Engagement Director – Health
Hybrid
– Nairobi Kenya (preferred) or Delhi, India /
Delivery
– Projects /
Who we
are: We
are an advisory and research organization focused on advancing and applying
behavioral science in the Global South, in pursuit of poverty alleviation. We
work with organizations to build behaviorally-informed solutions to help scale
their products, programs, and policies. Our rigorous approach to
experimentation has generated impact in a broad range of fields from financial
inclusion to health and early childhood development.
Busara is looking for an experienced behavioral
science practitioner, to lead the development of our Health portfolio around
the globe. We hope that is you!
About the role
Engagement Directors are the primary leaders of
projects at Busara, responsible for driving the planning, strategy, and
trajectory of Busara’s engagements. They have two core responsibilities:
running an active portfolio of projects, and developing partnerships for new
engagements.
Each Engagement Director leads a team of
analysts and associates to execute on our projects, which entail applying
rigorous research methods to identify novel, evidence-based solutions to
behavioral challenges. As such, Engagement Directors should have strong
management skills, extensive experience in applied behavioral science, and the
ability to translate academic research into practical interventions.
Additionally, Engagement Directors take a
significant role in supporting the growth and sustainability of Busara
globally. As you hone your industry and technical expertise, you will
help build valuable relationships that generate business opportunities for
Busara. Engagement Directors have a great deal of autonomy in the partnerships
they build and as they help shape the strategy for the organization going
forward.
Lastly, Engagement Directors play a crucial role
in the organization as members of the senior management team. They are critical
to developing organizational strategy, defining expansion and growth
priorities, and supporting internal processes such as hiring, recruiting, and
coaching.
What
you’ll be responsible for:
In this role, you’ll drive Busara’s Health
portfolio. Busara has a strong health portfolio from vaccines, to digital
health, to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Maternal, Newborn and Child
Health, and we’re looking for someone to take the portfolio to the next level.
You would both build that portfolio and the team by pursuing
opportunities to apply behavioral for social good, and by ensuring that we
deliver on that promise by hiring and supervising excellent people.
In particular, some of
the core responsibilities are to:
- Lead
a portfolio of health projects across multiple client bases (researchers,
private sector, government, etc). This includes identifying areas of
interest, designing projects via proposals to funders, then delivering on
successful proposals with applied behavioral science that is rigorous and
thoughtful.
- Manage,
motivate, and coach a team of Associates and Analysts to execute projects
in your portfolio. This team will be distributed across the globe,
which creates both opportunities and challenges as a Manager. You’ll need
to assemble team members on specific projects to match skills and
interests, and to ensure excellence throughout.
- Stay
current on the latest research in qualitative and quantitative methods,
behavioral science, psychology, economics, and international development
to provide creative direction for projects. You’ll then use this expertise
to ensure the quality of all products produced by the team, through
regular feedback and direct contributions as appropriate.
- Develop
lasting relationships with clients and partners, to build long-term
partnerships and promote behavioral science as a tool within their
organizations. This includes serving as the primary points of
contact on large, multi-year projects, and networking throughout the field
at conferences and client meetings.
- Serve
as a core member of the senior management team, responsible for setting
organizational strategy, holding other team members accountable, and
making senior hiring decisions.
- Drive
the strategy of the Projects Division by setting annual targets, managing
any team building events, and ensuring clear, division harmony on
priorities for the organization. Help identify markets of interest,
future service lines, and priority investments.
To do this well, you should:
- Be
an experienced leader in applied behavioral science and/or behavioral
design. You should deeply understand the behavioral research
literature, and know how to contextualize and practically apply it to real
products, communications and services.
- Be
keen to develop and deliver on high impact projects that leverage
behavioral science for poverty alleviation, particularly in the Global
South.
- Have
led at least a moderate sized team (5 to 10) of people, especially with
multicultural and multinational backgrounds, and can mentor mid-level
staff and young professionals.
- Know
how to build and manage relationships with external partners and funders
of diverse backgrounds and interests, especially within the health sector.
- Have
direct experience working in one or more of the substantive areas of
international development (e.g., sustainability, financial services,
healthcare, gender equity, agriculture), either within development itself
or in the business or non-profit sector. Ideally within the health sector
in the Global South.
- Ideally,
have previous experience in a client-delivery role (e.g. management
consulting, internal innovation team, etc.).
- Ideally,
have previous experience running randomized controlled trials or lab
experiments.
Your formal background, frankly, is not a
criteria. We do not evaluate what school you went to, who you know, or where
you previously worked. These experiences can certainly help you, but what
really matters is that you have the skills, the knowledge and the passion to
lead this portfolio. Show us what you can do.
But, if you’re looking for guidelines on whether
this is the right level of seniority for you, we’ve learned that it’s useful to
offer some benchmarks for comparison.
You should have approximately this level of expertise, regardless
of where it comes from:
·
- The
knowledge that comes from a Master’s degree or Ph.D. in Economics, Social
Sciences, Public Policy, or related fields.
- The
hard-won lessons and self-awareness that usually comes from at least 5
years of work experience.
As applications will be reviewed on a rolling
basis until the vacancy is filled, you are encouraged to submit your
application as soon as possible.
How to Apply