Seeking a CEO for new x-risk funding charity in the UK
EDIT: The post for the Foundation’s CEO is now open. Applications close on 28th September. You can find more information here.
We are in the process of setting up a charitable organisation with the aim of funding research in the UK on existential risk reduction and supporting the work of the Future of Humanity Institute. We’d like to recruit a skilled and highly organised professional to support and execute the fiscal and administrative responsibilities of the organisation as it grows.
Under direction from a dedicated board of company directors and trustees, the CEO will play the pivotal role in the scaling up of operations, including steering the organisation through registration as a charity and as a visa sponsor; overseeing the disbursement of philanthropic funds in line with the research funding strategy; ensuring that the organisation meets all administrative, operational and reporting responsibilities as it grows (working with professional service contractors where necessary); recruitment and management of contractors and additional staff; overseeing communications for the organisation and responding to external queries; and executing on the directors’ priorities and strategy for the organisation. Strategic priorities and responsibilities are likely to shift as the organisation grows, and so the postholder must be willing to work flexibly and to adapt their role to the changing needs of the organisation.
The ideal postholder will be highly organised and resourceful, with strong problem-solving skills and the ability to thrive in a self-driven role with multiple concurrent responsibilities. They should be able to work independently to manage their own workload and execute the strategic priorities in collaboration with the company directors. They should have excellent attention to detail, ability to effectively collaborate with lawyers (and appreciation for legal sensitivities and how they impact the organisation), and be able to effectively oversee the work of a series of external contractors, partners and administrative support staff.
Experience in operations/administrative roles or in a start-up environment is preferred. The postholder should have a strong personal alignment with the organisation’s aim of reducing existential risk.
Working hours and location are flexible, but candidates should be able to physically attend multiple meetings in Oxford each week. The postholder must have the existing ability to work in the UK.
Please send informal expressions of interest or queries to futureofhumanityinstitute@gmail.com. The role will be advertised formally in the coming months.
Have you considered offering a referral bonus to anyone bringing your attention to a candidate you hadn’t considered?
Good suggestion. Do you know if other EA orgs have tried it out and if so, how it panned out? It seems a little odd to do, if you assume that the referee and the relevant organisation have broadly aligned interests.
My experience with it is confined to the SF tech world, where it is extremely common. Though usually it is offered to employees of the hiring company only. Maybe you could limit it to a group of people you then email about it.
This seems common for lower-level roles, but I don’t know that I’ve seen it for CEO-type roles. When I think about SF tech companies and the amount they pay to CEOs, the idea of a “referral bonus” of the usual size seems “of the wrong scale”: “Thanks for helping us find this friend of yours who was worth millions to us. Here’s $5,000 for you, friend of an elite executive.”
(Compare to the standard “your old roommate actually was good at programming! Here’s a small bonus,” which is how I picture internal recruiting processes [e.g. Google asking employees to help them find new developers].)
But of course, these firms will also shell out tens of thousands of dollars to recruiting firms for executive searches, so a referral bonus isn’t far from an unreasonable expense in that context.
Yes, the way that worked in consulting for me was that the referral bonus was (very approximately) something like 10% of the hire’s salary. So if someone very senior got hired, you could maybe double your annual paycheck. Not sure that would be appropriate for FHI though...
Ought (~$5000) and Rethink Priorities (~$500) have both done it, with bounties roughly what I indicated (though I’m a bit uncertain). Don’t think either has completed the relevant hiring rounds yet.
Update: The post for the Foundation’s CEO is now open. Applications close on 28th September. You can find more information here.