Senior Education Grantmaker

Founders Pledge; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 108,000 - 132,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Diverse team environment

Opportunity for growth

Flat organizational structure

Job summary

A philanthropic organization is seeking a Senior Education Grantmaker for its Research team in New York. The role involves leading investigations into education interventions, evaluating funding margins, and making high-stakes grant recommendations to effectively allocate significant funding. The ideal candidate should possess domain expertise in education and demonstrate strong analytical and writing skills. This position offers a competitive salary of up to $120k based on experience and location, with additional benefits and a commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Qualifications

• Ideally with up-to-date knowledge of cost‑effective education interventions in LMICs.
• Comfort with quantitative reasoning and modelling.
• Strong ownership and independence.

Responsibilities

• Lead rigorous investigations into education and human capital interventions.
• Produce clear, decision‑relevant research outputs.
• Identify and assess novel education interventions.

Skills

Relevant domain expertise in education

Excellent analytical ability

Clear, concise writing

Open‑ended research skills

Strong judgement and prioritisation

Job description

About the Role

Applications are open until January 8, 2026.

We’re looking for a Senior Education Grantmaker to work on our Research team, which identifies and evaluates high-impact funding opportunities (HIFOs) to enable our broader member base to give as effectively as possible. Our member base consists of high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) who use our HIFO recommendations to guide their giving.

This is an unusually impactful role: our team has moved more than $80 million to highly cost-effective opportunities in education, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, over the past four years. As our first education specialist, you’ll have the responsibility for allocating similar amounts of money going forward.

Reporting to our Global Health and Development Lead, Katrina Sill, you’ll research new potential interventions within education and investigate potential funding opportunities.

What You’ll Do

Grantmaking & Research

Lead rigorous investigations into education and human capital interventions, with a strong focus on LMICs.

Evaluate specific funding margins and organisations against Founders Pledge’s bar for recommendation.

Produce clear, decision‑relevant research outputs to inform member giving.

Make monthly, high‑stakes grant recommendations, often involving significant uncertainty and trade‑offs.

Expanding the Frontier

Identify and assess novel or underexplored education interventions.

Support the launch of new approaches through active, early‑stage grantmaking.

Fund both proven, cost‑effective programs and high‑risk, high‑reward “big bets”, including research.

Methodology & Thought Leadership

Act as the internal owner of education and human capital methodology.

Define how education outcomes are measured, valued, and compared.

Maintain a strong evidence base while exercising judgement under uncertainty.

Stakeholder Engagement

Work closely with internal colleagues and external partners to move opportunities to funding.

Engage with UHNW donors as the subject‑matter expert—answering detailed questions about evidence, assumptions, and trade‑offs.

What We’re Looking For

• Relevant domain expertise in education, development economics, cognitive science, or monitoring & evaluation.
• Ideally with up-to-date knowledge of cost‑effective education interventions in LMICs.
• Excellent analytical ability, including comfort with quantitative reasoning and modelling.
• Clear, concise writing, able to communicate complex evidence and uncertainty effectively.
• Open‑ended research skills, including identifying promising interventions, literature, and expert inputs.
• Good calibration, with a strong sense of what you know, what you don’t, and how confident to be.
• Intellectual curiosity and openness, including willingness to change your mind when evidence demands it.
• Strong judgement and prioritisation, especially under time pressure.
• High ownership and independence, with the confidence to lead your own research agenda.
• Collaborative working style, with openness to feedback and direct communication.
• Comfort operating in a high‑growth, mission‑driven organisation with ambiguity.

Location, Travel, and Salary

Location: UK, USA (ideally East Coast), or Germany.

Salary: Up to £90k/$120k/€100k, depending on location and experience.

Travel: Occasional travel for team and global off‑sites (typically twice per year).

Why Work With Us?

You can find more about the benefits we offer here, but what makes us truly special is both our mission and our people.

We’re a diverse team, from both charitable and commercial backgrounds, who believe that amazing things can happen when we tackle problems together.

We offer a flat structure and an opportunity to help shape the future of philanthropy.

Equal Opportunity Employer

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at Founders Pledge. We seek people with different strengths, experiences, and backgrounds, who share our drive to understand and solve complex social challenges.

We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. Finding solutions to the world’s most pressing problems requires different perspectives and unique ways of thinking, and we are committed to building an inclusive and diverse workplace where everyone can do their best work.

If you’re excited about our mission but don’t meet every requirement, we still encourage you to apply.