About CEA

The Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) stewards the movement of people putting effective altruism principles into practice to solve the world's most pressing problems. We’re working to build a flourishing future by applying evidence, reason, and compassion to challenges like global poverty, animal suffering, and existential risks.

Our work centers on growing and supporting a global community of people who rigorously analyze where they can do the most good – and take action on those insights. Current strategic priorities include increasing understanding of effective altruism and its principles, growing the number of people who are motivated by EA principles to take significant action to address pressing problems, and diversifying funding sources for high-impact work.

We had significant success in 2025, building momentum within CEA. Our headcount grew from 42 to 66 core staff. Program participation (e.g., events, courses, groups) grew by 20-25% year over year. We merged with EA Funds and are rapidly scaling up our capacity for grantmaking and associated fundraising: our first Fund staffed with full-time employees (EA Animal Welfare Fund) raised almost as much as the previous three years combined.

In 2026, we’re maintaining ambitious momentum while building the foundations for a step-change in the wider EA ecosystem’s growth trajectory from 2027 onwards.

About the finance team

CEA’s finance team manages the systems that move money into, within, and out of the organization across our US and UK entities. We handle finances for both our own operations and our grantmaking, including budgeting, forecasting, accounting, payments, and compliance, with a focus on clear processes, accurate records, and giving CEA leadership the information needed to make good decisions.

About the role

CEA is at an important inflection point. We grew from 42 to 66 staff in 2025, merged with EA Funds, and are planning to grow headcount by over 50% in 2026. We're planning on exiting the fiscal sponsorship relationship that has handled much of our financial infrastructure, and as such we're building the systems, controls, and team we need for long-term independence. CEA can only get where we want to go if we get finance right.

We're looking for a Financial Controller to own the integrity of CEA's financial records and lead our accounting, compliance, and payments functions across our US and UK entities. This is a senior, hands-on role with real scope: you'll manage the close process, oversee external bookkeepers, lead audits, and build out the accounting and payments team as we scale. You'll also serve as CEA's primary NetSuite administrator and work closely with the Head of Finance on multi-entity consolidation and evolving internal controls.

This role is right for you if you bring both technical depth and operational judgment – you’re someone who cares about getting the details right and can see the bigger picture of what a well-run finance function makes possible. You're comfortable with complexity (multiple entities, jurisdictions, currencies, fund types) and energized by the opportunity to design and refine processes from the ground up.

CEA has an annual operating budget of over $25M and manages significant and growing grantmaking fund flows. The right candidate will find this a genuinely interesting financial environment and will be excited to support the infrastructure that makes ambitious, high-impact work possible. We're already experiencing remarkable growth: one of our core grantmaking funds, the EA Animal Welfare Fund, has received over $30M in the first half of 2026 alone, tripling its full-year 2025 total. We're planning significant fundraising expansion in the years ahead, which means this role has real growth potential. As CEA scales, we anticipate that the finance function will grow with it: more complexity, larger fund flows, a bigger team to lead. For the right person, this role will be an opportunity to grow into a more senior finance leader and help to manage the team as the organization's needs and ambitions expand.

Key responsibilities