Policy and Research Manager - Spain

Organisation: J-PAL Europe 

Country: Spain (Barcelona)

Education: Master's or higher 

Start Date: TBD 

Language Requirement: Spanish, Catalan (preferred), English 

Application deadline: Jun 15, 2025 

Summary of the Organization: 

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research centre working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence, and is anchored by a network of some 200 affiliated professors at universities around the world. J-PAL Europe is one of J-PAL’s seven regional offices and leads the network’s work to generate and use evidence to inform social programmes in Europe. J-PAL Europe also anchors work with European development actors on behalf of the network to help inform their work across the globe. 

J-PAL Europe’s Policy and Communications team plays a key role in translating research by J-PAL affiliates into actionable poverty alleviation policies in the region and in helping create new links between partner organisations and researchers to launch new evaluations. Staff connect the dots between economics and policy and are passionate about forming partnerships for evidence-informed development policy. 

Summary of the Role: 

The Policy and Research Manager will work with regional governments in Spain to promote evidence-based policy making and develop an ambitious evaluation agenda. The Policy and Research Manager will also play a key role in research partnerships with J-PAL-affiliated researchers and other stakeholders in the country. 

This position will serve as the key point of contact between J-PAL researchers, J-PAL Europe, and regional ministries. The Policy and Research Manager will assist in developing and implementing several research and evaluation initiatives, analyzing their policy relevance and implications, and exploring ways to use and apply the evidence generated in the context. This might also involve coordination with several local government and NGO partners in charge of implementing initiatives at the regional level, including activities related to the capacity-building of these implementing partners. 

Working closely with researchers and policymakers, the Policy and Research Manager will be responsible for coordinating and facilitating data sharing and analysis, monitoring the execution of research projects, leveraging insights from the global evidence base, managing relationships across project partners, and supporting research implementation efforts. The Policy and Research Manager will be the on-the-ground staff member ensuring the planned evaluation initiatives are successfully launched. 

The Policy and Research Manager will also work closely with J-PAL Europe’s team (based in Madrid and Paris), the researchers, and the regional ministries to assess and synthesise the evidence generated by these evaluations, contextualise the learnings from this effort in the broader body of evidence, translate the evidence into policy recommendations, and support the Ministry in applying the evidence through capacity building and technical assistance. 

This position is based in Barcelona (preferred) or Madrid. The Policy and Research Manager is expected to spend considerable time on-site at the regional ministries' offices and with the researchers. Furthermore, occasional travels to Madrid and/or Paris for team meetings might occur. 

Responsibilities include: 

Research 

• With direction from the Associate Director of Policy and the J-PAL Europe scientific directors, coordinate efforts between J-PAL Europe, partner researchers and the regional ministries to identify and assess promising, high-priority policy questions for evaluation projects.
• Lead technical exploration of potential new impact evaluations, helping to develop research design, identify implementing partners, and support efforts to secure project funding. 
• Conduct data analyses and review research literature to inform project design and implementation, including power calculations. 
• Support the design and documentation of a rigorous project evaluation methodology. 
• Standardise pre-implementation research documentation, including assistance with pre-analysis plans, consent forms, and ethics approval forms 
• Refine study design and surveying instruments 
• Supervise data collection and ensure the good quality of the data ○ Assist with data cleaning and preliminary data analysis 
• Provide technical assistance to the Ministry to leverage the use of administrative data to inform evaluation results. 

Project Management 

• Provide ongoing project management support as needed on randomised evaluations run in partnership with the Ministry, the researchers and J-PAL. Coordinate project development and implementation planning across the Ministry and different implementing partners. 

Policy 

• Synthesise lessons from relevant global literature and disseminate them among the Ministry, the researchers, and implementing partners as needed to inform project design and implementation 
• Synthesise the lessons from the ongoing evaluations and contextualise them in the broader body of evidence. 
• Help deliver presentations and organise research dissemination events inside the Ministry and with implementing partners to communicate research findings; as well as presentations and events with other stakeholders in Spain and elsewhere to explain the value of this research. 
• Facilitate dialogue between J-PAL Europe, the researchers and the Ministry on the policy implications of the evaluation results.
• Provide technical assistance to the regional ministries in the design and implementation of evidence-based policies, based on the findings of research we produce together, as well as existing evidence. 
• As time allows, the position is envisaged to also support J-PAL Europe’s larger agenda of supporting the generation of evidence for social policy in Spain and elsewhere on the continent and creating public good resources for researchers and practitioners interested in launching RCTs. 

Desired qualifications 

• A Master’s Degree in Public Policy or Economics or another similar social science including graduate-level courses in econometrics/statistics, microeconomics and development economics. 
• A minimum of four years of relevant work experience, demonstrated expertise in program evaluation methodologies, and an understanding of common quantitative and analytical challenges. 
• Strong quantitative and data analysis skills are necessary, including proficiency with STATA or R. 
• Advanced written and oral communication skills in both Spanish and English, including ability to produce policy memos, research notes, slide decks, and public speaking. 
• Preferred written and oral communication skills in Catalan. 
• Flexibility to successfully adapt and respond to changing circumstances, demands and expectations from stakeholders. 
• Demonstrated passion for improving public service performance and solving social problems. 
• Exceptional project management capabilities and creativity in problem solving. 
• Experience working with multiple stakeholders and government agencies in Europe is preferred, and experience working on social policy in Spain in particular.