Director, Global Health and Development Team

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Application Deadline: Thursday, September 10, 2026, at the end of the day (23:59) Anywhere on Earth (UTC-12:00).

About the Position and Team

We are seeking an ambitious leader to serve as Director of the Global Health and Development (GHD) Department at Rethink Priorities (RP).

The GHD department carries out rigorous, transparent research, often commissioned by philanthropic organizations and other impact-oriented actors in the domains of global health, international development, and climate change. Our clients include large funders such as Coefficient Giving and the Gates Foundation, as well as smaller, high-impact nonprofits. Alongside this commissioned work, we pursue an agenda of independent, think-tank style research.

You can read some examples of our past work on our website.

This is a pivotal moment to step into the role. A new wave of philanthropy is emerging: alongside established foundations, a new generation of donors, including many from the AI sector, is expected to direct substantial resources toward global health and development in the coming years. The incoming Director will set the department’s strategy for its next chapter, positioning our research to help inform how this funding is allocated, while continuing to deliver for the funders and clients who already rely on our work.

The role offers considerable latitude to shape the team’s research agenda, client portfolio, and direction of growth.

In their daily work, the Director of Global Health and Development will oversee the team’s research, guiding and coordinating projects, and leading the team’s strategy processes. Because of this, we are looking for a person with high autonomy and research experience who will feel comfortable working collaboratively and overseeing tight deadline projects on a variety of global health and development topics.

The Director will lead the team’s fundraising execution and will be responsible for maintaining relationships with various stakeholders. This may include outreach to potential clients and funders, and promoting the team’s services when relevant.

This position is ideal for someone who is interested in setting the strategic direction of an established research team, overseeing secondary research on a wide range of topics, building relationships with major funders, achieving a positive impact through their work, and leading in a collaborative environment.

We expect the successful candidate to coordinate work across the team members, ensuring quality and timeliness. We also expect them to be comfortable switching between multiple tasks, since the seniority of this role will imply changing hats to work on research, coordination/leadership, fundraising, and strategy/management support as needed. In addition to being highly proficient in interpersonal acumen, we expect the successful candidate to excel at organizational communication, workflow management, adaptability, performance management, and giving and receiving constructive feedback.

This role is fully remote and we are able to legally hire in many countries. In certain cases, we may be able to provide visa sponsorship to the US or UK and help candidates relocate. If you have questions about whether we can hire or provide visa sponsorship in another country and if this will influence your decision about applying, please contact before submitting your application.

While we welcome applicants from all time zones, our current team members are based in various North American and European time zones, and given the collaborative nature of our work, you will be expected to attend some meetings during working hours between UTC-8 and UTC+1. This role is open to part-time (minimum 32 hours per week) and full-time candidates; however, we have a preference for candidates who are able to work full-time (40 hours per week).

Please note that international travel is an essential requirement for this position. A majority of our staff travel a few times per year for conferences, team and all-staff retreats, and other work-related purposes. For this position, as a minimum, attending the annual organization retreat will be necessary.

Outside of that all staff retreat, depending on the event, we can likely make accommodations, such as allowing virtual participation when possible.

We encourage candidates with substantial research and leadership experience to apply even if they are uncertain whether they are an exact match for the Director role.

Ideally, we would like the successful candidate to join our team by January 2027.

Key

Responsibilities

Improve Strategy and Execution of Projects, Programs, Causes and the Department Overall

• Set and optimize strategy at the department level alongside the President of Rethink Priorities and the team’s Senior Research Managers. Includes importantly contributing to strategy across and within program areas, projects, or causes, with particular emphasis on wherever the most value can be added.

• Evaluate, contribute to, and execute the “big picture” strategy for RP.

• Help evaluate, revise, and optimize the implementation of theory of change models.

• Understand RP’s capabilities, culture, comparative advantages, and the operational landscape, to skillfully identify and advise on key impact opportunities and threats.

• Consult with various staff to advise on key projects or programs or deliverables.

• Liaise with communications and fundraising staff in order to help communicate the strategy and plans, including completing the contents of fundraising and grant applications.

• Annually organize and help lead at least one strategy retreat for the department.

Lead Fundraising Execution and Client Relationship Maintenance

• Lead the creation and maintenance of relationships with potential and current funders and clients, with the support of the Development and Communications Team.

• Engage in warm and cold outreach to potential and existing clients and fundraising leads.

• Pitch RP's GHD research services to existing and potential clients via calls, emails, and, when relevant, in person meetings.

Keep Generally Abreast of Developments in Order To Best Contribute to Strategy and Execution, or Important Contributing Research

• Help grow and maintain relationships with other organizations, institutions, and individuals working on projects, or with interests, relevant to the Global Health and Development department, in order to further optimize the organization’s actions.

• Work closely with staff to ensure an accurate picture of current activities and progress.

• Otherwise stay up to date in areas that are of interest to the department.

• Keep organizational leadership up to date on areas of interest in order to optimize RP’s strategy.

Reporting, Management, and Leadership Structure

• Directly report to the President of Rethink Priorities.

• Manage other managers in the GHD department.

• Lead hiring and staffing efforts in the department.

What We Are Looking For

Skills and Competencies

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• Impact Focus:Rethink Priorities’ mission is to support relevant stakeholders to achieve a high positive impact. Our research projects and other initiatives are always carried out with potential for impact as one of the main considerations.

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• Research Rigor: The Director's responsibility will be to oversee secondary research that will be informative and useful for our clients and the broader community. As such, assessing methodological soundness to collate the relevant evidence and being able to assess its quality and the proper summation of its findings will be key.

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• Strategic and Critical Thinking: As an overseer of most of the research projects they participate in, the Director will need to display good strategic and critical thinking, being able to propose the best course of action for a project given constraints (e.g., scope, time, etc.) and pivot as needed given new evidence or external events (e.g., change in client preferences).

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• Reasoning Transparency: We hope that our research reports help key stakeholders improve their decision making in the GHD space. To support this mission, we strive for utmost clarity in our outputs, particularly around the reasoning supporting our conclusions. The successful candidate will be able to document key steps in arguments and identify/summarize important takeaways, while recognizing and highlighting any uncertainties. They will also be careful to include sources of support for any claims.

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• Time/Self-management: On some of our projects, we work with pretty tight deadlines, and the Director is asked to provide support with coordination and strategy tasks in addition to conducting research, so great time management will be paramount.

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• Collaboration/Teamwork: Most of our work is done collaboratively, so the Director will routinely work on projects with teammates. Being able to work and communicate well with others is key for our projects’ success.

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• Written and Verbal Communication: Our primary outputs are written reports, which we share with our clients but also share through broad and targeted dissemination when possible. Good writing skills are important to ensure our research findings come across clearly. Verbal communication is relevant to ensure clarity about the project status and next steps when interacting with the clients, as well as appropriate dissemination of our findings when we share them verbally through webinars or other outlets.

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• Outreach/Networking: Outreach will be a routine part of the role, both to contact experts (whether through a connection or cold contact) for interviews, as well as to reach out to relevant parties for dissemination of our complete reports.

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• Statistical Analysis and Quantitative Modeling: Analyzing research publications will be a key for the Department, so comfort understanding and interpreting results from statistical analysis will be necessary. That being said, we rarely carry out statistical analyses ourselves, so it is not required to have experience implementing complex statistical models.

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• Project Management: As Director, this individual will usually oversee any research project they’re involved in. Because of this, excellent project management skills to ensure proper coordination across teammates and timely completion of the work will be essential.

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• Fundraising and Budgeting: The Director will engage with some donors and/or potential funders and should understand and/or anticipate funding needs, and participate in creating and implementing fundraising strategy, as well as participate in grant application processes and developing grant proposals.

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• Organizational Communication: Communicates team needs to leadership, and organizational priorities to the team; Ensures that information flows within their team, and between the team and the organization.

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• Workflow Management: Plans, distributes, and monitors work assignments; Ensures quality control measures are in place for their team’s work products. Oversees projects at the department-level. Monitors team and individual capacity, and manages potential new work for the team. Manages expectations of internal/external stakeholders according to the capacity of the team (i.e., not over-committing). Considers the role of their team in the organization, and develops goals accordingly.

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• Adaptability: Be open to change and new information and/or perspectives and, when appropriate, adjusts behavior or work methods in response. Understands when to seek expertise from others. When necessary, shifts goals to align with organizational priorities.

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• Performance Management: Supports the performance of their direct reports. Provides timely, fair, and well-documented feedback and evaluations of their staff, such that performance evaluation meetings rarely contain surprises. Consistently tracks and reports high level performance, project, and HR matters to leadership, as appropriate. Takes necessary steps to address performance issues, and recognizes exceptional performance; communicates expectations/performance standards to direct reports.

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• Culture: Actively builds and contributes to RP's organizational culture; participates in and/or promotes culture-building activities to their direct reports and other team members. Fosters inclusivity within their team and the organization. At more senior levels, encourages cross-organizational initiatives.

We expect that even highly qualified applicants will not meet all these criteria. We encourage you to apply even if you don't have some of these skills, knowledge & experiences.

What We Offer

Compensation

• We offer an annual salary of $154,000 USD pre-tax for a full-time position, prorated for part-time work.

• The exact salary will be based on the candidate's prior relevant experience and calculated using RP’s salary algorithm.

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Compensation is not restricted to the currencies listed above. Payments may be made in different currencies and payment intervals depending on the location of applicants and legal requirements.

• To ensure fairness across the entire organization, RP does not negotiate salaries.

Other

Benefits

• Opportunity to contribute to a fast-growing, high-impact organization — our research is used by key decision makers who influence the distribution of hundreds of millions of charitable dollars.

• Remote-first environment, including flexible work hours and schedule

• Comprehensive global benefits program, including statutory benefits as required by local law, and supplemental benefits specific to each country (varies by location)

• Generous paid time off (PTO) and unpaid leave, including:

• Unlimited vacation with a minimum number of required statutory days off

• "Mandated" 3 weeks total mid- and end-year organization-wide breaks

• Unlimited (within reason) personal and sick paid and unpaid leave

• Parental leave — at least 4 - 9 months of a combination of paid and unpaid leave, available prior to and/or during the first 2 years after a child's birth or adoption

• Other paid and unpaid leave (e.g., bereavement)

• Technology stipend of $2,000 USD equivalent every 3 years for work and office equipment

• AI tools budget of $40 USD equivalent monthly

• Professional Development Budget of $4000 USD per year

• Learning opportunities, including workshops/training sessions and 10% of work time dedicated to professional and personal development

• Paid work trips, including one annual all-staff Mega Team Retreat and relevant conferences

• Virtual co-working spaces, including a private Rethink Priorities Focusmate group

• RP Peer Support Program for New Employees

• Other benefits at the discretion of RP Leadership

• A caring team that values respectful work relations and a healthy work-life balance.

• Opportunities to grow/advance your career and engage in professional development.

• Low administrative bureaucracy.

• We don’t provide snacks, but we could mail you a box of Oreos if you want!

Additional Information

Role-Specific

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• Work Environment and Visa Sponsorship: This role is fully remote and we are able to legally hire in many countries. In certain cases, we may be able to provide visa sponsorship to the US or UK and help candidates relocate. If you have questions about whether we can hire or provide visa sponsorship in another country and if this will influence your decision about applying, please contact before submitting your application.

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• Time Zones and Working Hours: While we welcome applicants from all time zones, you may be expected to attend meetings during working hours between UTC-8 and UTC+1 time zones, where most of our staff are based. Depending on your personal timezone, this might mean early morning or evening calls; however, you would not be required to attend calls outside of waking hours.

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• Full and Part Time Position: Full-time preferred, with openness to part-time (at least 32 hours/week).

• Travel: Please note that international travel is an essential requirement for this position. We ask that you only apply if you are able to meet the travel requirements for this position.

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• Language: Professional level of English language is required for all roles at Rethink Priorities.

Hiring Process-Specific

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• Extension requests: We will try to accommodate extension requests that are made before the deadline and are up to three (3) days. We generally cannot accommodate extension requests made after the application deadline, or are longer than 3 days, and cannot accept late submissions to ensure fairness to other applicants.

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• Application materials: All application materials must be submitted in English language; otherwise, we will not be able to evaluate your candidacy.

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• Inclusivity and fairness: RP is committed to building an inclusive, equitable, and supportive community for you to thrive and do your best work. Please don’t hesitate to apply for a role regardless of your age, gender identity/expression, political identity, personal preferences, physical abilities, veteran status, neurodiversity or any other background. We provide reasonable accommodations and benefits, including, for example, flexible work schedules and locations, mental health coverage through medical benefits (as available), as well as technology budgets and professional development time that can be used, for example, to purchase assistive technology or engage in job coaching.

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• Accessibility: We’re committed to running an inclusive and accessible hiring process. We warmly invite you to reach out to with any questions or accessibility requests such as chat box use during interviews.

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• Hiring Software: We use Pinpoint for our recruitment and hiring processes and all of the email correspondence is done via Pinpoint. We encourage you to add Pinpoint domain (@pinpoint.email) to your trusted contacts and/or check your 'spam', 'promotions' and ‘updates’ folders, if you don’t hear from us within the expected timeframe.

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• Consideration for other roles: We sometimes identify strong candidates in one hiring round whose skills are well matched to other senior roles within the department. If you are not selected for this position, we may contact you to ask whether you would like to be considered for a related senior opening, should one arise. You do not need to indicate interest at the application stage.

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• Past applicant policy: We may be able to accelerate your job application if you have applied to the same or similar role within RP or a similar institution and advanced within the last 3 years. Please get in touch stating which role you applied to, when, and to which stage you were advanced at which organisation if you would like to be considered for this possibility.

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• Other: Visit our Career webpage if you’d like to know more about our hiring process, culture, and what working at RP is like.

Note Before Applying: Please do not include a cover letter, photograph, or headshot of yourself, or any personal information that is not relevant to the role for which you’re applying (including marital status, age, identity traits, etc.). Additionally, please do not ask our staff members involved in the hiring process to meet with you – to ensure fairness, we try to minimize these interactions, and requests for meetings with the hiring committee members during the process will be declined.

Contact: Please email if you have any questions.

About Rethink Priorities

Founded in 2018, Rethink Priorities (RP) is a think-and-do tank. Through research and action, the organization improves the lives of humans and animals—both now and in the future.

We work to identify solutions, mobilize resources, and empower our team and others to address some of the world’s most pressing problems. Our team conducts rigorous research across animal welfare, climate change, global health, international development, and other important and neglected areas. Our operations experts help high-impact organizations to improve efficiency and achieve meaningful results.

RP works as all of the following:

• A consultancy doing commissioned work in response to demands from organizations doing high-impact work

• A research institute driven by research agendas we set according to our own priorities.

• A think tank aiming to inform public policy to improve the world.

• An accelerator, incubator, and base for priority projects.

Accomplishments include:

• Bringing attention to neglected issues, such as lead exposure, fungal diseases, and shrimp welfare.

• Increasing the collective impact of advocates across each field in which we work through strategic coordination.

• Investigating potential interventions and identifying the most cost-effective options. In 2025, our research influenced tens of millions of dollars in foundation grants.

• Creating practical tools for philanthropists to compare resource allocations across different species and cause areas and to build giving portfolios despite uncertainties.

• Providing organizations with data to inform their decisions. For example, we have conducted surveys on perceptions of existential risks, AI, effective giving, and other topics.

• Providing fiscal sponsorship and operational support to ensure that high-impact initiatives in areas like AI safety and animal welfare can launch and grow effectively.

• Donor Compass - Cross Cause Fund Tool to guide philanthropic giving

We welcome you to review our research database and our latest annual report.

Originally posted on Himalayas