Director, Research and Origination, Fund Ecosystem

The mission of Renaissance Philanthropy is to fuel a 21st century renaissance by increasing the ambition of philanthropists, scientists, and innovators. Our aim is to activate a virtuous loop of increasing ambition and impact between philanthropists and innovators: by identifying frontier experts both in science and in new ways of solving problems; by tapping into the growing number of emerging philanthropists; and by building multi-sector initiatives that can harness the power of philanthropy, markets, and governments. We advance our mission by advising philanthropists, surfacing breakthrough ideas, and incubating ambitious initiatives. Role Summary As the Director, Research and Origination, Fund Ecosystem at Renaissance Philanthropy you will play a central leadership role in building out Renaissance Philanthropy's work to advise major donors and design, launch, and evaluate new, thesis-driven philanthropic funds. The Fund Ecosystem program at Renaissance Philanthropy seeks to strengthen the broad ecosystem of thesis-driven philanthropic funds. The program has three focus areas: (1) advising major philanthropists, (2) building public goods to support the philanthropic fund ecosystem, and (3) origination (i.e., testing structured approaches to developing new fund ideas). The ideal candidate is a technically sophisticated polymath and proven builder who thrives on a combination of breadth (surveying the full landscape of possibilities in multiple spaces), depth (conducting intense diligence on specific ideas), and agency (where there is an important gap, proactively filling it). You are someone who can set your own research agenda, make judgment calls without a playbook, and bring others along on the strength of your thinking. This role will have a strong focus on pressing health and development challenges in low-and-middle income countries (70%), but you should expect to spend much of your time (30%) traversing a wide range of other topics, from math education to climate policy to biomedical R&D. The base compensation range for this role is $180,000-$240,000, along with a comprehensive and generous benefits package and 401K contribution. Renaissance Philanthropy has offices in New York, Washington D.C. and London. There is a preference for location in D.C. or New York to enable in-person work, however, this is a remote role that is open to candidates anywhere, including in Africa and Asia. Your Core Responsibilities Will Include: Evaluation (~75%) Evaluate existing thesis-driven philanthropic funds and initiatives, culminating in a clearly argued, written fund/don't-fund recommendation for the philanthropists we work with Source existing funds and initiatives for us to evaluate in key areas, building and managing philanthropic dealflow Conduct shallow reviews to identify the "cruxes" — the critical open questions most likely to shift our recommendation Over the course of the year, it is likely you will do 25-30 shallow evaluations, with