Research & Program Associate - Youth Impact - Philippines

About Youth Impact

Youth Impact is a global NGO that connects youth to proven life-changing information through the delivery of evidence-based programs. We are at an inflection point in our growth: we have over 500 staff, three programs in health and education, and have delivered over 800,000 lessons to over 500,000 students. Our culture is unique—defined by continuous learning, a dynamic and youthful team, a fierce commitment to measurement and evidence, and close collaboration with governments.  

On any given day, we might be: discussing the latest ideas for a randomized controlled trial or A/B test to improve our programs at scale with our facilitators and programs teams; visiting schools to figure out ways to improve our monitoring tools and data collection systems; cleaning and analyzing data to assess impact; clearly visualizing our data; writing up our results to share with the world; workshopping data insights with programs teams to advise them on how to improve programs; working with government counterparts to support them to collect, use and interpret data to improve education and health of students; and meeting organizations around the world to support them to do the same! We think it’s the dream job for anyone passionate about impact, evidence, and data.​

Primary purpose

Youth Impact’s Innovation Hub in the Philippines seeks to hire a skilled and motivated Research and Program Associate who will play a critical role in producing data and evidence to support us to scale up our programs in the Philippines. We seek candidates who thrive in a team-oriented, collaborative environment that values curiosity and a passion for improving the lives of youth through the application of rigorous evidence to complex problems. The ideal candidate will have strong quantitative research skills, a practical understanding of impact evaluation methods, and excellent organizational and task management abilities essential for conducting high-quality quantitative data collection. The candidate should also enjoy problem-solving, applying creative thinking to challenges, and building relationships with program leaders, implementers, and government partners. We are particularly interested in candidates based in the Philippines.

Responsibilities

• Work on a global research team that generates evidence (using RCTs, A/B tests and high frequency monitoring) to improve youth-focused health and education programs in the Philippines. 
• Support paper-based and electronic data collection across our programs, including developing and programming digital surveys, managing data collection, assisting teachers and volunteers with data submissions and monitoring implementation fidelity. 
• Organize and maintain clean, easy-to-use code and databases for all field work, including survey data, monitoring data, and administrative data. 
• Clean, manage, and analyze data in Stata (preferred) or R.
• Support management with data reporting and communicate research insights to internal teams and as well as academic, policy, and practitioner audiences.  
• Support and mentor junior colleagues to develop their technical and professional skills.

Required qualifications and experience

• Master’s degree or PhD in economics, public policy or a related discipline, with strong quantitative skills. In exceptional circumstances, those with a Bachelor’s degree and considerable relevant experience may also be considered. 
• Demonstrated experience with impact evaluation methods (e.g., randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental designs, A/B testing) and econometric methods. 
• Experience with programming surveys in SurveyCTO or similar software. 
• Relevant experience in monitoring and evaluation, quantitative field research, and analysis and cleaning of large datasets in Stata or R. 
• Excellent knowledge of Stata (preferred) or comparable statistical software program e.g. R or Python. 
• Advanced working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications or Google Suite, especially Excel or Google Sheets.
• Demonstrated ability to manage various concurrent tasks effectively and coordinate between multiple colleagues and teams, across different geographies.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills: in particular, the ability to communicate complex thoughts and ideas simply and effectively and tailor communications to the audience. 
• Willingness to travel to different regions in the Philippines several times throughout the year for 1-2 weeks at a time to support training, tool piloting, and program and survey implementation.

Desired characteristics

• Adaptive, creative, organized, motivated and able to thrive in a fast-paced environment—the role can be demanding and, at times, subject to external pressures for timely completion. 
• Ability to “create structure out of nothing”—strong ability to turn a visual reality or imagined outcome into a codified set of steps, actions, and goals on paper, and to execute those steps. 
• Self-starter: the individual should be a highly motivated and driven self-starter who can push for the delivery of activities in a fast-paced environment, seeking clarity when needed.