Research and Project Development Associate at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)

Position Summary

• The Research and Project Development Associate will play a key role in the growth of new business for IPA Nigeria. They will work closely with the Research & Project Development Manager to grow IPA Nigeria’s project portfolio by developing new projects with researchers and partner organizations and preparing proposals for funding opportunities as they arise. Additionally, they will work closely with project teams, Principal Investigators (PIs), and implementing partners on research projects, gaining hands-on research and management experience.

Responsibilities

50%

• Working with Research & Project Development Manager and other Project Development Staff to identify key research questions, develop new research studies in collaboration with principal investigators and partner organizations. 
• Preparing technical and financial proposals in response to funding opportunities, at times under tight deadlines.
• Support outreach to new researchers, partner organizations, and funders to share IPA’s work and explore potential opportunities for collaboration.
• Assist in managing relationships with current/past researchers and partners with the aim of developing new projects and expanding existing projects.
• Coordinating record-keeping of proposals through updating of Salesforce, Project Development folders and other relevant systems.

50%

• Actively liaise and communicate with the implementation partner and Principal Investigators (PIs) to ensure smooth project delivery.
• Design and pilot test survey instruments, qualitative interview guides, and data collection strategies, in collaboration with PIs and partners.
• Program survey instruments in SurveyCTO, following programming best practices.
• Hire, train and manage field data collection teams, including enumerators, field coordinators and field managers.
•  Accompany the field teams during quantitative and qualitative data collection activities, to ensure compliance with research protocols and troubleshoot challenges. Expect to spend at least 50% of time in the study sites during data collection periods.
• Conduct data quality checks on a daily basis, communicate data quality issues with the field team, make sure necessary actions are taken to address these issues in a timely manner.
• Clean data on an ongoing basis. 
• Conduct data analysis and produce dissemination materials such as presentations, final reports, evidence briefs.
• Regularly communicate project updates to the Research and Project Development Manager.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in economics, public policy, social science, or a related field; graduate degree strongly preferred.
• 2-5 years of relevant work experience, including experience in economics research, impact evaluations, international development
• Experience with quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis
• Experience managing field data collection.
• Experience with proposal writing and budget development 
• Strong professional writing skills
• Strong client-facing and presentation skills
• Excellent computer proficiency (MS Office – Word, Excel and PowerPoint)
• Self-starter, entrepreneurial mindset, versatility, and ability to learn at a fast pace.
• Passion for making data-driven decisions a reality in the international development sector.

Preferred

• Experience with randomized controlled trials and/or applied statistics
• Intermediate Stata competency
• Intermediate Survey CTO/ODK programming skills