Senior Research Manager

Senior Research Manager – Animal Welfare Strategy

Rethink Priorities | Remote | Full- or part-time (min. 24 hrs/week)

Salary: $98,500–$125,000 USD / £76,590–£97,176 GBP / €89,459–€113,527 EUR

Apply by: Monday 19 October 2026, end of day (anywhere on earth)

Ideal start: Monday 4 January 2027

About the role

Rethink Priorities' Animal Welfare Department produces research and strategic advice that helps organizations make well-informed decisions for animals. The Department is splitting into three teams:

• an AI and Animals Team, helping organizations navigate an AI-transforming world;
• a Frontiers Team, focused on neglected animals (such as shrimp) and emerging topics (such as breeding for welfare);
• a new Animal Welfare Strategy Team (working name), which you would lead.

The Animal Welfare Strategy Team will help funders and organizations accelerate the end of low-welfare farming and reduce the suffering of animals on farms, with a focus on terrestrial vertebrates. Its work will combine:

• Consulting. Recent projects include economic analysis of egg prices for a policy advocacy organization, prioritizing welfare-tech ideas for a venture studio, and research on alternative-protein regulation for a grantmaker with a $10m+ portfolio. RP is independent: clients get the answers the evidence supports, whether or not they hoped for them.
• In-house research, such as data tools that map where animals suffer on farms, or strategic analysis to guide stakeholders' decisions.
• The annual Animal Advocacy Strategy Forum, which brings together leaders from across the animal welfare landscape.
• Potentially, new capacity such as regranting or talent programs.

This is a role with leadership responsibilities in a growing Department. Working with the Director, you will set the team's strategy, including how it prioritizes projects and how it measures and maximizes impact for animals. You will also hire, manage consulting intake, design research processes, and manage staff. 1–2 economists are ready to join the team. You will report to Sam Hilton, Acting Director of the Animal Welfare Department.

Key responsibilities

• Manage consulting intake. Decide which requests from funders, advocacy organizations, and entrepreneurs RP takes on, reshapes, or declines.
• Identify opportunities and act on them. Set a research agenda of priority projects. For other interventions, such as regranting or talent programs, decide whether RP should run them and launch what clears the bar.
• Oversee the Animal Advocacy Strategy Forum. Ensure your team sets the agenda, decides who is in the room, and turns the gathering into decisions and impact.

Day to day, you will:

• Set strategy. There is no project prioritization process, impact framework, or intake system yet. You will build them alongside the Director.
• Hire. Decide which skills the team needs next (e.g., policy, M&E, animal science, movement experience) and run hiring rounds with support from RP's in-house recruitment specialist.
• Manage the team. Lead economists and specialists who have deeper expertise than you in their own fields. Set the quality bar and put in place research processes, review standards, and project tracking.
• Deliver research that gets used. Scope clients' decisions, manage staff to deliver on deadline, and follow up on whether clients acted on the findings.
• Represent RP. Build the networks and relationships that generate new projects, and attend conferences where you are able to travel.
• Fundraise. With the Development Team's support, raise additional funds as the team grows.

What we are looking for

Essential:

• Impact first. You are driven to have as much impact for animals as possible and committed to research integrity, following the evidence, and being transparent about what it shows.
• Decision-oriented research experience. You have conducted or overseen research aimed at informing a specific stakeholder's decision.
• Good judgment. You have shown good judgment in prioritization and decision-making under uncertainty.
• Management experience. You have managed or mentored others, including people with deeper expertise than yours, or you are clearly ready to step into people management.
• Strategy and process design. You have set a team's strategy and built processes to deliver it where none existed, or you clearly could.
• Research review skills. You can interrogate qualitative and quantitative analysis you did not produce, and you can "think at the margin" about cost-effectiveness.
• Communication. You show excellent reasoning transparency and can synthesize complex information and communicate strategic insight in writing and in person.
• Delivery. You have a track record of finishing projects on deadline with other people, and you make autonomous decisions well in a remote, asynchronous, international environment.

Desirable:

• Consulting or other client-facing analytical work: identifying the decision a client actually faces, shaping or declining work accordingly, and building relationships with clients and fundraising leads.
• Working knowledge of the animal advocacy landscape, its funders, and its strategic debates.
• In-depth expertise in a relevant area such as economics, policy and regulation, M&E, or animal science.
• Experience running convenings or facilitating events for groups with differing interests.
• Experience running talent programs or fellowships, or with grantmaking.

We expect that even highly qualified applicants will not meet all of these criteria. Please apply even if you lack some of them.

Compensation

The salary range is $98,500–$125,000 USD / £76,590–£97,176 GBP / €89,459–€113,527 EUR pre-tax, prorated for part-time work. Compensation is not restricted to these currencies.

Salary is set by title level using RP's salary algorithm:

• Toward the upper end, we expect a track record of leading a research team to drive impact.
• Toward the lower end, we expect strong research judgment with a shorter management record, or management experience with weaker research skills.

You don't need to say where you fit because we assess this from your application. To ensure fairness, RP does not negotiate salaries.

Benefits

• Research used by decision-makers who influence hundreds of millions of charitable dollars
• Remote-first work with flexible hours and virtual co-working, including an RP Focusmate group
• Comprehensive global benefits, which vary by location
• Unlimited vacation (with statutory minimums), plus 3 weeks of organization-wide mid- and end-year breaks
• Unlimited (within reason) personal and sick leave
• Parental leave of at least 4–9 months, paid and unpaid combined
• $2,000 tech stipend every 3 years and a $40/month AI tools budget
• $4,000/year professional development budget and up to 10% of work time for development
• Paid work trips, including an annual all-staff retreat and relevant conferences
• A caring team, healthy work-life balance, and low bureaucracy
• (We don't provide snacks, but we could mail you a box of Oreos.)

Practical details

• Location: The role is fully remote. We can legally hire in many countries and may be able to sponsor US or UK visas. If you have questions, email careers@rethinkpriorities.org before applying.
• Hours: The role requires at least 24 hours/week, and 30+ is preferred. You'll need some availability between 3pm and 5pm UK time on most weekdays.
• Travel: Travel is encouraged but not required, and virtual participation is often possible.
• Language: Professional-level English is required, and all application materials must be in English.

Application process

1. Application prompts, scored for mission alignment, ability to perform the role's tasks, and relevant experience.
2. A paid skills assessment (~5 hours at $45 USD/hour).
3. Interviews, with most questions sent in advance.
4. Reference checks (2–3 references) and offers.
5. We aim to complete each stage within a week.

Please note:

• Anonymity: We first assess anonymized prompts and test tasks. Don't send a cover letter, and don't include your name in your responses to the longer prompts.
• AI use: You may search online or use a free AI assistant (e.g., ChatGPT free tier) for the initial application. Please disclose how you used it and how it changed your responses.
• Extensions: We try to accommodate extension requests of up to 3 days if you ask before the deadline. We cannot accept late submissions.
• Past applicants: If you advanced in the same or a similar role at RP or a similar institution within the last 2 years, contact us about a possible accelerated process.
• Other roles: If you are not selected, we may ask whether you'd like to be considered for related senior roles.
• Email: All correspondence comes via Pinpoint (@pinpoint.email), so please check your spam and promotions folders.
• Accessibility: RP is committed to an inclusive, equitable hiring process and welcomes applicants of all backgrounds. Contact careers@rethinkpriorities.org for accommodations or questions.

About Rethink Priorities

Founded in 2018, RP is a think-and-do tank. Through research and action, we improve the lives of humans and animals, both now and in the future. Our work spans animal welfare, climate change, global health, international development, and other pressing, neglected areas. We work as a consultancy, research institute, think tank, and accelerator for priority projects.