Open Philanthropy is looking for Program Officers to lead our work on global health research and development (R&D).

Historically, health technologies like vaccines and drugs have saved millions of lives and improved people’s health around the world. However, diseases primarily affecting the world’s poorest people receive much less R&D spending relative to health burden than diseases affecting wealthier people. This discrepancy has left many interesting and challenging technical problems unsolved, which have enormous stakes. 

We believe that preventable deaths and ill health caused by neglected diseases will persist for decades without further investment, and that funding such global health R&D is competitive with the best opportunities available to Open Philanthropy.

Open Philanthropy’s scientific research grantmaking began in 2016; in recent years, roughly half of that program’s budget ($25M/year of $50M/year) has been spent in areas that we would classify as global health R&D. Based on our early evaluation of that portfolio’s performance to date, and the remaining opportunities for impact in global health R&D, we have decided to increase our spending in the area to at least $100M/year.

We plan to build a global health R&D team over time and eventually hire more grantmaking staff. Right now, we are hoping to hire an excellent person or several excellent people to lay the foundation for that team.

How to apply

You can find the application link here, alongside more details on the position — including the skills and experience we're looking for, salary, and benefits. The job can be done remotely.

Please apply by 11:59 PM PST on Saturday, September 10th, 2022 to be considered. We will evaluate all applicants as a cohort after that date.

Any questions?

If you have questions about this role, or our thoughts on global health R&D, ask them here or contact me at jacob@openphilanthropy.org. I'm traveling right now, so may be sporadic in answering, but I'm excited about this role and hope you'll consider applying if it sounds fun to you!