IT Associate

Open Philanthropy is a grantmaker; our mission is to help others as much as we can with the resources available to us. We stress openness to many possibilities and have chosen our focus areas based on importance, neglectedness, and tractability. Our current giving areas include potential risks from advanced artificial intelligence, global health and development, scientific research, global public health policy, farm animal welfare, and biosecurity and pandemic preparedness. In 2024, we recommended $650 million to high-impact causes, and we’ve recommended over $4 billion in grants since our formation.

The IT team sits within Operations and is managed by our IT Lead, Luke Willey. The IT Associate will be a key member of our team, responsible for maintaining our IT infrastructure, providing technical support, and ensuring the smooth operation of our internal helpdesk. This role requires a versatile IT professional with a proactive approach, strong problem-solving skills, and the ability to handle multiple tasks efficiently in a fully remote, MacOS environment.

• Helpdesk Administration — Provide technical support to staff, resolving IT issues promptly and efficiently to ensure smooth day-to-day operations.

• Infrastructure Maintenance — Maintain IT infrastructure, focusing on a fully MacOS environment, ensuring the stability and reliability of our systems.

• Security — Implement and maintain security measures to protect organizational data and systems, including device management and cloud security, to safeguard our digital assets.

• Device Management — Manage organization-owned Mac laptops, enforce MDM policies, and support mobile device management to ensure all devices are secure and functioning properly.

• Tech Enablement — Identify and implement productivity-enhancing technologies to support organizational efficiency while maintaining security standards.

• Vendor Coordination — Work with external vendors and consultants to manage projects, ensuring the delivery of high-quality IT services and solutions.

• Documentation — Maintain accurate records of IT systems, configurations, and procedures to support efficient IT operations and continuity.

You might be a great fit for this work if you:

• Have a track record of owning projects and proactively getting them over the finish line.

• Are intensely detail-oriented; you feel confident you can track and update system configurations without making mistakes.

• Are cheerful and patient while helping others with technical issues.

• Are comfortable navigating sensitive conversations around IT issues and can be trusted with confidential information (e.g., security protocols, user data).

• See internal stakeholders as customers, and want to make sure they walk away feeling helped whenever they come into contact with you or your team.

• Understand the importance of having a strong organizational culture and are excited to support the kind of culture we are trying to build.

• Prioritize supporting staff in being ambitious about our impact and living out our operating values in their day-to-day work.

• Ideal applicants will have at least 3-5 years of experience in IT support or a similar role; this duration of experience is not strictly required, but will likely be helpful.

The ideal candidate for this position will possess many of the skills and experiences described above. However, there is no such thing as a “perfect” candidate. If you are on the fence about applying because you are unsure whether you are qualified, we would strongly encourage you to apply. Above all, we are looking for people motivated to contribute to our mission of helping others as much as we can with the resources available to us. Whatever background you bring with you, please apply if this role would make you excited to come to work every day.

• Compensation: The baseline compensation for this role is $116,977.12, which would be distributed as a base salary of $101,719.24 and an unconditional 401(k) grant of $15,257.89 for U.S. hires.

  • These compensation figures assume a remote location; there would be geographic adjustments upwards for candidates based in the San Francisco Bay Area or Washington, D.C.

• Time zones and location: You can work remotely in this role. While much of our team is based in the US, we are open to hires outside the US willing to consistently overlap with US hours for at least half the workday. Unfortunately, we are not able to sponsor visas for this role.

• Benefits: Our benefits package includes:

• Excellent health insurance (we cover 100% of premiums within the US for you and any eligible dependents) and an employer-funded Health Reimbursement Arrangement for certain other personal health expenses.

• Dental, vision and life insurance for you and your family

• Four weeks of PTO recommended per year

• Four months of fully paid family leave

• A generous and flexible expense policy — we encourage staff to expense the ergonomic equipment, software and other services that they need to stay healthy and productive

• A continual learning policy that encourages staff to spend time on professional development with related expenses covered.

• Support for remote work — we’ll cover a remote workspace outside your home if you need one, or connect you with an Open Phil coworking hub in your city

• We can’t always provide every benefit we offer US staff to international hires, but we’re working on it (and will usually provide cash equivalents of any benefits we can’t offer in your country)

• Note: US-based operations staff are typically employed by Open Philanthropy Project LLC, which is not a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. As such, this role is unlikely to be eligible for public service loan forgiveness programs.

• Start date: We’d like a candidate to start as soon as possible after receiving an offer, but have flexibility on the exact date.

We aim to employ people with many different experiences, perspectives and backgrounds who share our passion for accomplishing as much good as we can. We are committed to creating an environment where all employees have the opportunity to succeed, and we do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected status.

If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, or have any other questions about applying, please contact [email protected].