Senior Director of Research
The Senior Director of
Research will lead the organizational vision for researching to improve impact
and scale across IRC programs and influence the humanitarian sector to uptake
research results and findings. They will continue to build organizational capacity
and systems for research, drive ambitious research agendas across IRC technical
sectors, and lead research teams and projects to answer the most pressing
questions to improve humanitarian impact and scale.
Major Responsibilities
Oversee research agendas
and manage teams to deliver high-quality research.
Refine and oversee technical research agendas with IRC technical units driving towards improving IRC impact, equity, influence, and scale across outcomes.
Lead
high-performing research teams to develop research projects and deliver on
ambitious work plans to carry out research agendas.
Oversee
workforce planning to deliver the research agendas and proactively identify and
fill staffing gaps where needed.
Cultivate
and support passionate team members, creating a space of belonging,
professional development, and research excellence across a geographically
dispersed team.
Oversee
community of practice for research across IRC countries
Build and support the data
science team. Strengthen organizational systems to carry out high-quality,
ethical analyses.
Support
country and regional program teams to streamline and carry out high-quality
data collection for research priorities.
Strengthen
and continuously improve our research systems, including standards and support
for high-quality data collection, cleaning, coding, analysis, writing, and
dissemination, including to participants and communities involved in research.
Strengthen
systems for data storage, cleaning, sharing, and analysis, as well as for
version control and reproducibility.
Serve
as IRC’s Institutional Review Board Chair. Support teams to maintain high
ethical standards in research.
Develop strong
partnerships and represent research internally and externally.
Develop
and maintain effective partnerships for research priorities at country,
regional, and global levels that will amplify IRC’s ability to generate
evidence and influence targeted policy and practice.
Present,
publish, and represent IRC research and innovation at events and meetings to
influence key stakeholders.
Cultivate
strong relationships across departments within IRC. Represent the Airbel Impact
Lab with senior leaders across the organization.
Collaborate
with Technical Units, Communications, and Advocacy on strong research
communications to key audiences.
Fundraise and ensure
strong financial management of the research team
Raise
funds needed to support IRC’s research agenda and research systems
Oversee
budgets and the financial health of research teams, initiatives, and projects.
Identify and communicate gaps or concerns promptly, and proactively seek out
viable solutions.
Job Requirements
Education: Ph.D. in a field related
to development and humanitarian intervention (e.g., economics, epidemiology,
political science)
Work
Experience: 10+ years in
research, with significant experience in humanitarian or development contexts
Demonstrated Skills And
Competencies
Extensive
experience in designing research and managing research teams in low-resource
environments.
Fluency
in translating the use of empirical evidence to support technical and
implementing teams to know what works best to achieve meaningful results for
people.
Demonstrated
success in business development for research projects with public and private
donors.
Experience
developing and driving research strategy and learning agendas across a large,
complex international organization.
Strong
record of publication and authorship/co-authorship of peer-reviewed articles.
An
existing and strong professional network in humanitarian and development
research communities.
Very
strong leadership and management competencies including the ability to bring
people from diverse backgrounds along with a stated vision and strategy, and
capacity to communicate effectively with IRC leadership, technical peers, and
colleagues in fundraising, communications, and advocacy.
Excellent
public speaking and writing skills.
Language Skills: Fluency in English is
required; Proficiency in French, Arabic, or Spanish is a plus.
How To Apply