Application Guide
How to Apply for Senior Research Manager, Animal Welfare
at Rethink Priorities
🏢 About Rethink Priorities
Rethink Priorities is a nonprofit research organization that identifies high-impact opportunities to do the most good, with a strong focus on evidence-based decision-making and cost-effectiveness. Its work spans global health, animal welfare, and longtermism, and it has a reputation for rigorous, transparent research that directly informs funders and major organizations. Working here means joining a small, intellectually ambitious team where your research can shape how millions of dollars are allocated to reduce suffering.
About This Role
This is a new leadership role: you'll build and lead an animal welfare strategy team that conducts decision-oriented research and consulting for funders and advocacy organizations. You'll own the annual Animal Advocacy Strategy Forum, design processes for project selection and impact measurement, and hire/manage a multidisciplinary team including economists and specialists. The research you oversee—on alternative proteins, welfare technology, and farm economics—will directly influence where money and effort go to reduce farm animal suffering.
💡 A Day in the Life
You might start by reviewing consulting intake requests from funders, then meet with your team to prioritize projects and troubleshoot research designs. Later, you could interview a candidate for an economist role, refine impact metrics for an ongoing study, and prepare for the next Animal Advocacy Strategy Forum. The work is a mix of strategic oversight, hands-on research guidance, and team building—all aimed at reducing farm animal suffering.
🚀 Application Tools
🎯 Who Rethink Priorities Is Looking For
- 5+ years of experience conducting decision-oriented research, ideally in a consulting, think tank, or research nonprofit setting where findings drove real decisions.
- Demonstrated ability to manage or mentor researchers, including hiring, setting quality standards, and building research processes from scratch.
- Strong research judgment under uncertainty, with the ability to prioritize projects and make calls with incomplete information.
- Preferred: consulting experience, knowledge of animal advocacy, and expertise in economics, policy, monitoring & evaluation, or animal science.
📝 Tips for Applying to Rethink Priorities
Lead with decision-oriented research: In your materials, describe specific projects where your research changed a funder's or organization's decision, including the uncertainty you faced and how you handled it.
Show you can build processes, not just do research: This role is about creating systems for intake, prioritization, and impact measurement. Give examples of processes or frameworks you've designed.
Demonstrate management capability concretely: Mention team sizes, hiring experience, and how you've mentored researchers—especially across disciplines like economics or animal science.
Engage with Rethink Priorities' animal welfare work: Reference their existing reports or projects (e.g., on alternative proteins or welfare technology) and explain how you'd extend or improve them.
Address the part-time nature head-on: Explain how you'll manage a part-time leadership role effectively—e.g., through delegation, async work, and focused priorities—since this is unusual for a senior management position.
✉️ What to Emphasize in Your Cover Letter
Emphasize your track record of decision-oriented research that influenced real-world funding or strategy. Highlight your experience building or managing a multidisciplinary research team, including hiring and quality control. Show familiarity with animal welfare cause areas and Rethink Priorities' approach, and explain why you're excited to lead a new team. Finally, demonstrate your ability to design scalable processes for consulting intake, project selection, and impact measurement.
Generate Cover Letter →🔍 Research Before Applying
To stand out, make sure you've researched:
- → Read Rethink Priorities' published animal welfare research, especially reports on alternative proteins, welfare technology, and farm animal advocacy strategy.
- → Understand the Animal Advocacy Strategy Forum: look for past agendas, attendees, or outputs to see what the annual event involves.
- → Study Rethink Priorities' overall research methodology and how they define 'decision-oriented research' and 'impact.'
- → Research key funders and organizations in the animal welfare space (e.g., Open Philanthropy, Effective Altruism Animal Welfare Fund) to understand the consulting clients and stakeholders.
💬 Prepare for These Interview Topics
Based on this role, you may be asked about:
⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Focusing only on academic research without showing how it informs decisions—this role is explicitly decision-oriented, not theory-driven.
- Neglecting to demonstrate management or mentorship experience; the job requires hiring and leading a team, so purely individual contributor profiles are a poor fit.
- Ignoring the animal welfare domain entirely; even without deep expertise, candidates should show genuine interest and some familiarity with the cause area.
📅 Application Timeline
⏰ Deadline: October 19, 2026
We recommend applying at least a few days early to avoid last-minute technical issues.
Typical hiring timeline:
Application Review
1-2 weeks
Initial Screening
Phone call or written assessment
Interviews
1-2 rounds, usually virtual
Offer
Congratulations!
Ready to Apply?
Good luck with your application to Rethink Priorities!