Senior Nutrition Researcher

Senior Nutrition Researcher GiveWell's mission is to help people in need as much as we can by researching the most cost-effective ways to save and improve lives, sharing our work openly, and directing donations to the programs we believe will do the most good. Our work, which focuses on global health and well-being, is funded by tens of thousands of donors who rely on our research to inform their giving. We've grown from directing $1.5 million in 2010 to directing more than $400 million in 2025. We anticipate our total grantmaking is likely to approach or even exceed $1 billion this year, and we are working toward a future that could be several times that scale. Through years of deliberate groundwork, we've been growing our research capacity and scope in order to direct substantially more funding to the most impactful opportunities we can find.

We are independent. We focus 100% on finding the most cost-effective opportunities to save and improve lives. Our researchers assist in communicating our research findings to the public and our donors, and on occasion we provide tailored advice to ultra-high-net-worth donors who want to rely on our expertise to direct their giving—but we never ask our researchers to trade off against honesty, or to hide their real beliefs. We don't waste time. Once it's clear that a particular research question is unlikely to change our bottom-line funding recommendation, we drop it as quickly as possible. We encourage our research staff to constantly re-evaluate their portfolios and only work on the highest-priority questions. Lean research team = huge personal impact. In 2026, our research team of ~80 people is directing close to 1 billion dollars and we expect grantmaking dollars per research team member to increase in the future. We work well together. Our research team is lean because we're able to attract top-tier people, all of whom complete skills-based assessments before joining our staff. We maintain a high-performing, collegial culture and pay our staff accordingly.

Relevant professional experience could include: research roles (e.g. clinical nutrition research; epidemiological or health economics modeling), program roles (e.g. design and implementation, or monitoring and evaluation); funding roles (e.g. grantmaking or impact investing); or other roles in public sector, private sector or non-profit organizations that save and improve lives by addressing malnutrition. We expect that people with the soft qualities below will be the most successful and happy on our team. This isn't a full list, but hopefully it conveys the gist of our team's professional personality: GiveWell's mission and methods are personally energizing—you like our approach to research and you find personal meaning in our story of impact. You're abnormally curious—you ask lots of questions, and you're willing to interrogate others' work. Your curiosity also extends to your own work—you aren't defensive when your research comes under scrutiny. You routinely think about and surface the value judgments, background knowledge, and strategic commitments that undergird your work. You understand the potential effects of mistaken mental models, so you strive to improve yours and your team's. You dislike it when people express strong confidence in views that don't seem to rely on commensurate evidence. You carefully and legibly communicate about your confidence levels. You appreciate the value of an excellent reputation and strong relationships. You can moderate your directness and intensity when you're communicating with external folks. You love a gnarly problem. You figure out the most important questions to answer, go deep on the details where they matter (and move on where they don't), and reassess your mental models based on what you've learned. You constantly assess whether you and the team are working on the most important things. If you're interested in working on GiveWell's research team but don't have nutrition expertise, consider applying to our generalist Senior Researcher role, or our Researcher role if you have limited post-graduation experience. The Details

NYC or the San Francisco Bay Area: $308,000.All other U.S. locations: $280,000 International: Similar to the "all other U.S. locations" salary, based on historical exchange rates and delivered in locally-denominated currency. We can share a precise figure upon request after the first work trial stage.