Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
Founded by Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg in 2015, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) is a new kind of philanthropy that’s leveraging technology to help solve some of society’s toughest challenges – from eradicating disease, to improving education. Across our core initiatives of Science and Education, we’re pairing engineering with grantmaking, impact investing, policy work, and advocacy, to progress in our mission of building an inclusive, just and healthy future for everyone.
Our Values
We believe we can help build a future for everyone.
- We aim to be daring, but humble: We look for bold ideas — regardless of structure and stage — and help them scale by pairing engineers with subject matter experts to build tools that accelerate the pace of social progress.
- We want to learn fast, but build for the long-term: We want to iterate fast and help bring new solutions to the table, but we also realize that important breakthroughs often take decades, or even centuries.
- Stay close to the real problems: We engage directly in the communities we serve because no one understands our society’s challenges like those who live them every day.
Our success is dependent on building teams that include people from different backgrounds and experiences who can challenge each other’s assumptions with fresh perspectives. To that end, we look for a diverse pool of applicants including those from historically marginalized groups — women, people with disabilities, people of color, formerly incarcerated people, people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or gender nonconforming, first and second generation immigrants, veterans, and people from different socioeconomic backgrounds.
CZI also supports multiple work options. Learn more about our philosophy and approach here.
The Opportunity
Through its Ventures team, CZI invests in innovative companies around the world that are developing ground-breaking solutions aligned with CZI’s initiatives while building scalable, sustainable businesses. Our portfolio includes leading companies such as Age of Learning, Andela, NewGlobe, Brightwheel, BYJU’S, Ellevation Education (acquired by Curriculum Associates), Handshake, MasteryConnect (acquired by Instructure), Newsela, Trilogy Education (acquired by NYSE: TWOU), and Nerdy (NYSE: NRDY) among others. While our primary venture focus has been Education, Ventures is exploring new areas aligned with CZI’s other initiatives. Ventures invests both as a lead and as a co-investor, and collaborates with leading traditional and impact investors to achieve our mission!
As a Senior Associate, you will report to the Managing Partner, Ventures and be a vital teammate in conducting investment and financial due diligence, developing investment and impact theses, sourcing and screening new investments, as well as supporting our portfolio companies. Aside from applying rigorous business and investment analysis to making venture investments, you will also be regularly collaborating across the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative on strategic projects that cut across our impact investing, grant making, engineering and policy work to advance our overall mission. This will include partnering with program and technology teams across our initiatives to diligence and execute Strategic Program Investments.
The successful candidate will be excited to demonstrate their honed business and analytical skills to achieve our impact objectives while working closely with CZI’s other tools and strategies. Ideally, you have prior experience in financial and business analysis through venture capital, private equity / growth equity, strategy consulting, or investment banking. The ideal candidate will care deeply about impact, especially through education, science, or strong communities, and preferably have knowledge in one or more of our initiative areas.
You will
- Assist in the sourcing and screening of new investments by reading / reviewing business plans and pitch decks, participating in meetings with prospective companies, and develop investment and impact theses by assessing market trends to identify compelling businesses that meet our impact and financial screens
- Support due diligence for new investments, including business and industry analysis, building investment models, supporting the preparation of materials for internal discussion, and supporting the team in deal structure, negotiation and investment execution
- Monitor and support existing portfolio investments
- Help prepare materials for portfolio tracking (impact and financial) and internal updates
- Spend 10-20% of your time supporting Strategic Program Investments (spanning a range of financial instruments which could include equity, debt, loan guarantees or other structures) in partnership with CZI program teams
- Support special projects as they arise around process improvement, new areas for exploration, or portfolio support
You have
- 4+ years of work experience, including a minimum of 2 years of investment experience – MBA preferred.
- Outstanding business and investment judgment, as well as strong analytical and problem solving skills.
- Excellent financial modeling skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, and expertise with Microsoft Excel
- Comfort with ambiguity, as well as an ability to thrive in a fluid and fast paced environment.
- Poise and ability to collaborate with C-level entrepreneurs and fellow investors.
- Impact experience – in professional or meaningful volunteer roles.
- Passionate about impact investing through education, science and/or justice and opportunity.
- Willingness to travel domestically and internationally (Up to 33%).
- Willingness to relocate to Bay Area.
If interested, please apply here.
