Senior Manager - Research, Evidence and Engagement
Nairobi, Nairobi

Role Outline

Over the past four years, we have evolved substantially into an implementer of development programmes. We employ approximately 170 staff with a primary focus on supporting the transformation of key sectors across East Africa. We work in 6 sectors across four countries. The depth of our work in each sector, with a flexible but clear approach applied across these different sectors and geographies, provides us with a rich environment for learning, as well as a strong need to bring in new ideas and thinking to support our work.

Our Learning Team is focused on ensuring that we utilise our capabilities as a private foundation to actively learn from our work and that of others; sharing this learning effectively with institutions, governments and development partners to influence their behaviours and choices. This means that we need to build really strong capabilities to gather the insights and lessons from how we work – reflecting critically and continuously on our successes and failures in implementation. It means that we need to create and manage mechanisms for internal knowledge sharing, to bring in and adapt external knowledge and to build our external communication channels.

We recognise that to be successful in getting others to learn from our work will require more than just sharing knowledge and will need active relationship building, an adaptation of our evidence and materials to meet others’ needs, as well as concerted engagement in key debates and discussions. We will need to build a strong network of senior figures that understand our work and who we can draw on to support our external engagement agenda.

The Senior Manager Research, Evidence and Engagement is at the heart of all of this work. It will be responsible for managing a programme of research to ensure that Gatsby’s approach is well-evidenced and grounded in economic practice, as well as drawing out strong examples of this work in practice from our programmes. It will be responsible for leading the development of strategic research partnerships with local and international institutions and coordinating our external engagements across the region to place sector transformation at the heart of current policy debates. This role will help to build GA’s reputation, positioning and broader relationships across policy circles in East Africa, working closely with senior country-based staff.

The Senior Manager Research, Evidence and Engagement will need to work closely with other members of the Learning Team in a mutually supportive and flexible manner, working to agree, define and meet the organisation’s needs for evidence, ensuring GA keeps abreast of the latest thinking and evidence, while also making connections to our fundraising and investor engagement work.

The Senior Manager Research, Evidence and Engagement is a technical role, requiring substantial professional knowledge and expertise in private sector development, ideally with exposure to and experience of implementing market systems programmes. Alongside this, this role requires an understanding of broader debates around economic growth and the role of industrial policy as well as a detailed grasp of political economy challenges, ideally with exposure to these across East Africa.

This role will need a strong academic background and high-quality research skills, with deep experience in the application of research to identify solutions to problems. They will need excellent core management, communications and relationship-building skills coupled with the ability to present research and evidence succinctly and non-technically to senior-level audiences. The Senior Manager Research, Evidence and Engagement will need to be comfortable thinking through and designing systems for monitoring, evaluating, learning, adapting and reporting on this agenda.

The ideal candidate will bring a set of senior-level networks across the development sector and in East Africa relating to this work. They will have excellent strategic and critical thinking skills, with the ability to quickly identify opportunities and risks from different courses of action.

Terms and Remuneration

Gatsby will pay competitively based on salary history and experience.

Job Description

Reports to: Learning Director
Direct Reports: TBC
Location: Nairobi, Dar-Es-Salaam or London with significant travel (est. 15-30%)

Key Role Responsibilities

1. Champion and consolidate GA’s approach thinking

Review the current status of thinking and documentation of our approach to sector transformation, covering the whole spectrum of work from evidence behind why we focus on sectors, what we mean by transformation and how we choose sectors, through to how we design programmes, work with governments, monitor and adapt our work.
Establish a plan of work to fill in the gaps of this, our approach, whether this is building an evidence base for specific changes, developing materials for external influencing and internal purposes, ensuring that all materials are widely available and working with knowledge management and skills leads to ensure that all staff have a shared understanding of our approach.
Manage international and local consultancies to deliver academic level research in support of our approach, as well as practical guidance for programmes and governments relating to sector transformation.

1. Facilitate evidence-based external engagement

Support the refinement and implementation of GA’s external engagement strategy including designing detailed objectives for sharing learning.
Coordinate the implementation of plans to share learning and engage externally across East Africa
Produce evidence papers and play a lead technical role in discussions with target audiences.
Build and manage relationships with priority international research partners to ensure that they understand and buy into our approach, identifying mechanisms for us to collaborate to enhance their understanding and share learning externally.
Work with other members of the Learning Team to design and deliver conferences, workshops and research dissemination mechanisms to raise awareness and understanding of our approach among individuals from target audiences including funders, investors, governments and other institutions.

1. Oversee programme of cross-cutting research

Prioritise cross-cutting research needs and ensure that internal or external research work is well-designed and carefully managed to ensure it delivers practical outcomes with a clear dissemination strategy and target audiences before we start.
Deliver prioritised research projects personally.
Shape the work of other members of the Learning Team, e.g. through coordinating an overarching research agenda to guide GA’s cross-portfolio research, covering the needs of our programmes, our fundraising and our government engagement agenda.
Work with the Portfolio Team to validate research findings to develop practical tools for how these might usefully be applied in practice, e.g. by GA’s programmes.
Build and maintain a broad and deep network of international and local researchers and research institutions, think tanks and network organisations who are interested in our areas of work and our approach.
Lead the research and external engagement aspects of the Learning team’s budgeting process and annual reporting cycle, managing these budgets.

Person Specification

Competencies;
Sound experience and understanding of private sector development and market systems development programming principles and practices
Deep exposure to and understanding of broader debates around economic growth and the role of industrial policy
A detailed grasp of political economy challenges, with exposure to these across East Africa
High-quality research skills, with deep experience in the application of research to identify solutions to economic problems
Excellent core management, communications and relationship-building skills coupled with the ability to present research and evidence succinctly and non-technically to senior level audiences
Experience designing systems for monitoring, evaluating, learning, adapting and reporting on this agenda.
Excellent strategic and critical thinking skills, with the ability to quickly identify opportunities and risks from different courses of action.

Personal Attributes
Experience of complex project management – managing multiple contracts, ensuring milestones and deadlines are met, overseeing and holding to account contractors
The ability to build trusted relationships with the maturity and judgement to manage complex stakeholder dynamics in a multi-cultural environment
Ability to influence and get results in a matrix system (or similar) to motivate and coordinate input from others
Excellent communication skills – written and oral, including report writing.
Commitment to a high standard of professional performance and integrity.
Initiative and the ability to work independently, taking a high degree of personal responsibility for results.
A private sector outlook on development, and a commitment to improving the lives of East Africans through transforming high potential industries.
A genuine team-player with strong skills in listening, negotiating and influencing.
Strong time-management and work planning skills - able to meet deadlines under pressure and prioritise areas of work for different team members in a fast paced environment
Strong intellectual curiosity.

Knowledge, Experience and Qualifications

Proven experience of working within large-scale and complex private sector development programmes, including market facilitation programmes
Experience of working in cross-cultural teams, demonstrating sensitivity to cultural differences
A network of contacts across the development and investment sectors in East Africa.
10 years' relevant experience with substantial project management expertise
Experience of working in international development, ideally with in-depth experience in East Africa
Experience of working closely with a range of senior stakeholders across public and private sectors
Relevant higher education qualification at bachelor’s degree level or above.

Desirable

Kiswahili language skills.

Our Values and Behaviours

We have developed a set of core values that will be used to assess a candidate’s fit with the organisation and provide the basis for the culture that we aspire to use in our operations. Our staff are:

Ambitious – Showing determination to deliver long-term and large-scale impact for others, and to achieve our own potential.
Collaborative – Working together to develop strong relationships with diverse stakeholders, while understanding others’ needs and enhancing their capabilities to drive change.
Thoughtful – Reflecting on evidence and learning from our activities and those of others to design, adapt and improve our work.
Pragmatic – Recognising the motivations of others and the realities of facilitation, seeking opportunities to build momentum for change, and communicating carefully.
Honest – Playing a trusted role as an honest broker for change, being open to learn from others, and admitting our challenges.

Gatsby Africa is an equal opportunity employer.