Senior Program Officer, Neglected Animals

Application Deadline: 11 October 2026

Department: Animal Welfare

Employment Type: Flexible

Location: Remote

Compensation: $79,000 - $98,500 / year

Description

This role is offered at either the Program Officer or the Senior Program Officer level. The salary range covers multiple seniority steps across these levels, and where an offer falls will depend on your experience and performance during the selection process. See "Levels and compensation" below. We may be open to hiring two people in this round.

To apply, please click "Apply Now" to respond to the initial questions in the application form and attach your CV. We ask that you spend no more than 90 minutes preparing your responses to the prompts.

Application Deadline: Sunday, October 11,2026, end of day (23:59) Anywhere on Earth (UTC-12:00).

Note Before Applying: We invite anyone who is interested in this role to apply, and will assess applications primarily on anonymized responses to the application prompts, so please ensure they represent your fit for the position well. We also ask candidates to attach their CV: it will not be scored, but we will use it later in the process for verification. Please do not include a cover letter, photograph or headshot, or any personal information not relevant to the role (including marital status, age, identity traits). Please also do not ask staff involved in the hiring process to meet with you — to ensure fairness, such requests will be declined.

Contact: Please email careers@rethinkpriorities.org if you have any questions.

Rethink Priorities' Animal Welfare Department advances evidence-based and reason-driven change for animals. Within it, the Neglected Animals Program works on animals that are overlooked relative to how many of them there are — farmed invertebrates and wild animals. These are populations counted in the hundreds of billions and upwards, almost entirely outside the scope of existing animal welfare protections, and receiving a tiny fraction of the attention directed at farmed vertebrates.

We are looking for a Program Officer or Senior Program Officer to take a substantial share of this program's work and run with it, primarily focused on terrestrial invertebrate welfare — both farmed and wild.

The program's bottleneck is finding out which questions matter, getting them investigated by the most appropriate talent, and ensuring the analysis is acted upon. Sometimes that means doing the research in-house. But often it means finding and managing the right contractor, or convening the handful of organizations working on a particular problem.

Where your time would go. Roughly half your time on farmed terrestrial invertebrates and half on wild ones. The balance will shift as opportunities move. The wild side of this work is at an earlier stage of strategic development than the farmed side. In the future, this role could expand to cover other wild animals.

Key responsibilities and the types of tasks involved in the role

• ~35% Analysis and intervention evaluation — decision-oriented analysis that lets aligned funders and organizations make better calls.
• Run a shallow intervention review: go from a loosely specified idea to a defensible recommendation on whether it is worth pursuing, within a fixed time budget.
• Identify and interview experts on questions that academic and gray literature cannot answer.
• Conduct analysis of a production system — its economics, cost, and whether it can plausibly be commercially viable at scale — or write the specification for a contractor to build one and quality-assure what they deliver.
• Analyze published financial disclosures to understand a company's or a sector's trajectory, rather than relying on media reports or press releases.
• ~30% Commissioning and overseeing external work — commissioning work, convening the field, and incubating new efforts where nothing suitable exists.
• Scope, commission and manage an external contractor or consultancy, including in a region where we currently have no in-house presence — and decide when to stop work that isn't delivering.
• ~25% Stakeholder engagement and coordination — building the relationships that let well-informed decisions actually get made.
• Help organize a coordination event that brings together the organizations working on a shared problem, and follow through on what was agreed.
• Write and present an update for a funder on what a project has achieved, what it has not, and what you would do differently.
• Present your work at a conference and build relationships with others working in the field.
• ~10% Strategy and opportunity identification — Bringing forward new opportunities, and honestly assessing which of the program's current bets are not working.
• Take an idea that someone has floated, evaluate it honestly, and either run with it or kill it.
• Exercise judgment about information sensitivity — some of this program's work requires discretion about what is shared, with whom, and when.

To get a sense of the kind of question you would investigate, see the executive summaries of:

• Investments into insect farming
• Can black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) producers displace fishmeal?
• Database of near-term interventions for wild animals
• Forecasting farmed animal numbers in 2033

You are also welcome to browse our full research database.

Note that not all our work in this space is openly published.

The salary range ($79,000 – $98,500 USD pre-tax) covers more than one seniority step. Toward the upper end of the range we would expect more of the following:

• Autonomy — running projects with minimal oversight, and taking the initiative to learn tasks you have not done before.
• Judgment we lean on — program leadership consulting you on which projects are worth taking on at all, not just how to execute them.
• A track record of moving decision-makers — analysis aimed at changing what someone outside your own organization actually does, where you elicited their needs early and shaped the output around them.
• Independent stakeholder relationships — being trusted as a counterpart in your own right by people outside RP.

Toward the lower end of the range we would expect strong analytical capability and clear evidence of potential, with less of a track record behind it — we would expect to coach you on commissioning external work and on building relationships in the field. Toward the upper end we would expect you to arrive already able to do both, and we would lean on your judgment about which projects are worth taking on at all. You do not need to signal which end you think you fit; we assess that from your answers.

This role does not currently include line management of RP staff, and would not involve running hiring rounds or performance reviews — though you would manage contractors and external partners. At the Senior Program Officer level, line management responsibilities may be introduced in future.

What We Are Looking For

• Analytical judgment under time pressure. You can take a vague but important question, scope it sensibly, identify critical assumptions, choose a defensible method, and reach a usable answer by a deadline — rather than an exhaustive answer late.
• Getting work done through other people. You have specified a piece of work for someone else to deliver — a contractor, consultant, agency, or a team outside your own — held them to it, and formed your own view about whether what came back was good enough to act on.
• Quantitative reasoning. You are comfortable building, interrogating and explaining simple models. You can produce quick back-of-the-envelope calculations, and you are comfortable articulating confidence in assumptions or beliefs using numbers as well as words.
• Clear written communication for decision-makers. You can explain a chain of reasoning — premises, inferences, and where it might be wrong — to an intelligent reader who is not a specialist and who does not have much time.
• Comfort with deep uncertainty. You can give a caveated but genuinely decision-useful answer with transparent reasoning, instead of waiting for evidence that will not arrive.
• Sound judgment about sensitive information. You can be trusted to hold information carefully and to work out for yourself what should and should not be shared.
• Pragmatism and flexibility. The program's priorities move. You are comfortable being redeployed onto a different problem, and comfortable abandoning your own idea when the evidence turns.
• Truthseeking and research ethics. A steadfast commitment to following the evidence, including when it undercuts a conclusion you or we would prefer.
• Commitment to the mission — you care about improving the welfare of animals who are neglected relative to their numbers, and you are open to focusing your career on terrestrial invertebrates, building expertise and networks in the field.
• Techno-economic analysis, unit-economics modeling, or industry / market analysis — in any sector.
• Reading and interpreting company financial statements, statutory accounts, or investor disclosures.
• Knowledge of invertebrate biology or entomology, in either a production or an ecological context.
• Knowledge of agricultural production systems, animal feed, crop protection, or waste management.
• Working experience in low- and middle-income country contexts, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa or Southeast Asia.
• Grantmaking, due diligence, procurement, or contract management experience.
• Reporting to funders, grant-makers, or a board.
• Convening or facilitating processes involving several organizations with differing interests.
• Skill with strategic decision-making tools (stakeholder mapping, scenario analysis, SWOT).
• Proficiency with R or Python.
• Experience working in or volunteering for the animal advocacy movement.
• Working proficiency in a language other than English, particularly one spoken in a major agricultural producing region.
• Working constructively with external parties whose interests and priorities do not fully align with your own.
• Overseeing a project from conception to delivery in a remote, distributed team.
• Comfortable working in an AI-forward workplace.

We expect that even highly qualified applicants will not meet all of these criteria. We encourage you to apply even if you do not have some of these skills, knowledge and experiences.

What We Offer

We offer an annual salary between the following ranges for a full-time Program Officer and Senior Program Officer positions, prorated for part-time work:

• $79,000 – $98,500 USD pre-tax
• £61,000 – £76,600 GBP pre-tax
• €71,000 – €89,350 EUR pre-tax

The exact salary will be based on the candidate's prior relevant experience and corresponding title level, and calculated using RP's salary algorithm. Compensation is not restricted to the currencies listed above. To ensure fairness across the entire organization, RP does not negotiate salaries.

Opportunity to contribute to a fast-growing, high-impact organization — our research is used by key decision makers who influence the distribution of hundreds of millions of charitable dollars.

Remote-first environment, including flexible work hours and schedule.

Comprehensive global benefits program, including statutory benefits as required by local law, and supplemental benefits specific to each country (varies by location).

Generous paid time off (PTO) and unpaid leave, including:

• Unlimited vacation with a minimum number of required statutory days off
• "Mandated" 3 weeks total mid- and end-year organization-wide breaks
• Unlimited (within reason) personal and sick paid and unpaid leave
• Parental leave — at least 4–9 months of a combination of paid and unpaid leave, available prior to and/or during the first 2 years after a child's birth or adoption
• Other paid and unpaid leave (e.g., bereavement)

Technology stipend of $2,000 USD equivalent every 3 years for work and office equipment.

AI tools budget of $40 USD equivalent monthly.

Learning opportunities, including workshops/training sessions and 10% of work time dedicated to professional and personal development.

Paid work trips, including one annual all-staff Mega Team Retreat and relevant conferences.

Virtual co-working spaces, including a private Rethink Priorities Focusmate group.

RP Peer Support Program for New Employees.

Other benefits at the discretion of RP Leadership.

A caring team that values respectful work relations and a healthy work-life balance.

Low administrative bureaucracy.

We don't provide snacks, but we could mail you a box of Oreos if you want!

Work Environment and Visa Sponsorship

This role is fully remote and we are able to legally hire in many countries. In certain cases, we may be able to provide visa sponsorship to the US or UK and help candidates relocate. If you have questions about whether we can hire or provide visa sponsorship in another country and if this will influence your decision about applying, please contact careers@rethinkpriorities.org before submitting your application.

Time Zones and Working Hours

While we welcome applicants from all time zones, most of the Animal Welfare Department works between US Eastern Time and Central European Time. Your regular working schedule should ideally overlap with 14:00–16:00 UTC on weekdays.

Full time position preferred: We have a preference for candidates able to work on a full-time basis, but are open to candidates who can work at least 30 hours a week.

Travel

Travel to work-related events is likely to be important for having impact in this role. We would ideally like candidates to be able to attend 4–6 events per year — a mix of RP staff retreats, conferences, coordination events and industry events — usually requiring international flights.

We expect much of the value of this role may come building networks, identifying and overseeing contractors, and insights from conversations that would be hard to uncover from desk research alone. If travel at this frequency would be difficult for you, we would still encourage you to apply, and to contact careers@rethinkpriorities.org to discuss — but please note that you would want to explore how you could deliver the network-building and oversight parts of the role by other means.

Language

Professional level of English language is required for all roles at Rethink Priorities.

Extension requests

We will try to accommodate extension requests that are made before the deadline and are up to three (3) days. We generally cannot accommodate extension requests made after the application deadline, or are longer than 3 days, and cannot accept late submissions to ensure fairness to other applicants.

Inclusivity and fairness

RP is committed to building an inclusive, equitable, and supportive community for you to thrive and do your best work. Please don't hesitate to apply for a role regardless of your age, gender identity/expression, political identity, personal preferences, physical abilities, veteran status, neurodiversity or any other background. We provide reasonable accommodations and benefits, including, for example, flexible work schedules and locations, mental health coverage through medical benefits (as available), as well as technology budgets and professional development time that can be used, for example, to purchase assistive technology or engage in job coaching.

Accessibility

We're committed to running an inclusive and accessible hiring process. We warmly invite you to reach out to careers@rethinkpriorities.org with any questions or accessibility requests such as chat box use during interviews.

Hiring Software

We use Pinpoint for our recruitment and hiring processes and all of the email correspondence is done via Pinpoint. We encourage you to add the Pinpoint domain (@pinpoint.email and @pinpointhq.com) to your trusted contacts and/or check your 'spam', 'promotions' and 'updates' folders, if you don't hear from us within the expected timeframe.

Past applicant policy

We may be able to accelerate your job application if you have applied to the same or a similar role within RP or a similar institution and advanced within the last two years. Please get in touch stating which role you applied to, when, and to which stage you were advanced at which organization if you would like to be considered for this possibility.

Consideration for other roles

We sometimes identify strong candidates in one hiring round whose skills are well matched to other roles within the department. If you are not selected for this position, we may contact you to ask whether you would like to be considered for a related opening, should one arise. You do not need to indicate interest at the application stage.

Other

Visit our Career webpage if you'd like to know more about our hiring process, culture, and what working at RP is like.