Head of Strategic Partnerships & Influence (Remote)

GiveDirectly has delivered more than $1B in cash directly to 2+ million people living in poverty across 15 countries since 2011. We believe cash transfers are one of the most scalable, cost-effective, and dignified forms of aid, with the research to back it up. Our work has been covered by The Economist, NPR, TED, and The Washington Post. We are one of Time100’s Most Influential Companies of 2026.

Our culture is candid, analytical, and non-hierarchical. We support high ownership and real professional growth. Curious about what it's really like to work here? Read our values and hear from the people who do. If they resonate, this could be a great fit!

This role was previously posted as Surrogates, Influencers & Partnerships Lead. If you'd already applied to that role, no need to apply again - there is just one open position.

About the Role

Your goal is to build the profile and credibility of direct cash transfers with tech, finance, and thought leader communities — the people who shape how smart, high-capacity donors think about where to give.

This role sits on the marketing/communications team, and will work with thought leaders, public intellectuals and influencers to turn them into a coordinated force for getting people talking about fighting poverty effectively.

Individual surrogates are the primary focus. Secondary is our nascent brand partnership strategy — identifying fintech platforms, personal finance media, consumer brands, and other major organizations where GiveDirectly's mission creates natural co-branding opportunities. These partnerships would be awareness plays first. We're less interested in roundup dollars than in being the organization users think of when they want to give meaningfully.

You will lead a small team within our marketing team, partnering closely with peers leading press, content, social media, thought leadership, and fundraising.

This role is a great fit if you have a combination of:

• Familiarity with leading writers, thinkers, and public intellectuals in finance, tech, economics, international development. You’re comfortable working with public intellectuals on big ideas and rigorous evidence.
• Think big and are creative with partnership driven marketing, brand, and events.
• Super strong relationally; builds rapport quickly, can connect with any room of people, but particularly tech, finance, and research communities.
• The right person might have been a founder, in business development / marketing / partnerships, or have done a lot of writing / thought leadership themselves.

This role might NOT be a fit if:

• You've mostly done paid marketing → Are wins measured in CPMs and ROAS? Ours aren't. We have <$100k for paid partnerships total. The job is building relationships good enough that people say yes without a check.
• You’ve focused on micro-creators on TikTok/IG → Is your portfolio lifestyle brands and DTC products? Our best surrogates to date are economists, tech journalists, policy wonks, and podcast hosts with highly educated audiences. If you don't follow political/tech/econ discourse, this probably isn't the right fit.
• You haven't built out a program or function → Are you a strong executor/manager but haven't owned strategy? We have a small existing foundation in this work, but this job is architecting what comes next, not just executing on the existing playbook.

This role is ideal for someone who combines strong relationship management across the thought leader & creator media landscape with the creative instincts to turn those partnerships into compelling, high-impact campaigns.

• Reports to: VP, Marketing
• Level: Director or Senior Director depending on experience & scope
• Location: Remote with preference for San Francisco / New York / LA / DC / London for in-person networking
• Time zone: the selected candidate will need to overlap at least 2 hours with East Africa Time working hours some working days.
• Travel: ~3–8 trips annually (team retreats, partner visits, events, and/or program visits)

What you’ll do

• Own the strategy and measurement: Set the portfolio approach across surrogates, influencers, and brand partnerships – defining KPIs, tracking reach and donation attribution, and ensuring coherence with press and thought leadership.
• Build surrogate relationships: Identify, vet, and cultivate relationships with creators, public intellectuals, and thought leaders across GiveDirectly's cause areas at scale and with speed.
• Execute campaigns end-to-end: Design value-exchange deals, develop briefs, guide creators and partners on messaging, and own post-campaign analysis from first conversation to final report.
• Build brand and media partnerships: Develop relationships with companies to broker co-branded campaigns, product integrations, and editorial partnerships that reach high-value audiences.
• Manage and develop a team of two: Set clear priorities for a Manager and Associate, and actively coach for continual improvement.

What success looks like in 12–18 months

• Deep surrogate relationships built by cause area (force ranked):
  1. Extreme poverty – our core offering in Africa, where web donations default.
  2. Emergency cash – crisis response, with a moonshot of delivering cash within 5 days of any crisis.
  3. Maternal / child health – new evidence shows child mortality can drop by nearly half.
  4. U.S. poverty – our work in the United States covers a range from homelessness, maternal health, and emergency relief.

• 1–2 brand or media partnerships live: At least one formal partnership with a fintech, personal finance media company, or consumer brand that puts GiveDirectly in front of high-value audiences who wouldn't otherwise encounter our work.
• A distinctive post-donation experience for surrogate/brand audiences: interactive, exclusive content that turns a new audience into our audience.
• 2–4 big bets tested, at least one identified to scale: ambitious, high-visibility campaigns that go beyond the existing playbook.

What you’ll bring

• 6+ years experience in media relations, brand partnerships, influencer marketing, talent management, or cause marketing with a track record of building programs, not just running campaigns. Deep fluency in the creator and public intellectual landscape (podcasters, Substackers, tech/finance/econ voices).The right person might have been a founder, worked in BD or partnerships, or done significant writing or thought leadership themselves
• A relationship builder first: you engage creators and partners as peers, not vendors, can go toe-to-toe with public intellectuals on big ideas and rigorous evidence, and can represent GiveDirectly's mission credibly across a wide range of audiences and subject matter.
• High autonomy, high follow-through: comfortable in ambiguity, strong project management, moves fast without dropping balls.
• Alignment with GiveDirectly's values: we actively encourage applications from candidates with personal or professional experience in the communities we serve.

Compensation

At GiveDirectly, we strive to pay our employees generously and equitably. We use an accredited third party salary aggregator to calculate what we believe to be competitive pay based on role, location, and cost of living. We also have a no negotiation policy to ensure we are paying staff equitably across roles. Read more about our compensation philosophy here.

Unless otherwise noted, the benefits stipend may be used to cover benefits or taken as additional taxable income.

United States (Director Level)

• Base Salary: $128,000
• Bonus at Target Performance: 15% (~$19,200, with potential for upside. For reference, with the organization’s current performance multiplier, this amount would be $22,464 in 2025)
• Estimated Total Compensation at Target: $147,200+
• Annual Benefits Stipend: $21,393

United States (Senior Director Level)

• Base Salary: $145,000
• Bonus at Target Performance: 15% (~$21,750, with potential for upside. For reference, with the organization’s current performance multiplier, this amount would be ~$25,447.50 in 2025)
• Estimated Total Compensation at Target: $166,750+
• Annual Benefits Stipend: $21,393

United Kingdom (Director Level)

• Base Salary: £90,100
• Bonus at Target Performance: 15% (~£13,125, with potential for upside. For reference, with the organization’s current performance multiplier, this amount would be £15,356 in 2025)
• Estimated Total Compensation at Target: £103,615+
• Annual Benefits Stipend: £2,760

United Kingdom (Senior Director Level)

• Base Salary: £106,374
• Bonus at Target Performance: 15% (~£15,956.10, with potential for upside. For reference, with the organization’s current performance multiplier, this amount would be ~£18,668.64 in 2025)
• Estimated Total Compensation at Target: £122,330.10
• Annual Benefits Stipend: £2,760

NOTE: this role has been posted under different cities at various points to attract more candidates but is just for one open, fully remote position. If you applied for one, you do not need to apply any others under these names.

#LI-REMOTE

Working at GiveDirectly

GiveDirectly is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to the person’s race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Flagging for US applicants: We invite you to "Know Your Rights" as an applicant.

Commitment to Safeguarding

As a global organization working with communities to eliminate extreme poverty, GiveDirectly takes the safeguarding of its recipients, staff, and partners seriously. To that end, GiveDirectly is a member of the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme, and will systematically check with previous employers about any abuse or misconduct related matters involving potential new hires. We may also employ other robust pre-hire screens, including in-depth reference checks, criminal background checks, and sanctions screens.

These efforts help us continue to build and maintain trust with the communities we work with, and prevent abuse to our recipients and staff.

**GD is committed to observing all local, national and international laws that protect people and basic human rights of all. GD is committed to a policy of “zero tolerance when it comes to preventing, reporting, or responding to any form of abuse or exploitation.” and expects anyone who works for GD to uphold the protection and safeguarding of our recipients as a priority.**

Reasonable Accommodations

We are committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible work environment. If you require any accommodations during the application or interview process, or to perform the essential functions of the role, please email us at careers@givedirectly.org with the email subject “Accommodation Needed”. We will work with you to ensure reasonable accommodations are made to support your needs.

Want to put your best foot forward on your GiveDirectly application? Take a look at our Candidate Application Prep Guide!

Referrals

Know the right person for this role? Please consider referring them. We offer a reward of $3,000 for a Senior Manager or above role, and $500 for a Manager role, paid if we end up hiring your referral. Thank you for sending great people our way!