SOCIAL SCIENTIST/ECONOMIST/RESEARCHER

IDinsight

SOCIAL SCIENTIST/ECONOMIST/RESEARCHER

Location: Dakar, Senegal; Nairobi, Kenya; Lusaka, Zambia; Rabat, Morocco; Manila, Philippines; or Delhi, India. 
Exact title will depend on qualifications and role.

About IDinsight

IDinsight helps leaders combat poverty worldwide by designing, deploying and promoting evidence- generating tools. We tailor the best methodologies to partner needs and constraints to fuse evidence with action. We serve governments, NGOs, foundations and social businesses across Africa and Asia in all major program areas including health, education, agriculture, livelihoods, finance, energy and governance.

Our approach rests on four pillars:

• Rigorous: We develop and use a wide-range of cutting edge data and evidence tools, including experimental evaluations, monitoring systems, data analytics and visualization, process evaluations, machine learning and more.
• Cost-effective: Every dollar spent is justified by expected impact. If funds could be better used in another way, we say so.
• Timely: Actionable information is delivered in time for client decision-making deadlines.
• Demand-driven: We deploy solutions tailored to partner contexts and needs with no competing agendas.

Our diverse, growing team of over 140 outstanding colleagues operate in nearly two dozen countries around the world.

About the Social Scientist role

IDinsight Social Scientists (hereafter “Researcher”) are experts in quantitative and qualitative research tools who support a large portfolio of projects across diverse geographies, sectors, and methodologies. This position may allow for specialization along any or all of these dimensions.

The Researcher will be required to think critically about how to maximize methodological rigor given our clients’ time, operational, political and budget constraints. The ideal candidate should love having many different types of problems thrown at them, be able to quickly digest and understand the program and evidence objectives, and provide advice and guidance on how best to proceed.

The Researcher will be an important member of IDinsight’s Technical Team. The Technical Team is responsible for ensuring that the services we provide to clients are statistically and methodologically sound. In collaboration with the Technical Team lead and personnel, the Researcher’s role will include, but not be limited to, the following activities:

• Designing and implementing evaluations and other research activities for IDinsight clients in collaboration with project teams. The Researcher will play a leading role along with our client teams in designing and implementing studies for IDinsight clients, including descriptive studies, diagnostic/needs assessments, impact evaluations, process evaluations, monitoring systems, program design and advisory, and scale-up plans.
• Ensuring technical rigor of project deliverables. The Researcher will support project teams in drafting and refining technical documents, which include evaluation designs, pre-analysis plans, sample size calculations, data collection instruments, technical reports, and other documents. The Researcher will also be a crucial resource to the country office where he or she is stationed by providing technical expertise on short-term issues that confront project teams.
• Working with culturally and geographically diverse project teams. The Researcher will work with project teams that can be spread across the globe, from different nationalities and cultures.
• Supporting the technical professional development of staff. The Researcher will prepare and lead training sessions on technical topics (such as statistical inference and Stata programming) on a regular basis. He or she will also provide individualized support to staff on their technical professional development.
• Publishing IDinsight studies in academic and policy journals. The Researcher will have the opportunity to co-author publications in academic and policy journals to showcase results from IDinsight studies, based on IDinsight’s client needs and the Researcher’s interest.
• Develop new projects and services. The Researcher will have the opportunity to develop new projects and client relationships in accordance with IDinsight’s values of client-focused and decision-focused research.

The Researcher will be expected to fulfill these responsibilities and others with professionalism and on strict deadlines. He or she will also be expected to propose, design and implement new initiatives for supporting project teams and increasing the technical rigor of IDinsight’s work.

Career development

Professional development for Researchers is essential for IDinsight’s long-term impact. With support from IDinsight leadership, Researchers maintain self-directed professional development plans and are given "stretch" opportunities designed to strengthen their professional skills. Real-time feedback and structured reviews are regularly provided to maximize each Researcher’s expertise. IDinsight’s entrepreneurial culture allows roles and career progression to be tailored to individual strengths, interests, and goals.  Researchers have the opportunity to increase responsibilities, and high performers will have the opportunity to move up in the organization along technical, managerial, or client-facing paths.

Opportunities to protect a small portion of time for the candidate to work on their own research agenda may be possible.

Qualifications

• Deeply passionate about social, economic, and environmental policies and programs, and social impact
• Advanced degree in economics, econometrics, statistics, political science, public policy, public health, sociology, anthropology or other applied field. PhD preferred, although candidates with a Master’s degree and a strong record of success doing similar work will be considered.
• Outstanding quantitative and critical thinking skills
• Self-starter who will thrive in a start-up setting by taking ownership and initiative
• Intellectual curiosity and sense of humor
• 3+ years of relevant work experience preferred, including designing and managing evaluations, quantitative analysis, field research, and managerial experience in a developing country
• Significant experience with Stata or R preferred. Experience with additional programming languages a plus
• Prior work authorization in one of the position locations 
• Deep contextual knowledge and experience in the regions where IDinsight works
• Candidates interested in the Senegal or Rabat office should be fluent in French. 

Locations

Research positions will be based in one of the IDinsight offices in Morocco (Rabat), Senegal (Dakar), Nairobi (Kenya), Zambia (Lusaka), Philippines (Manila), or India (Delhi). 

Compensation

Compensation is commensurate with relevant experience and background, and competitive within the social sector.

Start Date

There is no fixed start date. The start date is rolling. We are looking for candidates interested in building a long-term career at IDinsight.

For more information and online application click here