Research and Operations Manager 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 below:

Job Title: Research and Operations Manager

Location: Abuja, Nigeria (temporarily work-from-home due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, until it is safe to work from PAD’s office)
Job Type: 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 and Operations Manager 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 and Operations Manager will be responsible to provide ongoing support to manage PAD’s research and operations in Nigeria. In order to facilitate a steady stream of research and programmatic opportunities, the successful applicant will also actively contribute to fundraising, funder reporting, and research dissemination.
The Research and Operations Manager will report to the Africa Regional Director and will work closely with the relevant Program Leads, Director of New Programs, Director of Research, and 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 Research and Operations Manager will be responsible for the following main tasks:

Supervise the implementation of PAD mobile services in Nigeria, including developing protocols for monitoring digital platforms, ensuring rigorous testing and piloting of our platforms, collecting feedback from the platform users, and planning the development of new features;
Work closely with PAD researchers and our partner organizations to identify, develop, and launch new research projects;
Develop and maintain close relationships with key Government institutions;
Supervise from start to finish the implementation of various research projects in collaboration with our partners. This includes developing research designs and proposals, managing data collection activities, and conducting data cleaning and analysis;
Ensure project adherence in the field to general research design, sample selection, data quality and security, and research protocols;
Directly supervise project staff (Research Associates, Project Associates, Agronomists, Field Staff, Call Center Staff, Interns), and lead training and onboarding of new/incoming project staff;
Maintain excellent relationship and communication with our partners to ensure the success of our projects;
Develop and maintain work plans and timelines across projects to ensure optimal allocation of resources and meeting key deadlines on time;
Keep the Africa Regional Director appraised of all developments on the projects in their portfolio, and serve as key link between partners, project staff, and PAD researchers;
Support the dissemination of results via presentations and reports to our partners;
Contribute to project financial management, including creation and monitoring of program budgets;
Support the administrative registration and set-up of PAD in Nigeria.

Qualifications
Required Qualifications and Experience:

A Master’s degree in Economics, Agricultural Economics, Public Policy, or a closely related field.
Strong technical understanding of economics and randomized evaluations.
At least 2 years’ experience running or managing quantitative research projects focusing on impact evaluation.
The candidate must be comfortable engaging with high level policy contacts (e.g. senior officials, senior staff from international organizations).
Proficient in using Stata or R for data analysis.
Strong writing and oral communication skills in English, with attention to detail and advanced writing and presentation skills.
Ability to manage multiple projects and stakeholders. Strong self-motivation with skill in working under tight timelines.
Strong leadership and relationship-building skills with experience managing staff.
Willingness to travel up to 30% within Nigeria and potentially within the West Africa region.

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