arrangement for certain other personal health expenses.

  • Dental, vision, and life insurance for you and your family.

  • Four weeks of PTO recommended per year. 

  • Four months of fully paid family leave.

  • A generous and flexible expense policy — we encourage staff to expense the ergonomic equipment, software, and other services that they need to stay healthy and productive. 

  • A continual learning policy that encourages staff to spend time on professional development with related expenses covered.  

  • Support for remote work — we’ll cover a remote workspace outside your home if you need one, or connect you with an Open Phil coworking hub in your city.

  • We can’t always provide every benefit we offer U.S. staff to international hires, but we’re working on it (and will usually provide cash equivalents of any benefits we can’t offer in your country). 

• Start date: We’d like a candidate to start as soon as possible after receiving an offer — preferably no later than September, though ideally much sooner. 

We aim to employ people with many different experiences, perspectives,  and backgrounds who share our passion for accomplishing as much good as we can. We are committed to creating an environment where all employees have the opportunity to succeed, and we do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected status.

If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, or have any other questions about applying, please contact jobs@openphilanthropy.org.

Please apply by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on Sunday, 27 April 2025 to be considered.

US-based Partnerships staff are typically employed by Open Philanthropy Project LLC, which is not a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. As such, this role is unlikely to be eligible for public service loan forgiveness programs.