Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is a research and policy nonprofit that discovers and promotes effective solutions to global poverty problems. IPA brings together researchers and decision-makers to design, rigorously evaluate, and refine these solutions and their applications, ensuring that the evidence created is used to improve the lives of the world’s poor. In recent decades, trillions of dollars have been spent on programs designed to reduce global poverty, but clear evidence of which programs succeed is rare, and when evidence does exist, decision-makers often do not know about it. IPA exists to bring together leading researchers and these decision-makers to ensure that the evidence we create leads to a tangible impact on the world. Since its founding in 2002, IPA has worked with over 600 leading academics to conduct over 900 evaluations in 52 countries. This research has informed hundreds of successful programs that now impact millions of individuals worldwide.
We are recruiting to fill the position below:
Job Title: Associate Director, Right-Fit Evidence Unit
Location: Nigeria
Reports to: Senior Director, Right-Fit Evidence Unit
Job Summary
- IPA’s Right-Fit Evidence (RFE) Unit is a global advisory team that helps development and humanitarian organizations use data and evidence more effectively to achieve greater impact.
- The Associate Director will lead a portfolio of evidence and learning advisory engagements for funders, implementers, and governments, helping these organizations turn data into decisions by designing learning strategies, building M&E systems, and connecting evidence to real-world outcomes.
- The Associate Director will also join RFE’s global leadership team, contributing to its strategy and public presence, and will report to an RFE Director, working alongside the Senior Director and five other Associate Directors/Directors across the unit’s 40-plus person team.
Responsibilities
Leading the delivery of a portfolio of advisory engagements (65–75%):
- Serve as a senior point of contact for a wide range of clients—including implementers, funders, and government agencies—leading multiple project teams to develop tailor-made solutions for their evidence, learning, and M&E needs and supporting their implementation; manage several engagements at any time (e.g., 3–5), some large and complex, with a high level of autonomy in delivery, across sectors such as education, health, technology, agriculture, finance, social protection, and livelihoods
- Oversee various types of external evidence-, learning-, and M&E-related workshops, such as theory of change and learning plan design, and other written advisory deliverables
- Provide technical assistance to implement learning plans and strengthen MEL systems, support technical activities such as cost-effectiveness analyses and A/B testing, and build organizational capability to use data and evidence for decision-making
- Lead implementer communities of practice, in collaboration with funders
- Provide support to a wide array of funders, from high-net-worth individuals to major global foundations and bilateral aid agencies, on issues such as internal learning systems, initiative design, grantmaking processes, grant implementation, grantee technical assistance, and portfolio-level learning
- Occasionally lead the design, analysis, and write-up of mixed-methods evaluations and other studies
- Advise and support IPA policy and country office teams worldwide on their own technical assistance engagements, often with government partners
- Provide performance management to multiple Managers, and possibly Advisors, working on various engagements, and support their professional development
Contributing to new business development, public presence, and external relationship management (15–20%):
- Lead the development of a portfolio of new potential engagements, both self-initiated and assigned, often in collaboration with other IPA teams (e.g., sectors, policy, country offices)
- Interface with active or potential funders, occasionally representing RFE and IPA more broadly at conferences and other events
- Contribute significantly to RFE thought leadership and global influence through the production and dissemination of public goods
Contributing to RFE’s leadership and team development (10–15%):
- Take a proactive role in the innovation and implementation of methodological products and services
- Lead at least one stream of RFE’s annual strategic plan (assignments based on skills and interest)
- Strengthen internal management systems
- Encourage a positive work environment rooted in IPA values, well-being, and sustainability
- Provide expertise and mentorship to the team in one or more specific areas (e.g., sector, methodology)
Qualifications
- Master’s Degree in international public policy, (development) economics, or a related field, with coursework in quantitative methods; PhDs and MBAs also welcome
- Minimum of 7 years of relevant work experience, with demonstrated ability to manage complex engagements with senior-level professionals, a proven track record in business development, and demonstrated ability to shape organizational strategy
- Superior analytical, quantitative, structured problem-solving, and conceptual thinking skills
- Experience translating business questions into analytical frameworks and appropriate metrics
- Significant exposure to the design and management of evidence, learning, monitoring, and evaluation strategies and systems
- Familiarity with global debates around M&E and the use of evidence for decision-making
- Strong stakeholder management and client-facing communication skills, with the ability to present information in a structured and insightful way, both verbally and in writing
- Significant project and people management experience
- Demonstrated ability to coach and train others on technical matters
- Substantive relevant work experience in low- and middle-income countries
- Entrepreneurial self-starter mindset; highly adaptable and versatile, with strong multitasking skills
- Ability to travel up to 20% of the time
- Passion for making data-driven decision-making a reality in the development sector
- English fluency (verbal and written)
- Prior experience in consultancy or provision of similar professional services (preferred)
- Expertise in multiple sectors of international development and/or humanitarian work, with added benefit for experience in public health and/or health economics (preferred)
- Developed networks in the international development and/or humanitarian sectors (preferred)
- Experience working in philanthropy and/or with government stakeholders (preferred)
- Experience producing, publishing, and/or disseminating public goods for policy influence and advocacy (preferred)
- Appreciation for the strengths and limitations of various data collection and evaluation methods, and ability to match the appropriate method(s) to a wide range of contexts and needs (preferred)
- Expertise in specific areas of monitoring, evaluation, and learning (e.g., data science, AI technologies) (preferred)
- Experience in the technology sector and/or with tech-first implementing organizations (preferred)
- Familiarity with M&E technology such as data management tools (e.g., Salesforce, management information systems), data collection tools (e.g., SurveyCTO, ODK, Taroworks), and data visualization and insights tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau, SQL) (preferred)
- Experience leading project or program evaluations (preferred)
- Familiarity with randomized controlled trials (RCTs) (preferred)
- Professional proficiency in French and/or Spanish (preferred)
- Lived experience in low- and middle-income countries (preferred)