Senior Nutrition Researcher

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in California, +1 more state.

📋 Description

• You will be part of a small grantmaking team dedicated to advancing our ambitious research agenda focused on nutrition. Your role will involve analyzing numerous questions we could explore and identifying the most impactful ones.

• You will also engage in external communications regarding your work and provide mentorship and guidance to fellow researchers on the team.

• Your contributions will help shape a research agenda that introduces both rigor and creativity to the challenging questions faced by the GiveWell nutrition team. Your efforts will encompass empirical evidence review, critical synthesis, cost-effectiveness modeling, discussions with subject matter experts, contextual understanding, and your own analytical judgment.

• Address complex research questions within our current portfolios. For instance: how should we adjust our cost-effectiveness estimates to align with actual program performance?

• Design and manage learning grants. You will aid in creating impact evaluations for both new and existing programs, supervising researchers throughout the process—from defining research questions to interpreting results and integrating findings into our models.

• Expand our evidence base in emerging programmatic areas. This involves synthesizing existing research, commissioning new studies, and, in certain instances, funding primary data collection—all aimed at assessing whether a new intervention meets GiveWell's cost-effectiveness criteria and is prepared for significant grantmaking.

• Offer research support to grantmakers. You will ensure that our cost-effectiveness models accurately reflect our best current understanding of the programs we support by rigorously testing assumptions, incorporating new data, and identifying areas where uncertainty is significant enough to require further exploration.

⛳️ Requirements

• An advanced degree with a quantitative focus (e.g., in epidemiology, statistics, economics, public health, nutrition, or related disciplines)

• Significant professional experience relevant to nutrition. We interpret this broadly:

• While the majority of our current work revolves around nutrition programming delivered via the health sector, we are also interested in other sectors (e.g., agriculture/food systems) that directly influence nutrition outcomes.

• Relevant professional experience may encompass: research roles (e.g., clinical nutrition research; epidemiological or health economics modeling), program roles (e.g., design and implementation, or monitoring and evaluation); funding roles (e.g., grantmaking or impact investing); or other roles in public, private, or non-profit organizations that work to save and enhance lives by tackling malnutrition.

🏝️ Benefits

• Comprehensive 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 annually, in addition to a one-week organization-wide summer break

• 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave

• Ergonomic home office setups or memberships to coworking spaces

• Automatic contributions equal to 5% of your gross salary into your 403(b) retirement plan (for U.S.-based staff)