Project Manager

About CEA

The Centre for Effective Altruism’s mission is to build and nurture a global community of people who are thinking carefully about the world’s biggest problems and taking impactful action to solve them.
To foster this community, we run conferences, support hundreds of local groups, and provide online resources and forums for discussion.

About this role

Join the Partner Events team as a Project Manager and lead on organizing events that generate real-world impact.
The Partner Events team organizes and supports a variety of in-person events, focusing on enabling established and emerging leaders, researchers, and funders to make progress on solving pressing problems, with a focus on people working on AI safety and other existential risks from other emerging technologies. Our events range from 30 to 200 attendees and are often held over multiple days. Our surveys show that in-person interactions help accelerate progress on pressing problems—our attendees regularly report that participating in our events has improved counterfactual outcomes for critical projects. The events we run generate impact by creating a high density of talented, altruistic people to efficiently facilitate a large number of these interactions.
Since early 2023, we’ve run two Summits on Existential Security and one Meta Coordination Forum, and we’ve collaborated with external partners to run an Effective Giving Summit, an Existential InfoSec Forum, and other AI-safety or biosecurity-focused events.
Our events support people working on the world’s most pressing problems by:
  • Causing attendees to identify new opportunities: Our events allow attendees to recognize gaps and opportunities, whether that be for hiring, starting new projects or collaborations, or funding.
  • Facilitating knowledge sharing: Our events facilitate the exchange of ideas and strategies, helping attendees improve their plans and prioritize effectively.
  • Catalyzing relationship building: Our events create environments that lower barriers to collaboration, funding, and feedback, sparking new projects and enhancing existing ones.
  • Improving coordination: Our events help ensure resources are allocated efficiently, identify opportunities for collaboration, and minimize the duplication of effort.
  • Cultivating a sense of community: Our events strengthen a sense of shared purpose among attendees, encouraging continued and new efforts towards impactful projects.
We’re looking for someone who wants to join a high-energy and passionate team. By taking on this role, you’ll provide end-to-end event support to external partners who have an idea for an event that could be valuable for making progress in their field but who aren’t well-positioned to make it happen.
Responsibilities include:
  • Event sourcing and evaluation: Work with the team to cultivate relationships with key stakeholders, source event proposals, and prioritize which events to collaborate on.
  • Event conceptualization and design: Collaborate with external partners to translate their vision and goals into a strategy for the event.
  • Event planning and management: Develop and manage comprehensive project plans and detailed budgets.
  • Event logistics: Execute (or, in some cases, delegate the execution of) excellent event logistics, from negotiating rates and services with various vendors (catering, audio-visual teams, transportation) to venue selection and set up. Ensure all logistical elements align with the event’s objectives, including space layout, technical requirements, and scheduling.
  • Event communications: Draft and track communications with attendees and speakers.
  • Team leadership and on-site management: Lead a team of production contractors, assigning roles and responsibilities to cover all logistical aspects of the event. Ensure seamless execution of the event, from set up to breakdown, and address any unforeseen issues or emergencies that arise.
  • Feedback and event improvement: Gather feedback on events, evaluate their impact, and identify opportunities for improvement.
Who we’re looking for
You might be a good fit if you are:
  • Highly organized and excel in overseeing projects: You have experience planning and organizing events (or other projects), including creating detailed project plans and budgets, managing timelines and dependencies, and prioritizing tasks efficiently.
  • A strategic thinker with a solid understanding of EA ideas: You’d feel comfortable evaluating event proposals for alignment with our strategic goals and potential impact, and you’re keen to analyze feedback, evaluate event outcomes, and apply insights for continuous improvements.
  • A clear and effective communicator: You have strong written and verbal communication skills, can clearly explain the reasoning behind your decisions, and have experience writing and managing communications for various stakeholders.
  • User-oriented: You would be excited to collaborate with external partners (who are often experts in their fields) to translate their vision into an effective event. You feel motivated by the idea of delivering an event experience tailored to its unique attendees' needs.
  • Flexible and work well under pressure: You excel when meeting frequent fixed deadlines and consistently deliver high-quality work in a context where the project demands won’t always be predictable in advance.
Our ideal candidate would have a strong understanding of event planning processes, including timelines and logistical requirements. Still, we’re open to candidates who have other project management experience and who expect they’ll be able to pick up event management skills quickly.
This role would be particularly well suited to someone who enjoys a fast-paced work environment. You’ll work with an ambitious team and collaborate with experts across rapidly changing fields. Most of the events you work on will be unique and require careful thought about how best to achieve their goals, as well as meticulous attention to logistical details. This role will allow you to deepen your understanding of event management, keep abreast of changes and challenges in the existential risk landscape, and develop qualities like leadership, resilience, and adaptability.
If you’re on the fence about applying, we would encourage you to go for it (the initial application shouldn’t take long). Above all, we’re looking for people who are motivated to run high-impact events.
Other information
  • This is a full-time, remote position requiring frequent travel, though applicants are welcome to work from our Oxford office. We prefer applicants who can work in time zones between PT and CET.
  • If candidates would prefer to work from the UK, we welcome applicants from overseas, and we’ll sponsor visas where possible. We may be able to sponsor visas to work in the US for some candidates.
  • We’d ideally have you start as soon as possible, but can be flexible for the right candidate.
  • Our application process will include one or more trial tasks, interviews, a reference check, and an onsite work trial for the top candidates.
  • We are currently reviewing our compensation policies, and compensation may be subject to change. In particular, we may be willing to pay more for candidates with certain relevant experience. Based on our historical policy, the compensation range for candidates (depending on experience) working from the Oxford office would be £61,160 - £72,930, comprising £55,600 - £66,300 in salary with an unconditional 10% pension contribution. Salary ranges for remote employees would vary by location. US salaries currently vary significantly based on location. Depending on both the cost of living of the candidate's location and on experience, we think the total compensation for this role could range from $94,490 - $134,750 also comprising a base salary and a 10% 401k contribution.
  • Benefits include private insurance, flexible work hours, a £5,000 / $6,000 annual professional development allowance, a £5,000 / $6,000 mental health support allowance, extended parental leave, ergonomic equipment, 10% pension / 401k contribution, 25 days of paid vacation, and more.
  • We’re committed to fostering a culture of inclusion and encourage individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences to apply. We especially encourage applications from self-identified women and people of colour who are excited about contributing to our mission. The Centre for Effective Altruism is an equal opportunity employer. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, or have any other questions about applying, please contact jobs@centreforeffectivealtruism.org.
  • We are committed to protecting your data. See our privacy policy for more information.
This position is now closed.
View open positions →