Job description
Open Philanthropy is hiring an Editor to help us share our work with the world.
We’re looking for a skilled writer and editor who’s excited about our mission and eager to help us tell our story across different platforms. The successful candidate will play a key role on our growing communications team — helping us create, refine, and distribute thoughtful, accurate content across our website, blog, newsletter, and social media channels.
We believe communications can significantly enhance our impact — by sharing important ideas and research, reaching potential collaborators and stakeholders, and helping shape public discourse in our focus areas.
About Open Philanthropy
Open Philanthropy is a philanthropic funder and advisor. Our mission is to help others as much as we can with the resources available to us. We stress openness to many possibilities and have chosen our focus areas based on importance, neglectedness, and tractability.
Our current giving areas include potential risks from advanced artificial intelligence, scientific research, global public health policy, farm animal welfare, and biosecurity and pandemic preparedness. In 2024, we recommended $650 million to high-impact causes, and we’ve recommended over $4 billion in grants since our formation.
About the role
This is a generalist editorial role, involving both writing and editing across owned content and social media. This person will work closely with the rest of our small (but growing) communications team to increase the volume, quality, and reach of our public-facing work.
Responsibilities may include:
Drafting, editing, and publishing updates to our website and blog. This may include grantee spotlights, strategy updates, our external newsletter, and other formats that help engage wider audiences in complex topics relating to areas like AI safety, global health and development, scientific research, and biosecurity.
Supporting our social media presence across platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram — including content for Open Phil’s institutional accounts as well as for key staff. This would ideally include producing charts, graphs, and other visual content, either alone or by working with external designers.
Collaborating with other team members and program staff to develop, shape, and publish content that reflects our values and voice. This could include content for donors, the public, and internal teams, including website content, presentations, newsletters, internal guidance/resources, and more.
Supporting other communications initiatives as needed, e.g. publishing grant pages, assisting with media research, supporting website development, responding to external inquiries, or helping improve internal communications.
The exact scope of the role will likely evolve over time based on organizational needs and the strengths and interests of the person hired.
Who we’re looking for
We’re looking for someone who can combine editorial judgment with flexibility and a collaborative mindset. On a given day, you might pivot from fact-checking a cause investigation to tweeting about new research published by a grantee organization or helping to launch a request for proposals.
You might be a good fit if you:
Are a strong, versatile writer and editor.
You are able to absorb complex information and reframe the tone and content clearly for different audiences.
You are an attentive and thoughtful editor who can help shape early drafts and refine final copy.
You have strong editorial judgment. You can tell when something’s off — whether it’s the tone of a tweet or a claim that needs a better source.
You can quickly adapt to Open Philanthropy’s unique organizational voice — while we want to make a positive case for our work, we care much more about rigor, accuracy, and reasoning transparency than making ourselves “look good”.
Are interested in learning about complex and technical topics — such as AI safety, global health, or pandemic preparedness — and explaining them to general audiences with care and nuance. You don’t need to be an expert in any of our focus areas, but past experience in our focus areas is useful. It’s especially helpful if you are familiar with some of the frameworks we use to think about our work, such as worldview diversification and cause prioritization.
Have experience writing for social media and enjoy trying to figure out what will resonate with different audiences.
Bring a service mindset to cross-functional work: you’re responsive, thoughtful about others’ needs, and excited about helping colleagues shape and share their ideas.
Are organized and self-directed. This role will require juggling a range of content types and deadlines, often with input from multiple stakeholders.
We don’t have a fixed experience requirement, but we’re imagining someone with 2–5 years of professional experience in writing, editing, journalism, digital communications, or similar roles. We’re especially interested in candidates with experience working on social media for a public-facing organization. Design, video or data visualization skills are a bonus, but not required.
We’re open to hiring at a more senior level for candidates with exceptional experience.
The ideal candidate for this position will possess many of the skills and experiences described above. However, there is no such thing as a “perfect” candidate. We are looking for people motivated to contribute to our mission of helping others as much as we can with the resources available to us. Whatever communications background you bring, please apply if this role would make you excited to come to work every day.
Role details & benefits
Compensation: Compensation for this role will be $116,977.12. This would be distributed as a base salary of $101,719.24 and an unconditional 401(k) grant of $15,257.89.
- These compensation figures assume a remote location; there would be geographic adjustments upwards for candidates based in the San Francisco Bay Area or Washington, D.C., where our primary office hubs are.
Time zones and location: You can work remotely. We have a preference for candidates who are able to work from New York City (where half our Communications team is based, including the Director of Communications), Washington D.C., San Francisco, or another major media hub (including outside the U.S., provided you are able to consistently work at least 5 hours overlapping with Eastern Time business hours per workday).
- While we are not able to sponsor visas for this role, we are open to hires outside the U.S.
Benefits: Our benefits package includes:
Excellent health insurance (we cover 100% of premiums within the U.S. for you and any eligible dependents) and an employer-funded Health Reimbursement Arrangement for certain other personal health expenses.
Dental, vision, and life insurance for you and your family.
Four weeks of PTO recommended per year.
Four months of fully paid family leave.
A generous and flexible expense policy — we encourage staff to expense the ergonomic equipment, software, and other services that they need to stay healthy and productive.
A continual learning policy that encourages staff to spend time on professional development with related expenses covered.
Support for remote work — we’ll cover a remote workspace outside your home if you need one, or connect you with an Open Philanthropy coworking hub in your city.
We can’t always provide every benefit we offer U.S. staff to international hires, but we’re working on it (and will usually provide cash equivalents of any benefits we can’t offer in your country).
Start date: We’d ideally like a candidate to start within a few weeks of receiving an offer. We expect to make offers by late October.
We aim to employ people with many different experiences, perspectives and backgrounds who share our passion for accomplishing as much good as we can. We are committed to creating an environment where all employees have the opportunity to succeed, and we do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected status.
If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, or have any other questions about applying, please contact [email protected].
Please apply by 11:59 pm Pacific Time on Wednesday, 27 August to be considered.
U.S.-based Operations staff are typically employed by Open Philanthropy Project LLC, which is not a 501©(3) tax-exempt organization. As such, this role is unlikely to be eligible for public service loan forgiveness programs.
AI/ML notice: Open Philanthropy may use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies, including natural language processing and predictive analytics, to assist in the initial screening of employment applications. These AI/ML tools assess applications against characteristics and qualifications relevant to the job requisition. These tools are designed to help identify potentially qualified candidates, but they do not make automated hiring decisions. The AI/ML-generated assessments are one of several factors considered in the hiring process. Our human recruiting team will thoroughly evaluate your skills and qualifications to determine your suitability for the role.
If you prefer not to have your application assessed using AI/ML features, you may opt out by reaching out to [email protected] and letting us know. Opting out will not negatively impact your application, which will be reviewed manually by our team.