Senior Research & Impact Analyst at Lafiya Nigeria

Position Overview

• As Lafiya transitions from a startup to a national-scale organisation, we want to rigorously prove our impact. We are looking for a technically-driven professional to support the high-level evidence generation and research agenda of our MEL department. Based in Abuja, you will be at the heart of our strategy, turning raw data into the defensible evidence needed to influence national policy and secure government adoption.
• This position will focus on the "why" and "how" of our long-term success. You will be the technical architect behind our most complex evaluations. You will design rigorous experiments, manage sophisticated data pipelines, and ensure that our evidence meets the highest standards of international donors and academic publications. This is a role for a "thinker-doer" who enjoys the deep, abstract work of statistical modelling but has the entrepreneurial drive to manage a research process from start to finish. If you want to take ownership of high-level research in a fast-moving, agile environment, where your insights directly shape the future of contraceptive access in Nigeria, this is the role for you.

• What You’ll Do

• Rigorous Evaluation Design: contribute to our learning agenda by designing sampling strategies and protocols for upcoming process evaluations, ensuring our methods are robust enough to capture nuanced data.
• End-to-End Research Management: lead the execution of internal and external evaluations. This includes managing pools of enumerators, securing ethical clearance, overseeing data collection quality, and ensuring strict adherence to study protocols in the field.
• Advanced Statistical Analysis: Lead the statistical analysis for complex studies, including Difference-in-Difference (DiD) models and longitudinal tracking. You will write the R scripts to match client IDs across historical datasets to track continuation rates.
• Data Architecture & Engineering: contribute to building automated data workflows. Using R, Python, or SQL, you will engineer data systems that automatically clean incoming streams and feed into dashboards that level up our reporting. 
• Federal Stakeholder Representation: Represent the Lafiya MEL department in meetings with Federal-level stakeholders and technical partners, presenting our evidence to align with national health priorities.
• Publication Ready Evidence: produce analysis of sufficient rigour for academic publication and high-level donor reporting (e.g., Gates Foundation).
• Strategic Communication: Translate complex statistical findings into clear, defensible evidence that can be used to influence national health policy and program strategy.

Who You Are

• We are looking for a rigorous thinker who is comfortable balancing methodological integrity with the operational realities of a fast-moving non-profit, and proactive, entrepreneurial, and determined to find the truth within the data.
• This is a role for someone who enjoys theory, and complex analysis, but who also takes ownership of the full research lifecycle, from design to field execution to policy-relevant evidence.

You’re someone who:

• Thinks theoretically, acts practically. You enjoy abstract thinking, causal inference, study design, and statistical modeling, but you are equally comfortable turning theory into a feasible field evaluation. You don’t wait for instructions; you identify research gaps and propose solutions.
• Brings an entrepreneurial research mindset. You don’t wait to be told what study to run. You identify evidence gaps, propose research questions, and take ownership of moving an evaluation from idea to publication-ready output in a resource-constrained environment.
• Is technically fluent and analytically sharp. You are comfortable working independently with large, messy datasets and writing code to clean, merge, and analyze them. You don’t just run analyses. You explore patterns, test robustness, and challenge your own findings.
• Thinks critically about evidence. You understand that "indicators shape behaviour." You design metrics that measure true impact rather than just activity. You don't hide uncertainty; you explain confidence intervals and limitations honestly because you know credibility is built on truth, not perfect data.
• Is driven by learning. You are not afraid to ask questions or challenge assumptions. You see evaluation not as a compliance exercise, but as the primary tool for organisational improvement. You are comfortable saying when you don't know something and enjoy figuring it out.
• Is a rigorous truth-seeker. You care deeply about methodological integrity and credibility. You question assumptions, interrogate models, and are transparent about uncertainty and limitations. You believe strong evidence is built on honesty, not perfect results.
• Can manage the research process. You have experience conducting in-field experiments or evaluations in development contexts. You know how to train enumerators to minimize bias and how to manage data quality in real-time.
• Communicates clearly. You can explain confidence intervals and regression coefficients to non-technical stakeholders without losing meaning. You know how to speak to field teams, decision-makers, and funders effectively. 

Education and Experience

• Master’s degree in Econometrics, Statistics, Data Science, Public Health, Economics, or a related field.
• Past experience in managing an evaluation process from design to reporting in a development or research context.
• Experience writing code for data cleaning and analysis (R, Python, Stata).
• Experience designing and managing quantitative surveys using SurveyCTO or Open Data Kit.
• Past experience managing research teams or enumerators in the field.

Skills & Competencies

• Professional fluency in English and Hausa is mandatory.
• Proficiency in R for advanced statistical analysis, econometrics, and modelling is mandatory.
• Proficiency using spreadsheet software (Excel or Google Sheets) for analysis (e.g. VLOOKUP, pivot tables, data cleaning).
• Experience with SQL for database management and querying.
• Working knowledge of tools like Power BI, Tableau, or advanced R/Python libraries for building analytical dashboards and reports.
• Expertise in designing and deploying complex quantitative surveys usingSurveyCTO.