Senior Manager, Global Research & Data Science (Internal Only) at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)

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.

We are recruiting suitable candidates to fill the position below:

Job Title: Senior Manager, Global Research & Data Science (Internal Only)

Requisition ID: 1747
Location: Nigeria
Employment Type: Full-time
Reports to: Director of Global Research and Data Science

Position Summary

• The (Senior) Manager is an essential member of IPA’s Global Research and Data Science (GRDS) team, playing a leadership role in three primary areas: 
  • Overseeing the GRDS research training portfolio, which includes a diverse range of onboarding and training programs for IPA staff and external partners; 
  • Providing technical support to IPA country offices and project teams to ensure adherence to research quality standards; and 
  • Contributing to the development and enhancement of research tools and resources. 
• In addition, the (Senior) Manager will supervise and mentor teams of Data Associates, Data Specialists, and other IPA staff involved in research, data management, and training initiatives.

Responsibilities
10% - Research and Data Knowledge Portfolio:

• Lead GRDS’ research training portfolio, consisting of multiple staff training programs (in-person, remote, online) and capacity-building workshops for internal audiences and external partners.
• Write and negotiate multi-country training proposals, draft training workplans and budgets based on deliverables and productivity assumptions.
• Liaise with other functional teams at IPA to plan and design online training materials.
• Represent IPA in global events and strategic meetings with government agencies, academics, partner organizations,
• donors, and other key stakeholders.
• Hire, onboard, and mentor new GRDS members on GRDS’ training programs and best practices to ensure effective staff training.
• Manage training budgets, fee schedules, invoicing, and all financial oversight of GRDS’ training portfolio.

45% - Global Technical support:

• Support the management of global research support and troubleshooting requests.
• Provide direct technical support to global requests for coding services
• Build Scopes of Work for direct technical support and delegating tasks to other coding specialists.
• Liaise with country offices, particularly to provide technical mentorship to coding specialists.
• Manage and mentor team of analysts and specialists working on data and research technical support

25% - IPA Research Resources:

• Create, review, and disseminate research resources and technical materials. 
• Support the design of IPA’s Research Resources repository that centralizes materials for IPA staff, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.

20% - GRDS Business Development:

• Work closely with the Senior Director and CRMO to develop and implement a strategy for fundraising to support IPA’s development of a Data Science and Engineering line of work
• Lead development and submission of grant proposals and budgets
• Management and upkeep of tracking and reporting on business development

Qualifications
Required:

• A minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics, Statistics, Social Sciences, or equivalent.
• At least five years of work experience.
• Experience in successful development of grant proposals in policy-relevant research.
• Excellent collaboration skills, with both internal and external collaborators. 
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Ability to plan resources and actions to ensure timely and efficient service delivery.
• Ability to lead and to maintain effective working relationships in a multicultural environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity.
• A minimum of a bachelor’s degree in economics, Statistics, Social Sciences, or equivalent.
• Proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite, particularly in Excel. 
• Advanced proficiency in SurveyCTO and Stata.
• Proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite, particularly in Excel. 

Preferred:

• Master’s Degree in Economics, Statistics, Social Sciences, or equivalent.
• Experience managing a randomized control trial.
• Ability to work in one (or more) of the following software programs or languages: Python, R, Twilio, PowerBI, Java, SQL, VBA, GIS, and GitHub.
• Ability to work in one (or more) of the following languages: Spanish, French, Swahili.

Language:

• English required; French, Spanish, and/or Swahili are a bonus.

Travel Requirements:

• Ability to travel internationally 1-2 times per year

Application Closing Date
23rd May, 2025.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Note: This position is open to internal applicants only. External candidates will not be considered.