Expression of interest: popular writing consultant
Members of the 80,000 Hours team in our office in London.
80,000 Hours is considering contracting a popular writing consultant.
- As a popular writing consultant, you’d give us advice and feedback on our writing to make it more compelling, and thereby expand our reach.
- We’re looking for someone with an exceptionally strong track record of producing or editing widely read popular writing.
- We expect to generate 5–10 hours of work per month, with a minimum compensation of around £80 per hour.
Note: This announcement is an expression of interest, rather than a formal hiring round. We’re not sure what the field of candidates is like, and want to get a sense of that before deciding whether to do a hiring round.
Because of this, we have a high bar for considering enquiries, and typically won’t be able to respond to everyone who reaches out.
If you don’t hear back from us, please don’t take it as a rejection! You should feel very welcome to respond to future ads for 80,000 Hours positions (which we’ll list here and on our job board).
Why 80,000 Hours?
80,000 Hours’ mission is to get talented people working on the world’s most pressing problems. The effective altruism community, of which we are a part, is growing in reach and now includes funding bodies with over $40 billion to allocate in total. But how do we turn all those resources into long-term impact? This is the problem 80,000 Hours is trying to solve.
We’ve had over 8 million visitors to our website (with over 100,000 hours of reading time per year), and more than 3,000 people have now told us that they’ve significantly changed their career plans due to our work. 80,000 Hours is also the largest single source of people getting involved in the effective altruism community, according to the most recent EA Survey.
The role
We’re looking for a contractor to give our research and writing team regular advice and feedback on their blog posts, articles, and newsletters — helping them produce pieces that are as compelling and engaging as possible. This would mean giving advice about the structure and content of new pieces, and editing drafts to make them punchier and more grabbing.
Some examples of the types of pieces you’d help work on:
- Research articles — e.g. How replaceable are the top candidates in large hiring rounds? Why the answer flips depending on the distribution of applicant ability
- Career reviews — e.g. for being a software engineer
- Problem profiles — e.g. for extreme risks from climate change
Who we’re looking for
We’d be most excited to hear from people with:
- Demonstrable experience with writing or editing popular writing. For example, popular authors, journalists, or editors.
- Strong knowledge of and commitment to the ideals, philosophical arguments, and values of effective altruism.
The details
The details of this role are very flexible. As a default:
- The hourly rate will vary based on your skills and experience, but to give a rough sense, we’ll offer a minimum hourly rate of £80.
- We anticipate generating 5–10 hours of work per month, at least at first.
Interested? Get in touch.
If you’re a writer or editor with a track record and an interest in 80,000 Hours’ mission, please submit the following materials:
- A brief explanation (under 2,000 characters) of your interest in 80,000 Hours’ mission.
- Four writing samples written for a broad audience.
While there’s no hard deadline for getting in touch, we encourage you to submit your materials before the end of March. We’ll reach out to discuss a potential role if we think you’re a particularly great fit.
