Job Opportunity for Senior Manager, Research at Leadership for Equity in Pune

APPROACH: In our two-fold approach to change, we build the capacity of government system leaders and we influence system processes. In partnership with the local and state education bodies, we co-create programs that shift teaching-learning practices and improve student learning and well-being. This work coupled with our research and advisory support to influence policies, we hope to create an effective government education system.

Over the last 5 years, LFE has built the capacity of 2100+ system leaders, and 40,200+ teachers to impact 8 million students across Maharashtra. Additionally, LFE has recently expanded its operations and started working in another 3 states of India including Haryana, Tripura & Andhra Pradesh. In Maharashtra, LFE works with 5 districts (Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Satara & Akola), 3 municipal bodies (Pune MC, Pimpri Chinchwad MC & Nagpur MC) & 5 state level education bodies (School Education Dept, SCERT, Samagra Shiksha, Tribal Development Dept, & TRTI). In Andhra Pradesh, LFE works closely with the Samagra Shiksha Office, SCERT & The World Bank on a multi-year strategic project to improve the quality of learning across 26 districts of the State. And lastly in Haryana & Tripura, LFE works with SCERTs of both states in setting up targeted program management units (PMUs) to strengthen delivery of large-scale academic programs. 

BELIEF: We believe Public Education Systems are the gatekeepers of social EQUITY, especially when India’s 120 million poorest-of-the-poor children continue to go to government-run schools. A multi-layered, complex, and systemic problem of educational inequity, will require a solution rooted in the SYSTEMS CHANGE approach. We believe that a COLLECTIVE effort by forging partnerships with governments, like-minded philanthropists, corporates, donors, nonprofits and grassroot organisations will help bring scalable and sustainable social change.

About the Research Vertical

LFE’s work revolves around its belief in the ability of the public education system to provide quality education to all children. We do this through our capacity building initiative and field action projects. To be more holistic, we aim to influence the public discourse on the value of the education system and its relation to an equitable society, by creating knowledge products in the form of reports, news articles or blogs and podcasts.

Objective: To develop and disseminate high impact, research-based insights focused on systems thinking approach and innovations in the domain of ‘educational governance’, ‘middle management capacity’, ‘teacher capacity’ in service of empowering public education systems. 

Through our work in research, we aim to shape the discourse on the role of government bodies in provisioning of education, provide a transparent lens to look at some of its challenges and successes, and consolidate our learnings from practice in systems change to enhance the current understanding of public education systems. 

Job description and responsibilities

The Senior Research Manager will lead the research vertical to fulfill project goals, by primarily completing end to end research projects as allocated. Additionally, we hope for the Associate to push the organisation’s thinking and approach towards research and build the team’s internal capacity as well. 

Project Management (30%) 

• Design and implement processes for the research team to function successfully by selecting right research themes and dissemination pathways
• Design and implement annual and monthly plans to carry out various phases of research projects
• Visit urban and rural areas to engage with diverse stakeholders and conduct data collection activities in the form of in-depth interviews, FGDs, surveys, etc. 
• Design of research studies including writing grant proposals, data collection methods and analysis, and final report
• Create content for dissemination via social media and other online platforms and support any documentation related needs for program evaluation or validation within the organization
• Coordinate with other teams and operations counterparts to ensure smooth implementation
• Create dissemination plan as per each research project such that the reports are widely consumable 

Team Management (30%)

• Coordinate with partner organizations and field enumerators to enable data collection
• Design and lead team structures to sustain a culture of collaboration, belief in public systems and strong accountability and timely project delivery 
• Develop and mentor the team to imbue excellent research skills and mindsets
• Assist the organization in recruitment and selection of right team members

Stakeholder Management (20%)

• Work with the senior leadership team of the organization to identify and secure necessary funding sources for the research vertical
• Consistently engage the existing funders with the organization’s work that will enable a continued partnership.
• Submit timely donor reports to keep the funders informed and updated at regular intervals.

Research Design & Report Writing (20%)

• Design and write research and grant proposals
• Conduct in-depth literature reviews considering primary and secondary research
• Transcribe/ clean and analyze data collected through various methods
• Write up the final research report or media articles as per work allocation plans

Requirements

Education & Experience 

• Degree with a specialization in social science / policy research. MPhil/PhD preferred, Masters’ degree mandatory.
• Background in Education / Social Sciences /Education/ Public Policy preferred
• Minimum 3-4 years of experience executing research projects 
• Should have published at least 3 research articles/papers/blogs etc.
• Prior experience in managing small teams would be highly preferred
• Interest or prior experience in research projects on public schools, capacity building, policy implementation would be an added advantage

Important: Given the nature of the project please apply only if you qualify based on above requirements

Knowledge, Skills & Capabilities

• Strong skills in executing quantitative and qualitative research methods
• Strong skills in using quantitative and qualitative data analysis tools – R, SPSS, Atlas Ti, etc. 
• Excellent written and oral communication skills. Knowledge of Marathi would be preferred.  
• Belief in the potential of the public sector and that government systems can and will change towards overcoming systemic inequities and ensuring improved outcomes for all citizens
• A basic understanding of social equity, development discourse and education policy in India
• Being able to take initiative and work in an autonomous, semi-structured environment
• Adaptability to changing responsibilities and resourcefulness to respond to them
• High openness to learning
• Ability to build and sustain relationships with multiple stakeholders & partners across public and private spaces
• Ability to build and sustain relationships with multiple stakeholders & partners across public and private spaces
• Strong ability to create outstanding presentations, work with Microsoft Excel, Google Suite, and varied data sets
• Patience and resilience to stick it out in the face of setbacks and uncertainties

Location and Compensation

Location: Pune, Maharashtra. Frequent travel to rural areas across states where LFE is working.   

Compensation: Apart from being a part of a young and dynamic learning team, the individual will receive a healthy compensation at par with the non-profit sector benchmark for this position, commensurate with the individual’s prior experience and qualifications. The current compensation band offered, based on fit and experience is 9,00,000 – 11,00,000 lakh INR per annum CTC.