Director of Research and Learning

Summary

Join GiveDirectly as their Research Director and lead the organization's research strategy, team management, and prioritization of key learning initiatives. You will play a critical role in shaping GiveDirectly's research agenda, ensuring that their work is informed by cutting-edge economic thinking. The ideal candidate is an experienced leader with a strong grounding in economics, particularly macroeconomics, and a talent for team management and strategic prioritization. This role is fully remote with a requirement of at least a 3-hour overlap with an East Africa timezone. GiveDirectly offers a competitive salary, robust health benefits, flexible paid time off, and allowances for desk setup and learning and development.

Requirements

• Exceptional alignment with GiveDirectly Values and active demonstration of our core competencies: emotional intelligence, problem solving, project management, follow-through, and fostering inclusivity
• Language Requirement: English
• 7+ years of experience in research leadership, strategy development, or policy-oriented research
• Communication - be equally comfortable having a technical conversation with an academic as you are describing a study in straightforward terms to a donor who has zero context
• Expertise across research methods and strategies, including quantitative and qualitative approaches
• Translating research into actionable insights – Strong ability to synthesize and communicate complex research findings to diverse stakeholders, including policymakers, donors, and program teams, ensuring research informs strategic decisions and program design

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute research strategy: Define GiveDirectly’s research priorities and ensure alignment with the organization’s mission and strategic goals for impact and fundraising
• Own organizational learning agenda: Identify relevant and important gaps in existing evidence research and determining effective ways to fill in the gaps (using mixed methods approaches as relevant); taking into account global trends in economic development, philanthropy, and political economy
• Ensuring all GD programs draw on the best available evidence in their design and implementation - including actively contributing to proposal development and product design
• Leadership and team management: Build and manage a high performing, high output team of researchers and M&E staff to execute GiveDirectly’s learning agenda, support program design and development, and generate insights to drive program quality, innovation, and fundraising
• Stakeholder negotiation & collaboration: Engage with academic partners, policymakers, and internal teams to drive forward impactful research initiatives, program design improvements
• Fundraising and new business development: Sharing evidence with donors, contributing to proposal and pitch development, ensuring evidence summaries are available etc

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in international development, philanthropy, or a related field is preferred
• Masters degree or equivalent strongly preferred

Benefits

• A positive and supportive team with opportunities for advancement
• A demonstrated commitment to helping all staff develop and grow
• A competitive salary, including bonus
• A robust health benefits plan (exact details will vary by country)
• Flexible paid time off
• Allowances for desk set-up and learning and development