---
title: 'Research Director at Prevail Fund'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/research-director-prevail-fund-global-nk0kcj6y0cnh'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-11'
---

# Research Director at Prevail Fund

- **Company:** Prevail Fund
- **Location:** Global
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-08-05
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-11
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/prevail-fund/92834804-8e12-40b4-834d-20929c9c01ca

## Job description

Research Director Prevail Fund is looking for a leader to build and lead our Research team as we scale. Research is core to what Prevail does - it drives how we assess new philanthropic opportunities, how we strengthen our existing Education Fund, and how we make decisions as we launch new funds over the coming years. We're looking for someone who can lead and develop this team to ensure we have world-class research capacity as Prevail scales. If you're a research leader who enjoys building high-performing teams, loves diving into new sectors, and wants to use those skills to mobilize significant philanthropic capital towards some of the world's most important problems - we'd love to hear from you.

## About Prevail Fund

Prevail is a new foundation dedicated to catalyzing large-scale social change by supporting private philanthropists and field implementers to pursue more ambitious and impactful goals. We work with private philanthropists to fund specific initiatives for 10-12 years. Rather than diversifying across multiple causes, we prioritize goal-driven investments in proven solutions with the potential to reshape global norms. Our first fund aims to improve foundational education for over 27.5 million children across 11 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Prevail provides patient capital to implementers – primarily in the form of grants that grow over time as our partner organizations scale. In addition to funding, Prevail also offers a suite of systems and talent development services designed to address common growth barriers and prepare partner organizations for accelerated scale. In our first three years, we've:

- Made significant progress against our ambitious fundraising targets
- Partnered with 30+ organizations across Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia
- Hired 35+ mission-driven team members globally
- Run dozens of execution projects to strengthen key functions for our partners

Research at Prevail Research is central to how Prevail operates and grows. Our Research team provides the evidence and analysis that informs decisions across the organization - from strengthening work within our Education Fund, to assessing new philanthropic opportunities, to supporting the launch of new funds as Prevail expands into new areas. Importantly, our team seeks to look beyond "what works" on paper to understand the "why" and "how" - identifying implementation bottlenecks and leverage points where Prevail's support could multiply impact at scale.

## About the Role

Working closely with [David](https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-hylden-5a0772a/) and [Andrew,](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-youn-360581/) you'll lead Prevail's Research function - setting the vision and direction for the team, while remaining hands-on in the work itself. You'll work with a team of researchers conducting high-quality, actionable research that spans our Education Fund, our New Initiatives pipeline, and future funds as Prevail grows. This is not an academic role, nor a pure people-management role; you will both develop a strong research team and drive analytical work yourself, producing practical recommendations that Prevail can launch as ambitious, well-funded programs. You will:

- Set the vision and strategy for Prevail's Research function: define priorities across research workstreams, refine our assessment frameworks, derive comparable metrics across sectors, and learn from peer organizations and global experts to keep raising the bar on how Prevail generates and applies evidence.
- Lead and develop the Research team: Owning how the research function is structured and operates across Prevail - including how researchers embedded in individual funds are supported and connected - directly managing some researchers, thinking ahead about the skillsets and profiles the team needs to scale, leading hiring as the function grows, and building the structures to help the team operate at speed and rigor as Prevail launches new funds.
- Drive Prevail's strategy for assessing new philanthropic opportunities – set priorities, refine our assessment frameworks, derive comparable metrics across sectors, and learn from peer organizations and global experts to keep raising the bar on how Prevail decides where to deploy capital next.
- Build and own complex quantitative and qualitative models – dive into complex opportunity analysis, building cost-effectiveness models, reach and fund-sizing estimates, durability syntheses, and other deep-dive work that anchors Prevail's investment decisions.
- Identify, diligence, and evaluate high-impact interventions through desk reviews, expert interviews, quantitative modeling, and likely some in-person visits to real-world programs.
- Synthesize and translate evidence into crisp, transparent outputs that can speak to diverse audiences – ranging from slide decks and investment memos to interactive models and visualizations.
- Answer operational and programmatic questions when evaluating new opportunities, proposing evidence-based, creative solutions that can move Prevail and its partners from ideas to large-scale action.

## About you

You're a research leader, skilled in managing complex, multi-workstream research agendas. You are excited to run a leading research team while remaining hands-on in the analysis. You love deep-diving into new sectors and topics to creatively synthesize punchy, data-driven recommendations, and you’re comfortable owning the conclusion in a room of senior decision-makers. You move easily between quantitative and qualitative insights, and between strategic framing and granular evidence review. You communicate complex ideas clearly to donors, implementers, and academics alike, and you thrive in a fast-paced environment. More specifically, you bring:

- Research experience: You have 9+ years experience in conducting research to drive decision-making. Experience with implementing organizations in global development is a strong asset, but not required.
- Leadership experience: You have 4+ years leading, mentoring, and managing other researchers. You give clear, kind, specific feedback, and you’ve helped build the structures that let a small team punch above its weight.
- Action orientation: You conduct goal-oriented research, structure the most efficient analytical path, and ensure all outputs drive to the decision or actions being considered.
- Transparent thinking: You clearly track and outline how you came to key conclusions throughout the research process. You are keen to share both analytical uncertainties and strategies for resolving them.
- Synthesis skills: You integrate quantitative and qualitative data from diverse fields, like econometrics and political science. You love to synthesize complex ideas into clear frameworks, models, and recommendations. You are a creative communicator, able to develop outputs that can motivate diverse audiences.

## What we offer

- Full time, permanent contract.
- Drive real impact. Your work will directly mobilize philanthropic capital that will impact millions of lives.
- Flexibility: Work remotely from anywhere in a timezone between -6 UTC (US Central Time) and +3 UTC (EAT), with opportunities to travel and connect in person with the team 3-4 times per year.
- Competitive salary based on experience, skills and location. We share salary ranges with candidates before the first interview. Final offers are based on interview performance.
- Meaningful benefits. Health insurance and wellness benefits, home workspace or co-working stipend, plus a generous learning and development budget.
- Growth opportunities. We deeply care about investing in our team’s professional development. You’ll receive strong manager support, targeted feedback, clear pay progression, upwards or lateral mobility.
- Flexible leave policy. Including 25 days PTO, plus public holidays.

Location & start date: This is a fully remote position. For timezone purposes, candidates must be based within -6 UTC (US Central Time) and +3 UTC (East Africa Time). We’re not normally able to sponsor visas. Preferred start date: as soon as possible.

Application process: Our hiring process is thorough, because there are very specific skills required for this role. Successful candidates will go through:

- An initial conversation with the people team (45-60 minutes)
- Hiring manager interview (45-60 minutes)
- Paid take-home exercise (5-6 hours)
- Panel interview (90 minutes) and 1:1 conversations with the rest of the team, including an in-person meeting.

Through the process, we’ll share feedback on the assessments, and invite candidates to incorporate it. This mirrors how we work day to day: collaboratively, with openness to feedback and iteration.

To apply: If you’re excited to help us scale, please apply using the application form. We are taking applications on a rolling basis and will respond to all applications within three weeks.

For more information. For more information on Prevail in general, check out [this deck](https://www.canva.com/design/DAGetQfrr9U/JDu6A0CR7Y_-xZ9CvYAnww/view?utm_content=DAGetQfrr9U&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=h57b65ef349#1). For info on how we hire at Prevail, check [here](https://doc.clickup.com/9010083364/p/h/8cgnxh4-554456/6e7da1c6c0d8a6f).

*Note: If you currently work for one of Prevail’s partner organizations, we’d love to consider you for this role as long as you can provide their express permission. If this applies to you, please ask them to confirm this with us. Thank you!

## About Prevail Fund

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Prevail Fund is a philanthropic organization that helps field organizations and givers pursue ambitious, large-scale global goals by acting as a field implementer, fund manager, and strategic partner, focusing on high-leverage programs like improving literacy for millions of children.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Nonprofit 501(c)(3))
- **Headquarters**: Newton Highlands, Massachusetts, United States
- **Founded**: 2022
- **Founders**: Founded by a board of social entrepreneurs including Andrew Youn (One Acre Fund), Fred Swaniker (African Leadership Group), Safeena Husain (Educate Girls), Dr. Neil Buddy Shah (former CEO of the Clinton Health Access Initiative), and Dr. Angela Gichaga (Financing Alliance for Health).

## Core Business
- **Primary Industry**: Philanthropy / International Development / Social Impact
- **Target Customers**: The organization serves two main groups: "givers" (high-net-worth philanthropists and foundations looking to fund bold, measurable initiatives) and "field organizations" (nonprofits working on the ground in developing countries).
- **Mission or Purpose Statement**: To help field organizations and givers pursue ambitious global goals together, making focused "big pushes" to achieve globally meaningful progress, such as improving educational outcomes for tens of millions of children.

## Products & Services
- **Philanthropic Advisory & Fund Management**: Prevail aggregates capital from a small team of givers and coordinates large-scale funding for specific initiatives, reducing risk for individual donors and providing option value to off-ramp.
- **Field Implementation Support**: The organization does not just write checks; its founding board members have built organizations with 10K+ full-time staff, and they offer hands-on capacity building to partner organizations in the field.
- **First Initiative: Global Education Program**: A 13-year, $1B philanthropic commitment to improve literacy and numeracy for at least 27.5 million children in 11 countries across Africa and South Asia, by working through existing government school systems.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not applicable (Nonprofit). Net assets reported as $11.9M in FY2024 [propublica.org](https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/872372523).
- **Key Metric**: Revenue of **$8.67M** in FY2024 and total expenses of **$4.6M** (FY2023: Revenue of ~$4M) [propublica.org](https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/872372523). Their public goal is to raise $1B for their flagship education initiative.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: The founding board includes leaders from some of the most respected global development organizations (One Acre Fund, Clinton Health Access Initiative, African Leadership Group, Educate Girls). Partners include various government education ministries in Africa and South Asia.
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew **87% year-over-year** (from ~10 to ~30 employees in the last year) [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/prevail-fund). They are expanding into South Africa (posting for a lead there in early 2025) and operating in 12 countries.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Founding Team Credibility**: The board has a track record of scaling organizations to massive budgets ($500M+/year collectively) and thousands of staff, giving them unmatched operational credibility in the philanthropy space.
- **Lean, Operational Approach**: Unlike many foundations that are purely grant-making, Prevail emphasizes "field implementation" and on-the-ground capacity building.
- **Leverage Model**: They claim a 20x leverage ratio, aiming to improve the effectiveness of $20B in existing government spending with $1B in philanthropy.
- **Innovative Risk Management for Donors**: The structure allows philanthropists to pursue bold goals without committing to the entire risk upfront, lowering the bar for large-scale giving.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale and Boldness**: The organization explicitly rejects incrementalism. Their primary focus is proving their "big push" model in global education, with the goal of generating proof-of-concept to apply the model to other global challenges.
- **High-Cost-Effectiveness Programs**: They prioritize interventions (like instructional quality improvements in schools) with strong RCT backing and the ability to be absorbed into national education budgets.
- **Government Partnership**: Their strategy revolves around working with and through host governments to achieve national-scale impact, rather than creating parallel systems.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-Driven Impact**: The work is directly focused on solving massive, measurable global problems (e.g., 9 out of 10 children in Sub-Saharan Africa cannot read by age 10). The culture is described as "results-driven" with a focus on "ambitious targets."
- **Growth Trajectory**: The organization is in a hyper-growth phase (87% headcount growth in the last year). This offers significant opportunity for role expansion and early-career impact.
- **Team Composition**: The team is highly international, with staff in the US, Kenya, Netherlands, India, and the UK. The team is relatively flat, with a high number of "Director" and "Specialist" roles [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/prevail-fund).
- **Work Style**: The organization emphasizes a "bias for informed action," humility, and ownership. They have posted for remote positions, though specific policy details are not publicly available.
- **Who Fits**: The ideal candidate is described as having a "bias for informed action," being humble and service-oriented, ready to learn and adapt, and willing to take ownership to deliver results [prevailfund.org](https://www.prevailfund.org/careers).

## Sources
1. [prevailfund.org](https://www.prevailfund.org/)
2. [prevailfund.org](https://www.prevailfund.org/careers)
3. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/prevail-fund)
4. [propublica.org](https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/872372523)
5. [theorg.com](https://theorg.com/org/prevail-fund)

## Other roles at Prevail Fund

- [Chief of Staff](https://feeny.ai/job/chief-of-staff-prevail-fund-global-8cqj87mtdszf) — Global
- [Senior Partnerships Officer (Education Sector, Africa)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-partnerships-officer-education-sector-africa-prevail-fund-africa-c49y405g3e63) — Africa
- [Deputy to Co-Founder](https://feeny.ai/job/deputy-to-co-founder-prevail-fund-us-east-coast-8797zgpgw0zg) — US East Coast
- [Senior Partnerships Officer (Africa)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-partnerships-officer-africa-prevail-fund-africa-wezjmxn1yvmc) — Africa
- [Research Director](https://feeny.ai/job/research-director-knit-united-states-gkexwf690jk9) — United States