Research Manager NGO Job IPA

NGO Jobs. Innovations for Poverty Action Jobs

Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership and Project Oversight
• Lead IPA’s regulatory engagements in Eastern Africa under the Consumer Protection Research Initiative, ensuring each partnership delivers actionable insights that strengthen supervisory capacity and consumer protection mandates.
• Work with regulators to identify priority policy questions and co-design research or data initiatives that apply IPA’s technical expertise to their supervisory mandates.
• Oversee implementation of regulator-driven pilots and studies, translating evidence and technical findings into practical tools and processes for supervisors.
• Support planning and resource management for ongoing and emerging engagements, including scoping, budgeting, and coordination with IPA leadership, academic partners, and funders.
• Stakeholder Engagement and External Representation
• Serve as the primary liaison with regulators and partners in assigned countries, tentatively including financial regulators in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia
• Coordinate technical engagement with regulators on data collection, market monitoring, and SupTech pilots.
• Represent IPA in high-level meetings with government partners, communicating findings and supporting evidence used for policy decision-making.
• Research Quality and Technical Oversight
• Oversee the full lifecycle of research activities, from research design, to data collection, to analysis and dissemination of results.
• Ensure adherence to rigorous data standards, ethical protocols, and sound research design.
• Support data analysis and interpretation, emphasizing actionable insights for regulatory partners.
• Contribute to the production of research deliverables including policy briefs, presentations, and technical reports.
• Team Management and Mentorship
• Supervise Research Associates and field-based staff working on country projects, providing day-to-day management and professional guidance.
• Coordinate with IPA country teams to ensure efficient operations, compliance with IPA procedures, and integration with broader country portfolios.
• Support onboarding, training, and performance management for project staff.
• Operational and Financial Oversight
• Oversee project budgets and expenditure tracking, ensuring adherence to donor and IPA financial procedures.
• Ensure timely completion of deliverables, progress reports, and budget forecasts.
• Cross-Cutting Organizational Contributions
• Document and share lessons learned from regulator partnerships and research implementation across countries.
• Contribute to CPRI’s knowledge-sharing efforts, including inputs for toolkits, workshops, and dissemination events.
• Collaborate with IPA’s country and global teams to align activities and share best practices across regions.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in economics, public policy, public administration, or another field emphasizing data-driven policy analysis and program evaluation.
• At least 3–5 years of experience working in the financial inclusion ecosystem, particularly with regulators, policymakers, or consumer protection actors.
• Demonstrated ability to credibly engage with senior regulatory counterparts — understanding institutional mandates, navigating bureaucratic structures, and framing evidence in ways that resonate with financial supervisors’ priorities.
• Experience designing or managing applied research or data analytics projects; familiarity with experimental or quasi-experimental methods and proficiency in tools such as Stata, R, or Python are strong advantages.
• Ability to interpret and communicate quantitative findings for policy audiences.
• Experience working in low- and middle-income country contexts or in complex multi-stakeholder environments.
• Excellent communication and writing skills, including the ability to synthesize technical results for policy audiences.
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and comfortable managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience working with diverse teams across multiple locations, including extensive remote locations of team members.

How to Apply

Click here to apply