What you’ll do:

• Develop and execute research strategy: Define GiveDirectly’s research priorities and ensure alignment with the organization’s mission and strategic goals for impact and fundraising.
• Own organizational learning agenda: Identify relevant and important gaps in existing evidence research and determining effective ways to fill in the gaps (using mixed methods approaches as relevant); taking into account global trends in economic development, philanthropy, and political economy. 
• Ensuring all GD programs draw on the best available evidence in their design and implementation - including actively contributing to proposal development and product design.
• Leadership and team management: Build and manage a high performing, high output team of researchers and M&E staff to execute GiveDirectly’s learning agenda, support program design and development, and generate insights to drive program quality, innovation, and fundraising. 
• Stakeholder negotiation & collaboration: Engage with academic partners, policymakers, and internal teams to drive forward impactful research initiatives, program design improvements, 

Fundraising and new business development: Sharing evidence with donors, contributing to proposal and pitch development, ensuring evidence summaries are available etc.

What you’ll bring:

• Exceptional alignment with GiveDirectly Values and active demonstration of our core competencies: emotional intelligence, problem solving, project management, follow-through, and fostering inclusivity. We welcome and strongly encourage applications from candidates who have personal or professional experience in the low-income and/or historically marginalized communities that we serve.
• Language Requirement: English
• 7+ years of experience in research leadership, strategy development, or policy-oriented research.
• Communication - be equally comfortable having a technical conversation with an academic as you are describing a study in straightforward terms to a donor who has zero context.
• Expertise across research methods and strategies, including quantitative and qualitative approaches.
• Translating research into actionable insights – Strong ability to synthesize and communicate complex research findings to diverse stakeholders, including policymakers, donors, and program teams, ensuring research informs strategic decisions and program design.
• Experience working in international development, philanthropy, or a related field is preferred.
• Master's degree or equivalent strongly preferred.