Research Operations Manager

Role Overview

The Research Design & Evaluation (RD&E) Operations Manager keeps Jacaranda Health’s research portfolio on track, connecting product research with implementation and impact studies. The role brings together planning, budgets, compliance, and communication so teams can produce reliable evidence that informs maternal health programs and supports their development and expansion.

Key Responsibilities

• Maintain a portfolio-wide schedule of studies and projects, tracking milestones, dependencies, team capacity, and delivery risks across research streams.
• Coordinate planning around product research sprints as well as fieldwork schedules, including data collection periods and enumerator and partner logistics.
• Identify emerging timeline or staffing conflicts, raise them promptly with the Head of Department, and recommend practical ways to address them.
• Plan, monitor, and report research budgets; coordinate vendors and partner agreements with Finance and Operations where needed.
• Lead donor reporting workflows and deliverables in coordination with Communications and Finance, ensuring reporting is accurate and submitted on time.
• Develop and maintain shared research operations systems, including project intake, templates, documentation practices, and supporting tools.
• Coordinate research administration such as participant recruitment, access to product research tools, fieldwork and facility scheduling, and ethics submission tracking.
• Support lawful and ethical research operations by overseeing data storage and sharing processes, while keeping research teams and cross-functional partners informed through regular status updates and communications about findings.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline, such as public health, social sciences, business, or management.
• At least five years of experience in program or project management, research operations, or operations management, including direct experience supporting research operations.
• Working understanding of research methods and requirements, including study design, data quality, interpretation, and reporting.
• Demonstrated ability to manage budgets, vendors, timelines, and competing priorities across multiple workstreams.
• Ability to coordinate both rapid, product-oriented work and longer-cycle, field-based or donor-funded research.
• Strong organizational and cross-functional communication skills, with experience establishing or maintaining shared processes and operational tools.
• Experience with donor-funded projects and reporting is desirable, particularly in global health, maternal and newborn health, or digital health.
• Familiarity with research ethics and regulatory procedures in Kenya, including IRB and NACOSTI submissions, and with data protection requirements is desirable.
• A project management certification is an advantage.