Office and Events Manager chez GiveWell

The role

We’re hiring an Office and Events Manager to own the management of our Oakland office, develop and manage in-person events, and support the employee experience. You’ll be a member of our People team, reporting to our Head of People. 

Why is GiveWell hiring for this position now?

GiveWell’s work aims to save and improve the lives of people around the world. We couldn’t do that without a high-performing team. It’s important that each person on our team is supported, productive, and aligned with GiveWell’s goals, and that we create a culture that is inviting for new team members. Our team has grown substantially in the last few years, and we want to invest in improving our in-person events, engagement, team-building, and more. This role, which is an expanded version of our previous Operations Assistant role, will have a tangible impact on our ability to create a high-trust, employee-centric, and inclusive environment. We’re excited to welcome someone who’s passionate about helping us develop a strong, integrated team!

The job will include the following types of activities:

• Managing our Oakland office, which is our headquarters and host location for semi-annual Visit Weeks. You’ll ensure that the Oakland office is in great shape and that it provides a seamless experience to our in-office employees and guests. You’ll also manage vendor relationships and support employees working from our smaller coworking spaces in New York City and London, and potentially others as needs arise. 
• Planning and managing our in-person events, including location and venue selection, vendor management, travel/logistics coordination, and on-site support. We may also ask you to occasionally support in-person donor events. Our current staff events include:
• Twice-yearly all-staff Visit Weeks at our Oakland office (you’ll fully plan these)
• Annual retreats for our Operations, Research, Outreach, and senior leadership teams (you’ll lead planning for these, working closely with departmental leadership)
• Several small subteam retreats (you’ll provide responsive support for these, but won’t be responsible for full planning)
• Building engagement in a remote-first work environment. Approximately 20% of our employees are based in the Bay Area and work from our office at least once per week. We also have around 15 employees who work out of our Brooklyn office and around 5 employees who work out of our London office. The remainder (just over 50% of GiveWell staff) work fully remotely. We’d like you to build team cohesion and social connection in ways that make sense for our team, both by developing new rituals and by managing existing rituals like All-Staff meetings, Brown Bag Lunches (employee-led conversations or discussions around hobbies or interests), and Round Tables (educational discussions focused on our work).
• Recognizing employees. You’ll find ways to recognize the positive contributions of our team members, praise and incentivize excellent performance, and celebrate big wins and employee milestones.
• Carrying GiveWell’s culture. You’ll support a strong culture by modeling transparency, truthseeking, and candid feedback. You’re a welcoming presence for all new staff and support them in acclimating to GiveWell throughout their onboarding

About you

We’re looking for candidates with three or more years of experience with office management and event planning. Prior experience in employee engagement, in operations, or as an executive assistant is also a plus!

We also think the following characteristics will lead to success in the role. If you’d describe yourself using many of the sentences below—or if your colleagues and friends would describe you that way—we encourage you to submit an application!

• You own your work. You’ve independently carried out projects from start to finish. You loop in the right stakeholders at the right time and keep the big picture in mind while moving projects across the finish line.
• You’re conscientious. You have strong attention to detail and you don’t cut corners. You have high output. You can capably juggle multiple projects with differing priorities and are always looking for new ways to add value.
• You’re creative. You’ve created systems from scratch, and you enjoyed doing it. You’re constantly on the lookout for new ways to bring teams together and improve our shared spaces.
• You’re aligned with GiveWell’s mission and values. You’re passionate about GiveWell’s work and impact, and you personally resonate with our values. We think this is very important both for your professional success at GiveWell and for your day-to-day enjoyment of our culture.
• You’re a realist. You understand that culture management and employee experience is complex, that it’s impossible to perfectly satisfy every stakeholder, and that hard tradeoffs are sometimes required. You’ve developed good judgment about how to navigate challenging situations.
• You communicate candidly. You share information proactively, you’re receptive to feedback, and you give feedback to others. You’re an effective verbal and written communicator.
• You meet the physical requirements of the position. This job requires the ability to lift and move up to 45 pounds as well as other physical abilities for actively participating in office management. 

Details

• Team: You’ll report to our Head of People.
• Compensation: $105,000/year
• Location: This position is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. You will be expected to go into our Oakland office at least 3 days per week (and occasionally more).
• Benefits: Our benefits include:
• Fully funded health, dental, vision, and life insurance (we cover 100% of premiums within the US for you and any dependents)
• Four weeks of paid time off per year
• 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave
• Ergonomic home workstations or coworking space memberships
• 403(b) retirement plan
• Travel: This role is expected to own all in-person events and will be expected to fully plan and be present at two Visit Weeks each year in our Oakland office, three department retreats per year, and select donor events. You would also be expected to support the coordination and logistics of an annual department head retreat and several sub-team retreats.
• Start date: We’d like a candidate to start as soon as possible after receiving an offer, but we’ll offer flexibility for candidates whose personal or professional circumstances require them to moderately delay their start date.
• Application deadline: We don’t currently have an application deadline. If that changes, we’ll update the posting. We're reviewing applications on a rolling basis, so we recommend applying as soon as possible.

Key questions and information

We expect you might want to know the answers to the following questions before you apply.

What is the Oakland office like?
We have just over 20 employees in the San Francisco Bay Area, including our CEO, Chief of Staff, General Counsel, Head of Philanthropy, and Head of Business Operations. Most weekdays, 3 to 5 employees work from the office, and on Tuesdays, when we offer a catered lunch, we regularly have 12 to 15 (the person in this role coordinates the lunches). We also host our bi-annual Visit Weeks in the office, which has a capacity of about 40. 

What is the in-office requirement for this role?
On a typical week, we’d like you to go into the office 3 days (Tuesdays are required). However, from time to time you’ll need to be in more frequently—for example, to run special events, greet guests, or handle facility needs.

What are the goals of Visit Weeks?
For many years, GiveWell has held regular Visit Weeks to bring together staff working in many locations, and we have iterated on them over time. They’ve been an important part of the GiveWell employee experience as we’ve increased our remote employee base. Our formal goals for Visit Weeks are to:

• Build community/connection with colleagues
• Improve collaboration and work output

We hope this role will help evolve how we approach and think about Visit Weeks, especially as we continue to grow.

What is GiveWell’s culture like?
GiveWell has a distinct and unique culture that’s influenced by our values of maximizing global well-being, transparency, truth-seeking, and emphasizing considerateness. Here are a few examples of our values in action:

• Change Our Mind. In 2022, we ran the Change Our Mind contest to solicit criticism of our work from external sources. We paid large cash prizes to the best entries and small participation awards to all good-faith submissions.
• “I Was Wrong.” In the early days of GiveWell, some staff made a T-shirt that said “I Was Wrong.” The shirt lived at the office, and people occasionally wore it when they made a prediction that turned out to be inaccurate. The T-shirt was a lighthearted reminder that it’s ok to be wrong. The important thing is to be clear with yourself and others about what’s true.
• Transparency. We maintain a prominent public log of our mistakes, and have done so since the beginning of GiveWell. We also publish our board meeting materials and information about our operational finances.

What is the hiring process like?
Our basic plan for the hiring process is listed below. If you move to step 2, you’ll be in touch with a member of our recruiting team who will quickly answer any questions about logistics and timelines.

1. Submit your application below. You don’t need to write a cover letter—we deliberately turned off the cover letter upload field; we only need you to answer our application questions.
2. 30-minute introductory conversation with our Talent Acquisition Team
3. 75-minute interview with Head of People and Talent Acquisition Manager
4. Short Work Trial
5. Onsite Interview
6. Values Interview
7. Reference checks
8. Offer

Please note that we could choose not to move forward at any stage of the process described above, and we do not share individualized evaluative feedback with applicants.

We plan to devote substantial time to reviewing applications, and we will respond to everyone who applies. We’ll review applications on a rolling basis, so it’s better to apply sooner. If we decide to close the application by a specific deadline, we’ll update this page at least one week in advance.