[Hiring] Research Director @Prevail Fund

Role Description

Prevail Fund is looking for a leader to build and lead our Research team as we scale. Research is core to what Prevail does - it drives how we assess new philanthropic opportunities, strengthen our existing Education Fund, and make decisions as we launch new funds over the coming years. We're looking for someone who can lead and develop this team to ensure we have world-class research capacity as Prevail scales.

If you're a research leader who enjoys building high-performing teams, loves diving into new sectors, and wants to use those skills to mobilize significant philanthropic capital towards some of the world's most important problems - we'd love to hear from you.

About the Role

Working closely with David and Andrew, you'll lead Prevail's Research function - setting the vision and direction for the team, while remaining hands-on in the work itself. You'll work with a team of researchers conducting high-quality, actionable research that spans our Education Fund, our New Initiatives pipeline, and future funds as Prevail grows. This is not an academic role, nor a pure people-management role; you will both develop a strong research team and drive analytical work yourself, producing practical recommendations that Prevail can launch as ambitious, well-funded programs. You will:

• Set the vision and strategy for Prevail's Research function.
• Lead and develop the Research team.
• Drive Prevail's strategy for assessing new philanthropic opportunities.
• Build and own complex quantitative and qualitative models.
• Identify, diligence, and evaluate high-impact interventions.
• Synthesize and translate evidence into crisp, transparent outputs.
• Answer operational and programmatic questions when evaluating new opportunities.

Qualifications

• 9+ years experience in conducting research to drive decision-making.
• Experience with implementing organizations in global development is a strong asset, but not required.
• 4+ years leading, mentoring, and managing other researchers.
• Ability to give clear, kind, specific feedback.
• Experience in conducting goal-oriented research.
• Ability to clearly track and outline key conclusions throughout the research process.
• Ability to integrate quantitative and qualitative data from diverse fields.
• Creative communicator, able to develop outputs that can motivate diverse audiences.

Requirements

• Conduct goal-oriented research, structure the most efficient analytical path, and ensure all outputs drive to the decision or actions being considered.
• Clearly track and outline how you came to key conclusions throughout the research process.
• Integrate quantitative and qualitative data from diverse fields, like econometrics and political science.
• Synthesize complex ideas into clear frameworks, models, and recommendations.

Benefits

• Full time, permanent contract.
• Your work will directly mobilize philanthropic capital that will impact millions of lives.
• Work remotely from anywhere in a timezone between -6 UTC (US Central Time) and +3 UTC (EAT), with opportunities to travel and connect in person with the team 3-4 times per year.
• Competitive salary based on experience, skills, and location.
• Health insurance and wellness benefits, home workspace or co-working stipend, plus a generous learning and development budget.
• Strong manager support, targeted feedback, clear pay progression, upwards or lateral mobility.
• Flexible leave policy, including 25 days PTO, plus public holidays.

Application process

Our hiring process is thorough, because there are very specific skills required for this role. Successful candidates will go through:

• An initial conversation with the people team (45-60 minutes).
• Hiring manager interview (45-60 minutes).
• Paid take-home exercise (5-6 hours).
• Panel interview (90 minutes) and 1:1 conversations with the rest of the team, including an in-person meeting.

Through the process, we’ll share feedback on the assessments, and invite candidates to incorporate it. This mirrors how we work day to day: collaboratively, with openness to feedback and iteration.

To apply

If you’re excited to help us scale, please apply using the application form. We are taking applications on a rolling basis and will respond to all applications within three weeks.