Director Of Partnerships

Open Philanthropy is looking for a leader who will start and oversee our new partnerships function. We are currently in the process of launching our first multi-donor fund, which has so far raised over $60 million from external donors. We’re looking for an experienced leader who can help us deliver an outstanding experience for those donors and continue to invest in our network of potential partners. Beyond that, we expect the Director of Partnerships to push our work further: we want to eventually closely advise multiple other major donors and help move hundreds of millions of additional dollars annually to high-impact causes. 

The Director of Partnerships will work closely with Alexander Berger, our CEO (to whom this role reports), and Cari Tuna, our President, to develop an ongoing model for this work and build and maintain key relationships with potential long-term partners, while more immediately diversifying support for some of our causes. 

About Open Philanthropy

Open Philanthropy is a philanthropic funder and advisor; our mission is to help others as much as we can with the resources available to us. We believe choosing causes is the most important decision a philanthropist can make, so we think hard about where our funding can help others the most. To maximize impact, we prioritize causes based on importance, neglectedness, and tractability. 

Our main funders, Cari and Dustin, committed just under $800 million to high-impact causes in 2023, and have committed over $3 billion in grants since Open Philanthropy’s formation. Our current programs include potential risks from advanced artificial intelligence, scientific research, South Asian air quality, farm animal welfare, and biosecurity and pandemic preparedness. We've additionally raised over $60 million from external donors for our first collaborative fund.

We’re not looking to build an endowment; our goal is to help philanthropic partners identify and invest in high-impact causes and organizations. We are incredibly excited about this role and its potential impact; if you feel you would be a good fit, we’d love to hear from you.

About the Role

You will: 

• Develop our partnerships strategy and build a team to execute it. You will work with Alexander to develop and execute a strategy for the new partnerships function, and then build a talented team around you to support this work.
• Deliver an outstanding experience for existing partners. In addition to advising Alexander and Cari on managing individual relationships, you will be responsible for overseeing overall stewardship and delivering an outstanding experience for our partners. This includes developing a strategy, structure, and cadence for regular reporting on our grantmaking to communicate to donors the impact of their funding, and working with program staff to translate grant updates into communications for donors.
• Identify and support leadership in developing key relationships. You will have a perspective on new potential partners Open Philanthropy should engage with and will help initiate those connections, including sometimes through your own network, and help represent Open Phil in spaces where we could meet them. You’ll also coach Alexander and Cari and help them deepen their networks, including drafting emails and preparing briefing documents for them ahead of events with potential partners.
• Work toward diversifying support for some of our causes. You will advise and support program officers to aid in developing diverse sources of support for their cause areas and identifying co-funders for individual grants or grantees. You will work with program officers to understand their portfolios, their impact, and the potential partners in their spaces, to convert their impact into compelling materials for donors, and to create engagement plans to reach those donors in a meaningful way.
• Own cross-cutting work to deliver on the goals above. You will own designing and setting up systems that are necessary for us to deliver on this work, for instance working with an external firm or in-house staff to create a robust CRM to track interactions and deliver a high level of service for potential partners.

Who might be a good fit

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

• Are excited to build our partnerships strategy from the ground up. You ideally bring extensive experience in building philanthropic partnerships from scratch, and you’re excited to be starting with a blank page.
• Bring experience working with ultra-high-net-worth individuals. You understand how to foster and maintain positive relationships and demonstrate a high-EQ, low-ego mentality which serves Open Phil’s mission.
• Are interested in both high-level strategy and detailed execution. You are excited to work on high-level strategic questions and to roll up your sleeves to get into the weeds (e.g., by drafting emails in Cari or Alexander’s voice).
• Can communicate complex research in accessible terms. You are sufficiently comfortable with scientific principles and quantitative reasoning to translate technical content for our partners (with support from other staff — you don’t need to be an expert on any of our focus areas yourself).
• Bring exceptional interpersonal skills. You excel in working with a diverse range of people, including philanthropic partners and team members across our program areas.
• Are comfortable working across Open Philanthropy’s portfolio. You have some interest in and comfort with all of our grantmaking, including both our Global Health and Wellbeing and our Global Catastrophic Risks portfolios. In particular, we would expect this position to work across at least global health and AI safety. You understand how effective altruism concepts relate to our portfolios.
• Bring experience in building your team. We’re bringing the leader in before the team; we expect you to build a team around you that best serves the work.

Other relevant experience might include leadership roles in partnerships or fundraising. This may be in a wide range of settings, including universities, hospitals, nonprofits, philanthropic organizations, or elsewhere, such as securing funding for startups.  

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.

Role details & benefits

• Compensation: The baseline compensation for this role is $301,031.38, which would be distributed as a base salary of $278,031.38 and an unconditional 401(k) grant of $23,000.00. 

  • 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: You can work remotely. We are open to hires based anywhere within the US, with a preference for candidates in the Bay Area. This role may require travel, and candidates should be prepared to do so one or occasionally two times per month. 

  • We are happy to consider sponsoring U.S. work authorization. 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 US 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
  • 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 US 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)

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.

The deadline for this application is July 15, 2024 at 11:59pm Pacific Time.