CEA Groups Team is hiring a Strategy Lead (final days to apply!)

This is a supplementary post for CEA’s Strategy Lead job description.

CEA's Groups team is hiring a Strategy Lead to grow EA groups at top universities (deadline: Monday, December 2). For this senior role, you'll own your project end-to-end - from strategy to implementation - while working closely with our broader Groups team and reporting to the Head of Groups.

A recent Open Philanthropy survey asked participants to identify the top four factors that most positively influenced their impact trajectory. Among the unprompted responses, university groups emerged as the most frequently cited community-building initiative that positively impacted people’s impact trajectories. This points to EA university groups’ significant impact so far, and the potential for further impact in the future. The work of growing and supporting these groups can be complex and high-stakes, but we are confident that with a great Strategy Lead and our established foundation, we can scale our impact effectively.

This post will help you learn more about our team’s culture, and the role’s responsibilities, to help you decide if this job is right for you. Specifically:

• What it’s like working in the Groups team
• Why this role may not be for you
• What you’ll do as Strategy Lead
• What our ideal candidate looks like
• Other information

What it’s like working in the Groups team

The Groups team combines ambition with a genuine, friendly, and high-energy culture. While maximizing impact is our priority, we believe a great workplace culture is essential to achieving those goals. 

A photo of the Groups team.

Since this role will be reporting to Jessica McCurdy, our Head of Groups, we asked one of her direct reports about their experience working with her.

Testimonial from Joris Pijpers, our University Groups Team Lead:

Jessica has been building a great team with a special mix of seriousness, grit, and fun. She has been successfully working towards an overarching Groups team vision and strategy, with her distinctive combination of motivating leadership, inclusive decision-making, and insane output. Her strategic thinking, adaptability, and strong work ethic, have brought large growth to the Groups Team, and I’m so excited for the Strategy Lead to build on this even more!

We’ve also asked two members of our team to share about what it’s like working in the Groups team:

Testimonial from Alex Dial, our Groups Support Associate:

The Groups team is a tight-knit, high-energy team of 7 staff and 2 contractors, dedicated to improving the world while fostering a supportive, collaborative culture. We're competitive, have each other's backs, and find joy in our work and each other. I’ve been impressed by how we find projects that play to my strengths and help me grow—this is truly one of the best teams I’ve worked with.

Testimonial from Alex Rahl-Kaplan, our Community Building Grants Associate:

The Groups Team is fun, caring, considerate, and powerful! Our team members play to their unique strengths in their roles but are also happy to help others when they can. I wasn’t expecting to appreciate my colleagues so much, but now I’m really glad to be on the Groups team!

Why this role may not be for you

This role will not be a perfect fit for everyone. You may not be a good fit if you:

• Thrive on solely independent work: we're a highly collaborative team that regularly engages with stakeholders. While there's flexibility to work independently, our success relies on frequent collaboration with our team and external stakeholders.
• Prefer extended timelines and gradual iteration: our pace is quick - we might review a proposal at 10am, incorporate feedback by 2pm, and share updates by 4pm. Depending on the project, team members might share their work multiple times per day rather than spending weeks polishing in isolation.
• Prefer to know exactly what each week will look like: our work often requires adaptability, especially during program launches where the workload can fluctuate significantly. But it’s important to note that there's considerable room to shape aspects of this role to align with your working preferences as you grow with the team.

We've purposefully kept this section concise, sacrificing some nuance for brevity. Some nuances we didn’t cover include the Groups team's varying schedules and CEA’s remote-first nature - team members may travel at times, which can affect the pace of updates and iteration.

What you’ll do as Strategy Lead

While your exact responsibilities may evolve as we learn more, you will likely focus on:

• Strategic vision and leadership: setting a clear and compelling vision for EA university groups at top universities
• Team management: leading and mentoring a team of program staff and organizers, ensuring they have the tools, guidance, and support to excel.
• Program development: piloting projects aimed at seeding and growing EA groups at pilot universities.
• Stakeholder engagement: building and maintaining relationships with university group organizers, partner organizations, and other stakeholders in the EA community.
• Resource allocation: identifying and allocating resources efficiently to the most promising groups and initiatives.

What our ideal candidate looks like

Our website details the profile of our ideal candidate. To summarize, we'd be excited if you have:

• A strong strategic mindset
• Leadership experience, particularly in mentoring teams and driving high performance
• Strong relationship-building and communication skills with stakeholders
• Understanding of EA principles and community building (not required)
• Experience with program development, data-driven decision-making, or EA or similar community initiatives

Other information

• Location: Flexible, with options for Oxford office or remote work.
• Start Date: Preferably by mid-March 2025, but flexible.
• Compensation:
  • Senior Level: $106,667-$128,143 in the US; £63,492-£76,275 in the UK.
  • Junior Level: $70,028-$93,761 in the US; £41,683-£55,809 in the UK.
• Benefits include professional development, mental health support, extended parental leave, and ergonomic equipment.

If you’re excited about the role, please apply here! If you have any questions or concerns about the hiring process, please contact [email protected].