The Effective Institutions Project is looking for up to two (Senior) Research Managers who will have primary responsibility for work relating to one or more of the following workstreams: tech industry and AI governance, the US government, and international peace and security.
About the organisation
The Effective Institutions Project is a philanthropic advisory and research organization that invests in societal leadership to address major global challenges. By connecting funders with institutional reformers and providing each with strategic support and access across our expansive network, their goal is to increase the odds that important institutions take beneficial actions like implementing new policies to help avert future global crises, increasing the effectiveness of global health and anti-poverty programs, and taking steps to increase accountability to all living beings impacted by their decisions.
Since EIP’s inception in 2021, they have educated nearly 200 funders about opportunities and strategies in AI governance, helped improve responsible AI development practices at a major technology company, undertaken research on managing global catastrophic risks at the US National Security Council, and supported donors in our network to award tens of millions of dollars in grants. Their board of directors includes current and former leaders at some of the world’s largest foundations and the director of a network of over 60 think tanks across the Global South. More information about the organization can be found at effectiveinstitutionsproject.org.
Key roles and responsibilities
(Senior) Research Managers at EIP oversee and undertake targeted research projects, engage with high-level stakeholders from philanthropy, business, and government, and offer strategic insights on topics related to their areas of expertise.
In this role, you can expect to:
- Help lead EIP’s philanthropic engagement and field-building on key global challenges. Responsibilities include facilitating conversations to expand EIP’s stakeholder network across key philanthropic audiences, supporting the organization of events, developing learning programs and curricula, and producing memos, op-eds, and other knowledge products to support funders’ sense-making on global challenges. You will also support the CEO in sourcing, reviewing, and analyzing grant opportunities to recommend for funding by the EIP Innovation Fund or our growing network of funding partners.
- Commission and manage research projects by seeking out, engaging, and serving as primary point of contact for well-qualified external collaborators. Example projects include our deep dive into managing global catastrophic risks at the National Security Council, our funder’s guide to AI governance and strategy, and our upcoming methodology paper describing how to estimate the impact of an institution’s decisions on global wellbeing.
- Undertake independent policy analysis including assembling memos and reports, analyzing areas of potential consensus or compromise across different factions in the policy and philanthropic communities, and providing feedback on policy papers produced by partner institutions.
- Help shape EIP’s research vision, strategy and agenda in close collaboration with EIP’s CEO, Chief of Staff, board, and strategic advisors. This includes providing input into the selection of priority focus areas, planning and sequencing research projects, and helping to determine the organization’s positions on critical issues.
- Support EIP’s knowledge management and organizational learning systems by maintaining an airtight process for collecting and synthesizing knowledge from disparate sources, staying up-to-date with research and developments on designated institutions and issue areas, and actively participating in organization-wide learning and sense-making activities.
- Contribute to EIP’s long-term growth by piloting and documenting innovative internal management practices, seeking out and developing relationships with institutional and civil society partners who may be interested in using our research to make an impact, and helping to attract the resources and talent necessary to deliver on the organization’s ambitious goals.
Experience and skills
We expect that this role may be a particularly good fit for candidates with backgrounds in policy, philanthropy, consulting, journalism, or law, but are open to a wide range of profiles.
Our ideal candidate will have most if not all of the following:
- Innate intellectual curiosity and a passionate drive to understand social and organizational systems in all of their complexity.
- A rare ability to weave signals across a vast and diverse knowledge base into coherent narratives and actionable recommendations.
- Strong critical thinking skills and reasoning transparency, and an ability to express insights in clear written prose.
Content expertise in at least one of the following:
- AI policy and governance proposals (e.g., responsible scaling policies, dangerous capability evaluations, etc.)
- Tech industry product lines, investment priorities, business incentives, culture, governance, and regulation.
- US federal government programs, structure, and legislative process (ideally with some emphasis on technology policy, antitrust, foreign policy, and/or national security).
- Great power conflict (e.g., US-China relations, nuclear risk reduction, technology competition, the international peacekeeping system).
- Excellent organizational skills, reliability, and attention to detail.
- Relevant work experience involving the full project management cycle from design to delivery to evaluation.
- A strong ethical compass and motivation to work toward the benefit of others, both today and in the future
The following strengths are not required, but will help a candidate stand out from the pack:
- Past experience working for or with one or more of the top-ranked institutions identified in EIP’s most recent landscape analysis.
- Experience building partnerships with philanthropic funders and/or other civic leaders.
- Experience with event planning and production, and/or public speaking.
- Facility with forecasting, quantitative reasoning, and/or cost-effectiveness analysis.