Director / Associate Director, Research-Informed Delivery

Role Overview

This role is the operational anchor that keeps rigorous research principles and real-world program delivery moving in the same direction. You will sit at the point where PxD’s research ambitions meet the practical realities of country teams, making sure that evidence standards, methodological discipline, and data quality are built into every stage of program design and scale-up. You’ll lead a technical team, collaborate across research, country, and leadership functions, and help decide where evidence is strong enough to act on and where more proof is needed before expanding.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as the primary interpreter between PxD’s research group and regional program teams, turning research priorities into clear, executable guidance for implementation staff.
• Work alongside program managers and country directors to embed evidence-based decision-making into day-to-day operations, from survey design to intervention rollout.
• Provide quality assurance on monitoring and data collection systems, verifying that program-level tools meet the organization’s research standards and can support rigorous evaluation when needed.
• Identify risks to data integrity, research validity, or program impact before they become serious, then coordinate with relevant teams to correct course.
• Manage and develop a growing group of technical or program-liaison staff, setting performance goals, offering mentorship, and strengthening their research literacy.
• Lead the creation of practical resources—such as data quality checklists, survey standards, and ethics protocols—that translate research expectations into everyday program workflows.
• Support research scoping by assessing which program contexts are suitable for randomized evaluations and collaborating on new learning opportunities.
• Contribute technical input to funding proposals, progress reports, and internal knowledge-sharing, helping to maintain institutional continuity and cross-team learning.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Master’s degree in economics, agricultural economics, public policy, statistics, or a related field; PhD-level training is an advantage.
• At least 10 years of experience working at the intersection of research and implementation, ideally in international development or another research-intensive environment.
• Proven experience managing technical or program staff, including direct supervision, coaching, and capacity building.
• Strong grasp of econometrics and randomized controlled trials, and the ability to translate sampling, survey design, and data quality requirements for non-specialist audiences.
• Comfort using data analysis and survey tools such as Stata, R, or SurveyCTO, enough to spot and help resolve data quality issues.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to engage credibly with both academic researchers and field-based program teams while navigating trade-offs between rigor and operational constraints.
• A track record of working effectively with country teams in low- and middle-income settings, including adapting to logistical and practical limitations.
• Strong project management ability, handling multiple cross-functional workstreams and relationships with external partners like academic institutions, government agencies, or implementers.
• Familiarity with research ethics and the protection of human subjects in applied social science.
• Willingness to travel internationally for meetings, field visits, and organizational events.