Director / Associate Director, Research-Informed Delivery

About the role

Precision Development seeks a Director or Associate Director to bridge its Research Professional Group with country program teams in India or Kenya. The role embeds research rigor into program design, manages technical staff, and ensures evidence-based decision-making for agricultural interventions. This full-time position requires significant travel and offers flexible working arrangements.

What you’ll do

• Serve as technical bridge between research group and country program teams
• Operationalize research strategy within program teams alongside Chief Economist
• Provide technical oversight on survey design, M&E systems, and data quality
• Lead and develop a team of technical/program liaison staff
• Support use of evidence when scaling interventions and determining scale-up needs
• Develop program-facing tools, guidance, and protocols for research standards
• Represent research function in conversations with external partners and funders
• Contribute to research funding proposals and internal knowledge sharing

What you’ll bring

• Master's degree in economics, public policy, statistics, or related field (PhD preferred)
• 10+ years experience at the intersection of research and program implementation
• Significant people management and team leadership experience
• Strong background in econometrics and randomized evaluation design
• Experience translating technical research requirements into practical guidance

Nice to have

• Proficiency in data tools such as Stata, R, or SurveyCTO
• Understanding of research ethics for human subjects in social sciences
• Experience working in low- and middle-income country contexts
• Strong project management and cross-functional coordination skills

Skills

Benefits

Flexible working arrangements

Education

Master's degree in economics, agricultural economics, public policy, statistics, or a closely related field (PhD-level training is a plus)