Research Manager

Job Description

Employment Opportunity - Contingent upon funding.

Pact Ethiopia is a field office of “Pact” an international non-governmental and non-profit making organization with its headquarters in Washington DC. Pact Ethiopia exists to build local capacity to enable systematic solutions that allow those who are poor and marginalized to earn a dignified living, be healthy and enjoy the benefit nature provides. For efficient execution of its duties, Pact Ethiopia is looking for an enthusiastic, creative, energetic individual to fill the following position for its 5-year, USAID-funded program, Sustainable Peace Activity.

Overview:

Pact seeks a Research Manager to provide technical leadership and strategic direction to the SPA research and learning activities to contribute to an increased evidence base for peacebuilding. The Research Manger will work closely with Wasafiri in conflict research and analysis, US small business, Acacia Global Consulting (Acacia) in gender and social inclusion analysis and other research partners to design and implement the SPA research and learning agenda including enrollment assessments, baseline assessment, project evaluation and other research and learning priorities. The Research Manager will work closely with the M&E and program teams to design, implement and supervise learning activities, ensuring that lessons learned are integrated into program implementation to continuously improve quality of interventions and outcomes. The Research Manager will also be responsible for designing and conducting operations research as needed.

Responsibilities:

• Design and implement the SPA research and learning agenda including enrollment assessments, baseline assessment, project evaluation and other research and learning priorities
• Ensure ethical conduct of research activities, including management and implementation of IRB processes, ensuring adherence to country level IRB policies and procedures
• Develop and oversee implementation of standard operating procedures for learning activities
• Collaborate with SPA partners engaged in research and learning efforts to ensure timely implementation, adherence to research ethics and sound design and data quality
• Lead design and implementation of activities to respond to the SPA program learning agenda, such as assessments, program surveys, case studies, learning reviews, and operations research protocols
• Lead the development of case studies, conference abstracts, and other materials that communicate program achievements and successes
• Work closely with the M&E Director to engage partners, government officials and policymakers to develop and carry out research and learning activities and disseminate findings
• Represent SPA’s research and learning activities in public and professional circles through meetings, conferences, and presentations
• Work with finance staff to prepare and track research and learning activity budgets
• Champion and proactively promote both formal and informal learning, as well as knowledge exchange, among SPA and its partners
• Share research and learning findings with SPA leadership, staff, partners, and sub-grantees
• Other tasks as required

Reporting to: Director of Analysis Research and Learning

Job Requirement

Education:

• PhD/MSC in social sciences, political science, public relations, statistics or related field

Experience:

• Minimum eight years of work experience in designing, implementing and managing research, monitoring and evaluating health and/or development projects in developing countries
• Proven experience designing formative assessment, evaluation, quantitative and qualitative research, reporting, data quality assessments, data analysis and presentation
• MER experience in Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding
• Experience and understanding of the US government-funded programs framework and reporting system
• Experience working with international donors, senior government officials and policymakers
• Experience in publication in peer-reviewed journals preferred
• Experience presenting research findings at national and international conferences preferred

Skills:

• Proven expertise in research and maintaining research ethics, managing IRB processes
• Demonstrated skills in management, coordination, teamwork and planning with proven ability to function effectively with multiple host-country counterparts in both the public and NGO sectors
• Demonstrated skills in data quality assurance, data analysis, report writing, and dissemination of findings
• Excellent spoken and written English skills, including demonstrated technical writing skills for publication
• Ability to work effectively with diverse international teams
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment with multiple competing priorities and strict deadlines
• Strong technical skills, including ability to clean and analyze data using one or more statistical software packages, including at least one of the following: SPSS, Epi-Info, Stata
• Ability to travel nationally and internationally up to 40% of the time.