Head of Grantmaking Operations

We're hiring a Head of Grantmaking Operations to build and lead the operational backbone of CEA's rapidly growing grantmaking. This is a senior management role reporting to the Chief Operating Officer: you'll lead the Grants Operations Team, serve as our in-house authority on US charitable grantmaking, and build the systems that allow our grantmaking to keep scaling, working closely with our grantmakers and Finance team.

About CEA

The Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) is a US public charity with a mission to steward the movement of people putting the principles of effective altruism into practice to solve the world's most pressing problems. We're working to build a flourishing future by applying evidence, reason, and compassion to challenges like global poverty, animal suffering, and existential risks.

Our work centers on growing and supporting a global community of people who rigorously analyze where they can do the most good and take action on those insights. Current strategic priorities include increasing understanding of effective altruism and its principles, growing the number of people who are motivated by EA principles to take significant action to address pressing problems, and diversifying funding sources for high-impact work.

We had significant success in 2025 building momentum within CEA. Our headcount grew from 42 to 66 core staff. Program participation (such as our events, courses and groups) grew by 20-25% year over year. We also took stewardship of EA Funds, a set of four thematic funds that direct pooled donations to exceptionally impactful projects, and are rapidly scaling up our capacity for grantmaking and associated fundraising.

In 2026, we're maintaining ambitious momentum while building the foundations for a step-change in the wider EA ecosystem's growth trajectory from 2027 onwards. We're in the midst of the best fundraising year in CEA's history and are looking for the right talent to help us take advantage of the opportunities in front of us.

About the Grants Team

Our Grants Operations Team makes it possible for CEA's Program Officers and Heads of Funds, experts in animal welfare, AI safety, global health and wellbeing, and the EA community, to move money to the people and organizations who can do the most good with it. We handle the operations behind our grantmaking: diligence, compliance, payments, monitoring, and the systems that hold it all together, across a growing set of funds. As our grantmaking and fundraising scale, we're building the team and infrastructure to match.

About the role

CEA is at an inflection point. Our grantmaking and associated fundraising are scaling rapidly: the EA Animal Welfare Fund has raised more than $40M in the first half of 2026 alone (more than the three previous years combined) and we expect our other funds to have similar potential. We anticipate deploying more than $150M from across our funds over the coming years.

As we grow, we're looking for an experienced grants operations leader to ensure that many millions of dollars move correctly, compliantly, and fast toward the work that improves lives today and safeguards our future.

This is a senior management role reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, and a high-leverage one at the center of CEA's fastest-growing area. You'll own our grantmaking operations, serve as our in-house authority on US charitable grantmaking, build the systems and team that let it keep scaling, and hold sign-off on how the grants function is designed. Some of the most interesting work will be the grants that don't fit a standard template: high-risk, high-impact, and dependent on someone finding the compliant path that makes them possible.

This is a US-based role. Our grantmaking runs through our US entity, meaning you'll need to be a US resident who can act on behalf of the organization, for example opening financial accounts and serving as a representative where a US-based person is required.

Key responsibilities

Grantmaking operations and strategy

• Own accountability for the full grant lifecycle across our funds: intake, diligence, structuring, approval, payment, monitoring, reporting, and closeout, setting the standards, controls and risk posture that govern it

• Partner proactively with Program Officers and Heads of Funds to align on what each fund is optimizing for, and design workflows, risk ownership, and decision rights around those goals

• Ensure complex grants are shaped well from the start, not flagged once they're already in motion

• Partner with Finance on the grants/finance handoff (payment requests, supporting documentation, approvals, system records), and track committed vs disbursed vs projected grant funds against fast-growing giving targets

Compliance and risk

• Serve as CEA's in-house authority on US charitable grantmaking and a trusted advisor to leadership on what we can fund and on what conditions, including grants to entities that aren't US public charities

• Own the diligence regime, OFAC/sanctions screening and audit-ready recordkeeping, setting risk appetite and bringing judgment in-house so we rely less on external counsel, and deploying counsel where a question is genuinely novel or high-exposure

• Lead cross-border grantmaking, including in jurisdictions where local law restricts or rules out foreign funding, handling both the US side (diligence appropriate to a public charity) and the recipient-country side (registration, limits on receiving or onward-granting funds), building in-house capability to make these calls

• Own grants to individuals as a compliant grant category, covering charitable class, objective selection, the grant-versus-compensation line, and overseas withholding and reporting

Alternative vehicles and creative structuring

• Advise on DAF grantmaking, working within the sponsor's rules and layering our own checks on top

• Advise on new structures as we grow, including possible c4 granting and/or our own DAF

• Find the compliant path for grants that don't fit an existing template, using the right instrument: recoverable grants, PRIs, fiscal sponsorship, regranting, pooled funds etc.

Leadership and stakeholder management

• Lead and grow the Grants Operations team (currently two), developing them into seasoned grants professionals

• Act as the senior point of contact for grantmakers, building trusting and positive relationships, providing clear guidance and thresholds for grantmaking decisions, and navigating sensitive conversations with senior stakeholders constructively

• Facilitate close and efficient collaboration between the Grants Team and the EA Funds Team to achieve our organisational grantmaking goals

Scalable systems

• Design and develop better, more efficient grantmaking systems from the ground up, rethinking how routine grants move and where senior judgment sits to enable high volume fast-track grantmaking as well as effective handling of higher-risk grants

• Work with the Grants Operations team to ensure the work is codified into SOPs, templates, and internal guidance that scale and make onboarding easy

• Set direction and sign off on the grants function's architecture: approving the design of the grants-management system, innovating how we use tools and software to enable scale, the standards for how work is documented, and how board reporting is run

Monitoring and evaluation

• In collaboration with Program Officers and Heads of Funds, sharpening our processes against whether grants achieved what the fund intended

What we're looking for

This role is right for you if you bring deep grantmaking expertise and the judgment to apply it in a fast-moving, high-stakes environment, and you're energized by designing the function that makes ambitious, high-impact giving possible.

You might be a great fit if you have:

• Substantial hands-on experience in US charitable grantmaking, from a foundation, large nonprofit, regranting organization, DAF sponsor, or a practice serving them; we care more about depth of experience than years.

• Deep working knowledge of the frameworks that matter to us: domestic 501(c)(3) grants, grants to non-charities, grants to individuals, international grantmaking including recipient-country law, public charity lobbying limits, and DAF rules. You know which of these legally bind a public charity like CEA and which are best practice carried over from the private-foundation world.

• Experience structuring non-standard grants, with real examples of building a compliant path for something genuinely awkward. You treat grants that are riskier but high-impact as puzzles to work through compliantly, while taking appropriate caution on the highest-stakes calls.

• A track record of turning a manual operation into a streamlined or automated one while keeping judgment where it belongs

• Calibrated judgment and the standing to make and defend hard calls, plus the wisdom to know when a question needs external counsel

• The credibility to move grants through Program Officers and Heads of Funds that you don't manage, leading with expertise rather than authority and explaining in plain language why a grant can or can't proceed

• Experience managing and developing people, and enthusiasm for coaching a growing team

Bonus:

• Familiarity with effective altruism cause areas (animal welfare, AI safety, global health and wellbeing, EA community)

• Experience running a fellowship or individual-grants program at scale

• Experience standing up a DAF, c4, or other non-standard grantmaking vehicle

Other information

• This is a full-time, remote position based in the US.

• Start date: we'd ideally have you start in November 2026, but would consider a later start for the right candidate.

• Reports to: Chief Operating Officer, Matt Hurst-Smith.

• Compensation: total compensation package of $157,435, comprising a base salary of $143,123, and a 10% unconditional 401k contribution.

  • Benefits include private health insurance, flexible work hours, a $6,000 annual professional development allowance, a $6,000 mental health support allowance, extended parental leave, ergonomic equipment, 25 days of paid vacation, and more.

• This role will involve travel. There are likely 3-4 trips annually to attend team retreats and other events, including several international trips.

We are committed to fostering a culture of inclusion and encourage individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences to apply. We especially encourage applications from self-identified women and people of colour who are excited about contributing to our mission. The Centre for Effective Altruism is an equal opportunity employer. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, or have any other questions about applying, please contact [email protected].

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Evaluation plan

We expect the interview process to include the following steps, subject to minor changes:

1. Application

2. Short interview

3. Test task

4. Final interviews (3-4)

5. Reference checks