The Centre for Effective Altruism is seeking a Chief Operating Officer

By · Published November 26th, 2014 ·

We are recruiting a Chief Operating Officer to lead our central division, managing a team that supports the recruitment, finance, logistics, HR and fundraising of all our projects. This role is a unique opportunity to shape a rapidly-growing charity into an incubator that can quickly scale up the best ideas emerging from the nascent effective altruism movement. We see this as one of the most challenging roles in the organisation, requiring a high level of competency across most skill areas. The role is located in Oxford, and you would work in our offices which are housed within the University.

The Centre for Effective Altruism is an incubator of projects we believe have potential to create significant positive change in the world at low cost. Our organisation includes two established projects, Giving What We Can and 80,000 Hours, as well as two newer projects we are incubating, the Global Priorities Project and Effective Altruism Outreach. We have also spun two projects out of the Centre for Effective Altruism – Animal Charity Evaluators and The Life You Can Save – which are both now run independently in the US.

In this role you would be involved in the operational aspects of all of CEA’s projects. You will meet and provide invaluable help to a large share of the people and projects in the effective altruist movement today. You will learn about all aspects of CEA’s work, including our expansion into other countries. As a result, it will provide you with the skills and contacts you would need to lead on future projects.

The position would place you on the senior management team of CEA along with the individual project Directors.

Apply to be our Chief Operating Officer. Note: applications have now closed.

Applications close Midnight GMT, Friday 12th December.

You would be managing up to several staff members and a budget in order to accomplish the objectives of the role. As a result, the role is principally about management, strategic planning and being responsible for the smooth running of the organisation, including reporting progress to our Trustees and the rest of the management team.

Specifically, you would be responsible for:

  • Finance – ensuring we have solid accounting and budgeting processes and comply with all regulations, as well as ensuring our reporting both internally and externally is clear and informative
  • Fundraising – ensuring a smooth process is in place for donor relationship management, collaborating with the Executive Directors on their fundraising efforts; reporting on fundraising and incorporating this with our accounting processes
  • HR – including recruitment, head-hunting talented new staff, accommodation, management of visas, payroll, mentorship and training
  • Legal – ensuring we comply with employment, company and non-profit legal requirements; contracting and collaborating with legal experts as necessary
  • Office management, some aspects of events, and other logistics

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Why Apply?

This role combines great potential for impact with significant potential for growth and learning. Making sure our projects are well run, and collaborating on the vision and strategy for the Centre offers tremendous opportunity for having a large scale impact. As one of the key team members of a rapidly growing small organisation, you’ll have a huge amount of responsibility, autonomy and room to grow.

If you work for CEA, you’ll be part of a focused team of intelligent, enthusiastic and driven colleagues who want to change the world, located in offices within the University of Oxford, in the centre of the beautiful city of Oxford, just one hour from London.

Who would this role suit?

We are looking for someone who cares deeply about making the world a better place and using evidence and reason to find the best way to do so. A familiarity with the purpose of our projects and the ethos of Effective Altruism is valuable.

You’ll need a mix of strategic thinking, good judgement of risks and priorities, the ability to manage people, a high level of attention to detail and excellent written and spoken communication skills. You will also need to be comfortable representing the organisation to a variety of external stakeholders.

Some examples of experience that would be particularly useful includes management in for-profit, non-profit and government organisations, entrepreneurship, running student groups/societies and of course having worked on operations for other organisations.

Candidates will be selected on the following traits, and should aim to demonstrate them in their application:

  • Strong analytical skills
  • Social skills and network
  • Robust positive self-motivation
  • Having an effective altruist mindset
    • Altruism
    • Focus on effectiveness
  • Writing and verbal skills
  • Relevant experience and skills.

We would be willing to negotiate a starting salary between £19,000 and £40,000, depending on experience. Salaries are raised by £1,000 each six months conditional on good performance.

Apply to be our Chief Operating Officer. Note: applications have now closed.

See other job openings at the Centre for Effective Altruism.