RET Operations Associate - J-PAL Global

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 more than 1,100 top researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts innovative research and builds powerful partnerships to solve the world’s greatest challenges. J-PAL was launched at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2003 and is directed by Nobel laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, along with Ben Olken. It has over 500 research, policy, scale, training, and operations staff across Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. For more information visit povertyactionlab.org

Position overview

The Education team within the Research, Education, and Training (RET) vertical at J-PAL Global leads the development and implementation of innovative education programs aimed at building global capacity in program evaluation and development economics. It currently manages two of the organization’s initiatives, the MITx MicroMasters in Data, Economics, and Design of Policy (DEDP) and MIT Master’s in DEDP. These online and residential education programs are being directed by MIT faculty Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, Benjamin Olken, and Sara Ellison. To add to our team, we are seeking a highly organized and proactive operations and administrative professional who can support the day‑to‑day activities of the DEDP MicroMasters and Master’s programs, assist with core academic and student‑facing processes, and help ensure the smooth functioning and continued growth of these programs.

This position is based in Cambridge, MA and requires at least two days of in-person work at MIT per week, with a few weeks each year requiring additional on‑campus presence.

Principal duties and responsibilities

• Internal communications: Work with the Economics department, Office of Open Learning, and other MIT offices on the smooth operation of the program, including course delivery, coordination of teaching assistants, and other program support.
• Marketing: Compile and analyze data to develop (with support from Education Lead) and execute strategy for meeting target enrollment for the DEDP MicroMasters program; coordinate with the MITx marketing team to ensure that objectives and deadlines are met; represent and promote the DEDP program to J-PAL’s regional offices and prospective partners; develop and manage relationships with select external partners to ensure effective collaboration.
• DEDP MicroMasters scholarships: Lead the administration of scholarships according to donor specification from start to completion, including promoting scholarships, coordinating and participating in the application review process with regional offices and DEDP course team, communicating decisions to learners, and distributing scholarship coupons. Develops methods to collect feedback from learners and contribute to donor reports.
• DEDP MicroMasters learner communications: Manage the relationship between the DEDP course team and the MITx/MicroMasters Customer Service team to ensure timely and clear communication with learners; organize and host regular webinars and similar outreach efforts to explain administrative procedures to prospective students. 
• Financial aid strategy and management: Collaborate with MITx/MicroMasters to continually improve financial aid policies and processes. Review aid requests according to established criteria; coordinate with senior staff on escalated cases; communicate with students on questions about their financial aid applications. 
• Continuous improvement of learner experience: Compile and analyze data to continually assess and modify systems and resources to monitor and track learner experience/satisfaction with the MITx platform; collaborate with MITx program and engineering staff to develop and execute strategies for platform improvements. 
• Course maintenance: Update DEDP MicroMasters online course information as needed and work with the Office of Open Learning to facilitate the running of courses; may involve relatively minor HTML coding.
• Operational and administrative support for the master’s program: Supporting the Education Lead and DEDP Academic Advisor in managing the admissions application system and admissions review process with Faculty Directors; coordinating key events such as the two‑week orientation and math camp for incoming students; under the guidance of the Academic Advisor, managing clear and timely communications with prospective and enrolled students on all administrative matters from admissions through graduation; assisting with commencement and other major academic milestones, as well as contributing to strengthening alumni engagement through record‑keeping, outreach, and programmatic support.
• Additional RET support: Supports essential functions to the RET team and J-PAL as a whole.

Qualifications and skills 

Education: Bachelor’s degree required, with a preference for some study of economics or other social sciences. 

Experience: Minimum 2 years of administrative and/or project/program management experience required. Candidates with approximately 2-4 years of relevant experience are typically considered at the Associate level, while candidates with 4+ years of experience may be considered for a Senior Associate role. We encourage applicants across experience levels to apply, and to indicate their years of experience in the application form

Skills: Attention to detail, strong professional writing skills, the ability to work on projects independently yet accept supervision, and reliability are required. Enthusiasm for work and willingness to pitch in as needed are essential. Candidates should be able to manage multiple projects simultaneously, complete tasks on deadline, and contribute to effective knowledge management across the team. A willingness to work hard, be self-motivated and learn will be critical for success in this position.

Software proficiency: Comfort learning computer applications; familiarity with Python, R, and HTML is helpful but not expected.

Compensation

Information about the pay range and pay grade for this position can be found here.

Location: This position is based in Cambridge, MA, with an expectation of in-office presence at least two days per week (currently Tuesdays and Wednesdays). Staff may work remotely on the remaining three days. Hybrid policies are subject to change annually. We greatly value in-office presence and therefore this position, similar to others at J-PAL Global, is not eligible for full-time remote work.

Benefits

As a member of the MIT community, you benefit from more than just your salary. 

J-PAL hires highly qualified staff and rewards them accordingly. Total compensation packages are competitive for the non-profit international development field with excellent MIT benefits, including comprehensive health insurance, a 401(k) match and pension-based retirement plan, tuition assistance, commuter benefits, MIT community discounts, a generous vacation policy, and more.

We like working at MIT and think you will too.

As a J-PAL staff member, you would also be eligible to take the proctored exams in the DEDP MicroMasters courses to earn course certificates that count towards the DEDP MicroMasters credential at no cost.