How to apply for Talent Acquisition Roles

About GiveDirectly

GiveDirectly is a nonprofit that delivers unconditional cash transfers directly to people living in extreme poverty. It has delivered more than $1B to 2+ million people across 15 countries since 2011, and it is preparing to scale to billions of dollars a year if funding allows. The culture is described as candid, analytical, and non-hierarchical, with high ownership and real professional growth.

About the role

This is a talent acquisition role on a small People team, primarily based in Nairobi, hiring several experienced recruiters at once. You would own senior and niche searches across programs, tech, product, G&A, and fundraising. At least one opening is for a senior leader who has managed a recruiting team. All candidates go through one pipeline, and the interview process is used to place you where your experience fits best.

A typical day

The posting does not describe a typical day, so ask in interviews how searches are assigned, how the small Nairobi-based team divides work, and how much of the role is sourcing versus managing hiring managers. Expect to own senior and niche searches across several functions, since that is what the role is built around.

Who GiveDirectly is looking for

• Experienced recruiter who can independently own senior and niche searches end to end, including passive sourcing and closing candidates.
• Has recruited across multiple functions such as programs, tech, product, G&A, or fundraising, not just one narrow area.
• For the leadership opening: has managed a recruiting team and can build and evolve a recruitment function during significant scaling.
• Comfortable working on a small, primarily Nairobi-based team with high ownership and a candid, analytical, non-hierarchical culture.

Tips for this application

• State clearly in your application which track you want: senior individual contributor recruiter or recruiting team leader. The posting says these searches run out of one pipeline.
• Give concrete examples of senior and niche searches you have closed, including the function (programs, tech, product, G&A, fundraising) and the level of the roles.
• If you have managed recruiters, name the team size and what you changed in the recruiting function, since at least one opening is for a senior leader.
• Show familiarity with GiveDirectly's model: unconditional cash transfers, $1B delivered, 2+ million people, 15 countries. Generic nonprofit interest is not enough.
• Read the CEO's essay on what scaling to billions a year will take, and reference specific points from it in your application.

What to cover in your cover letter

Which track you are applying for and why. Evidence that you have owned senior and niche searches across the functions listed in the posting. If applying for the leadership role, your experience managing a recruiting team and evolving a recruitment function. Why GiveDirectly's cash transfer model and its planned scale fit how you work.

Research before applying

• Read the CEO's essay on what it will take to deliver billions of dollars a year to people in extreme poverty.
• Read GiveDirectly's stated values and the employee accounts on its careers page, since the posting says to check whether they resonate.
• Review coverage of GiveDirectly in The Economist, NPR, TED, and The Washington Post, plus its Time100 Most Influential Companies 2026 listing.
• Check what is publicly known about GiveDirectly's People team structure and its Nairobi base, and prepare questions about how the recruitment function is being built.

Likely interview topics

Based on the job description, expect questions about:

• Walk through a senior or niche search you owned end to end. What was the role, how did you source, and how did you close?
• Which of GiveDirectly's hiring areas (programs, tech, product, G&A, fundraising) have you recruited for, and how would you handle one you have not?
• For the leadership role: how have you managed a recruiting team and changed how a recruitment function operates during growth?
• How do you work with hiring managers in a small, non-hierarchical team where recruiters hold high ownership?
• Why GiveDirectly, and what do you think it will take to scale the People function to support delivering billions of dollars a year?

Common mistakes to avoid

• Applying without saying which track you want, even though the posting says one pipeline will be used to place candidates.
• Describing recruiting experience only in general terms instead of naming the functions and seniority of roles you have filled.
• Treating this as a generic nonprofit job and skipping GiveDirectly's cash transfer model, its scale, and the CEO's essay.