Job Opportunity for Research Associate – Social Networks at J-PAL South Asia in India (Bangalore)

**Job Title:** Research Associate – Social Networks

**Organization:** J-PAL South Asia

**Location:** India (Bangalore)

**Start Date:** January 6th, 2025

**Language Requirement:** Hindi or Kannada

**Length of Commitment:** 1-2 years

**About the Organization:**

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of over 194 affiliated professors at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.

**About the Position:**

We are seeking qualified applicants for the position of Research Associate to lead lab-in-the-field experiments and RCTs in India. The social networks suite of projects study the role of networks in developing economies and improve the understanding of the impact of networks on economic interactions.

**Key Responsibilities:**

* Designing and conducting pilot experiments

* Refining study design and survey instruments

* Managing teams, including recruiting, training, and supervising field-based and data operations teams

* Supervising all aspects of data collection and data entry to ensure high quality data across the project lifecycle

* Overseeing the implementation of the evaluation in accordance with research and experimental design

* Ensuring that the project complies with ethical and research guidelines

* Assisting with data cleaning and preliminary data analysis

* Assisting in preparation of documents and presentations for donor reporting as well as dissemination activities

* Reporting to PIs on all activities

* Coordinating with the Administrative and Finance team on various tasks related to field staff contracting and payments

* Maintaining relationships with partner organizations at both headquarters and field levels

**Desired Qualifications:**

* Bachelor’s/Master’s degree in economics, quantitative economics, social sciences, data sciences, computer science, or related fields

* Strong understanding of experimental methods, design, and application

* Excellent quantitative skills with strong management and organizational skills

* Fluency and excellent communication skills in English, with some conversational-level skills in regional languages such as Hindi, Kannada, Odia, etc.

* Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and team player

* Demonstrated knowledge and experience of Stata, R, Python or other data analysis software is required

* Ability to adapt to dynamic environment

* Previous experience in development research preferred

* Willingness to quickly acquire new technical skills as per project requirements

**Note on Work Authorizations:**

Candidates must have work authorization to work in India.