Summary
Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) seeks a Senior Research Associate based in Medellín, Colombia, to support a portfolio of research projects on organized crime led by Christopher Blattman (The University of Chicago), Benjamin Lessing (The University of Chicago), Arantxa Rodríguez (Princeton University) and Santiago Tobón (Universidad EAFIT). This portfolio includes projects such as “Understanding Gang Recruitment in Medellin, Colombia” and “The Impacts of Intensive Municipal Governance and Community Organization on Gang Governance in Medellín”.
The Research Associate will work closely with the IPA research and policy teams, Principal Investigators (PIs), and implementing partners, gaining hands-on field research and management experience. Key responsibilities will include: coordinating and collaborating with external academic, policy, and programmatic partners designing and piloting survey questionnaires; recruiting, training, and managing junior research staff and field teams; designing and supervising logistics for field activities; cleaning and analyzing survey data; assisting in the writing of project reports and policy memos; and liaising with key stakeholders. The work will develop your analytical and management skills and require your full commitment in a challenging environment.
As an ideal candidate, you should have a solid technical foundation in impact evaluation methodology and econometrics. You must be able to organize complex work plans and lead teams to produce high-quality outputs on time and on budget. You are able to think critically and problem solve in a high-paced, dynamic environment. You are able to manage relations with high-level project stakeholders including researchers, policy makers, implementing partners, and donors.
$ads={1}
Compensation:
IPA's compensation structure is designed based on the labor market for the specific geographic location where the employee is located. We are offering the following salary ranges for this position:
- Associate is classified as "C1" on IPA's global job structure.
- For Colombia based employees the starting annual gross salary is 8,000,000 Pesos with a maximum of 12,000,000 Pesos.
Actual base salary may vary based upon, but not limited to, relevant experience, base salary of internal peers, business sector, and geographic location.
Responsibilities
- Manage logistics of field experiments, including management of budgets, timelines, and partner relationships.
- Design, debug and pilot survey questionnaires.
- Collaborate with principal investigators on study design, implementation and analysis.
- Maintain coordination with implementing partner and government to ensure program development adheres to research design.
- Ensure compliance with data quality protocols, including enumerator audits, monitoring data collection and conducting quality audits.
- Build and manage survey teams.
- Perform data cleaning tasks and assist in preliminary analysis.
- Assist in drafting project reports and policy memoranda.
- Coordinate actions as needed with local partners implementing the programs being evaluated.
- Support the dissemination of study results to in-country policy makers.
- Oversee funding and proposal applications and ensure that all necessary approvals are in place.
- Fulfill and carry out field work activities as required for the project and determined by IPA.
Qualifications
- Undergraduate degree in Economics, Government/Political Science, Administration/Finance, Engineering or related field with a quantitative approach.
- At least 3 years of work experience after obtaining the first undergraduate degree, preferably related to research projects and/or data analysis.
- Familiarity with impact evaluations and specifically with randomized experiments.
- Strong quantitative skills and knowledge of Stata, it is an added value to know other programming languages and have other technical skills related to programming.
- Knowledge of statistical and econometric concepts.
- Ability to present and perform data analysis using Stata or other statistical analysis software.
- Ability to manage relationships with partners and counterparts.
- Ability to handle multiple projects with separate workflows and activities simultaneously and lead teams to support activity implementation.
- Ability to work and problem solve under pressure and meet deadlines while maintaining a positive attitude and providing exemplary customer service.
- Highly skilled planner and organizer with a meticulous attention to detail.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English and Spanish, including the ability to communicate clearly and concisely.
- Availability to work 100% of the time from Medellín, Colombia
Desirable but not required
- Previous experience working with projects related to crime and violence.
Application Instructions
About IPA
Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is a research and policy nonprofit that discovers and promotes effective solutions to global poverty problems. IPA brings together researchers and decision-makers to design, rigorously evaluate, and refine these solutions and their applications, ensuring that the evidence created is used to improve the lives of the world’s poor. In recent decades, trillions of dollars have been spent on programs designed to reduce global poverty, but clear evidence on which programs succeed is rare, and when evidence does exist, decision-makers often do not know about it. IPA exists to bring together leading researchers and these decision-makers to ensure that the evidence we create leads to tangible impact on the world. Since its founding in 2002, IPA has worked with over 600 leading academics to conduct over 900 evaluations in 52 countries. This research has informed hundreds of successful programs that now impact millions of individuals worldwide.
IPA's Commitment to Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI)
Disclaimers
Innovations for Poverty Action is an affirmative action equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other protected class. IPA will endeavor to make a reasonable accommodation to a qualified applicant with a disability unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of our business. If you believe you require such assistance to complete this form or to participate in an interview, please contact us at jobs@poverty-action.org or via phone at 1-202-386-6200. The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of the work to be performed by the specified position. The statements are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all possible duties, tasks, and responsibilities. Management reserves the right to amend and change responsibilities to meet organizational needs as necessary. Please note that IPA will never request any form of payment from an applicant. Applicants are encouraged to confirm the information listed above with IPA prior to releasing any extensive personal information to the organization. Please direct questions to jobs@poverty-action.org.
** Please note that only qualified applicants will be contacted by the hiring manager.
Reports to
Research Manager
Desired start date
ASAP
Location
Medellín, Colombia
