Senior Research Manager

Senior Research Manager

Location:High Wycombe UK with frequent visits to Tanzania and other Developing Countries

Candidates must have the right to reside and work in the UK

Closing Date: 7th April 2014 (at midnight GMT)

About the role:

Are you an experienced Research Manager, with a strong background and interest in poverty research?  Do you have the expertise, passion and gravitas to lead, manage and mentor a growing research team in conducting impact evaluations, panel surveys and cross sectional surveys in East Africa and beyond, whilst providing an exceptional service to our clients and maintaining and developing EDI’s contribution to the development debate in both the academic and policy worlds?   

EDI is currently going through an exciting expansion and development phase.  It is already regarded as the leading research firm in Africa and to support its further growth from its UK and Tanzanian operations, it is now looking to bring on board a strong Senior Research Manager with intellectual and academic clout, coupled with private sector experience to bring new ideas, energy and expertise to the research unit and maintain and develop its reputation for excellence.   

As Senior Research Manager, you will lead, manage and mentor the UK and Tanzania Research Teams whilst managing business opportunities, providing technical input and overseeing all research operations.  Ultimately, you will be responsible for the overall quality of EDI’s research output and deliverables.  The Senior Research Manager will report to the Managing Director and will ensure the impact, credibility, reputation and visibility of the research conducted within or through EDI continues to appreciate.

About EDI:

EDI undertakes the design and implementation of large scale socio-economic surveys covering large sample groups (2000+) including numerous impact evaluations and panel surveys, household surveys; school surveys; student tests; community surveys, enterprise surveys, and market price surveys on behalf of many organisations. The uniqueness of EDI lies in its ability to bridge the gap between the local and the global. While EDI is a Tanzanian registered company, with excellent knowledge of the realities on the ground, its data abides to international quality norms, with data collected by EDI having been officially included in the World Bank’s LSMS (Living Standard Measurement Survey) list of data sets.

EDI’s uniqueness is further showcased through its UK sister company that has created Surveybe, the market’s leading data-collection software specifically targeted for research, monitoring and evaluation and impact assessments in the international development arena.  Surveybe software is now being used in 35 countries worldwide, and the Company supports users with training and consultancy in addition to software licence sales.

Person Specification:

We are interested in talking to strong Research Professionals who hold a PhD in a relevant subject area, such as economics, statistics, public policy, development, etc. coupled with demonstrable experience (minimum 7 yrs) managing and/or providing technical guidance to impact evaluations, panel surveys and cross-sectional surveys where you will have led multi-layered teams and been involved in all project phases across your portfolio of experience; 

You should;

• Be a strong people manager and inspirational leader with experience in managing a diverse range of staff from senior academics to local interviewers.  You will have a passion for developing your team to continually increase their expertise and talent;
• Be a team player as well as a leader.  Additionally you will possess outstanding liaison and negotiating skills to be able to effectively engage with clients and staff alike;
• Be broadly conversant with different branches of micro development economics, with experience in impact evaluation and panel data particularly important;
• Be a good applied econometrician and have a strong knowledge of Stata, and practical experience in power calculations and statistical sampling;
• have lived/ worked extensively (min. 2 years) in a developing country environment, ideally sub-saharan Africa, and have demonstrable experience of managing operations remotely
• Have strong financial acumen and the responsibility for managing portfolios of projects and large budgets (in excess of US$1m), and specifically had previous experience in the management of field work, both quantitative and qualitative (Experience with CAPI/electronic surveys preferred);
• Ideally have strategic planning experience and time spent within the private sector.  In any event you will have the ‘big picture’ perspective whilst understanding the importance of detail and possess the ability to juggle competing demands on your time;
• Be very comfortable with IT and software and it would be a benefit to have knowledge and experience of software development processes.

For a more detailed job specification visit: www.surveybe.com/news/Vacancies.php.  To apply send an up-to-date curriculum vitae (of no more than 2-3 sides of A4) or a detailed statement (of no more than 2-sides of A4) explaining why you are interested in this post and how your skills and experience make you suitable.  Please send applications to vacancies@surveybe.com by Monday 7th April 2014 (9am GMT).