Graduate Research Associate at Precision Agriculture for Development (PAD)

Precision Agriculture for Development (PAD) is a small, but fast-growing global non-profit that uses tech, data science and behavioral economics to provide targeted information to farmers in developing countries. Providing the right information to the right people, in the right way and at the right time, increases incomes, protects the environment and improves well-being. We are evidence-based: we test our interventions with randomized control trials to prove our impact and cost effectiveness, to simultaneously learn from and improve our service, and also to demonstrate our value to funders and partners. There are few programs in international development that are as demonstrably cost-effective as ours. We currently work in eight countries in Africa and Asia, and we are expanding as more governments and organizations look for innovative ways to use new technologies to get information to people across the developing world.

We are recruiting to fill the position of:

Job Title: Research Associate

Location: Abuja, Nigeria (temporarily work-from-home due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, until it is safe to work from PAD’s office)
Position details: Full time
Start date: As soon as possible

Job Description

We are looking for a driven, creative and independent person to join a high-performing, flexible team as a Research Associate to support PAD’s new operations in Nigeria.
You will work in a non-hierarchical team and have opportunities to work closely with PAD and affiliated researchers and substantially contribute to PAD’s programs that test new ideas, measure their impacts, and scale them up.

Responsibilities

The Research Associate will be responsible to provide ongoing support to PAD’s research activities in Nigeria. The Research Associate will report to the Nigeria Research and Operations Manager and will work with the Director of Research and relevant Research Affiliates.
The position will be located in Abuja, Nigeria and will temporarily be a work-from-home position due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. When it is safe to do so, this position will be based from PAD’s office in Abuja, Nigeria and will require frequent travel to field locations in Nigeria.
PAD is a start-up organization and will require flexibility from all staff with regards to roles and responsibilities.
The Nigeria Research Associate will be responsible for the following main tasks:
Supervise the implementation of field operations and research activities;
Support and manage the development of SMS platforms to disseminate information to smallholder farmers via their mobile phones;
Monitor and analyze usage of the SMS services;
Hire, train, and supervise local staff;
Supervise data management activities, clean and analyze data;
Work with PAD team to ensure that all projects and operations adhere to policies, protocols, and timelines;
Develop and update project documentation regularly;
Assist in managing partner relations, and working with external stakeholders for implementation of field operations.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications and Experience:

A bachelor’s degree in economics, agricultural economics, public policy, statistics, or a closely related field.
Fluency in English. Demonstrated strong oral and written communication skills.
Excellent management and organizational skills, detail-oriented, and ability to work independently and be supervised remotely.
1-2 years’ work experience running or managing research projects.
Excellent knowledge of Stata or R or similar software for data analysis.
Ability to work under time pressure and solve problems in the field.
Willingness to travel up to 30% to project areas nationally.
Good understanding of economics and familiarity with randomized evaluations.

Desired Qualifications and Experience:
Our preferred candidates are likely to have some, but not all, of the following qualifications:

Master’s degree in Economics, Agricultural Economics, Public Policy, Statistics, or a closely related field.
Proficient in using SurveyCTO or a similar program for survey design.
Experience working on randomized evaluations.
Experience working on agricultural programs.
Experience managing teams and working in groups.
Previous work experience in Nigeria or other West African countries.

Compensation