Senior Policy Manager - J-PAL Europe

J-PAL Europe is looking to hire a new member of its Policy and Communications team to contribute to its mission of promoting evidence-based policy across Europe, with a particular focus on bringing more rigorous experimental evidence to European development cooperation. 

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 1,100 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.

The position will be part of the "Development methodologies" chair established by the French Development Agency (AFD) and University Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL), and held by J-PAL co-founders and directors Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. The chair was established to promote research in development economics in order to shine light on public policies in development, and particularly French policy. The position will be based in J-PAL Europe offices at the Paris School of Economics. The post holder will be a senior member of the Policy and Communications team in Europe and contribute to our work building partnerships to identify, synthesise and disseminate insights from rigorous evidence, to apply these insights to the design of social programmes and policies, and to foster the generation of new rigorous evidence. The post holder will also help lead work in Côte d’Ivoire developed under the Development Methodologies chair and focused on providing resources for more evidence-based policymaking there.

Responsibilities

As a Senior Policy Manager, you will work with a growing team to: 

• Support the Chair holders and the J-PAL Europe team in the development of presentations and analysis of research findings for a broad public.
• Work with development agencies across Europe, including AFD, to promote the application of research findings to development policy.
• Develop and maintain partnerships with government agencies across Europe to promote the generation and application of rigorous evidence as part of social policy-making, particularly in the fields of education, labour market interventions, and social inclusion.
• Provide technical assistance to partners in the design and implementation of evidence-based policies.
• Write evidence summaries, blog posts and op-eds designed to synthesise research findings from across the J-PAL network to highlight key insights for policy-makers.
• Help organise and deliver tailored capacity building offers, including support on evidence use, to partners in Europe.
• Manage a staff member based in Côte d’Ivoire, with the objective of fostering government partnerships in the country, promoting the use of rigorous evidence, and launching new randomised impact evaluations.
• Contribute to other J-PAL Europe policy and training objectives as they arise.

Professional development 

The Policy Group invests in your professional development. As a Senior Policy Manager, you will learn, engage, travel, and grow. 

• Learn: J-PAL Europe supports a culture of learning. All J-PAL staff are also eligible to take the innovative online MITx MicroMasters credential in Data, Economics, and Development Policy (DEDP) free of charge. You will also be a member of an active community of economists and professionals at the Paris School of Economics dedicated to evaluating social programs and development programs around the world.
• Engage: J-PAL Europe staff have the opportunity to work directly with J-PAL affiliates and directors by disseminating lessons learned to policymakers and practitioners. 
• Travel: J-PAL Europe staff have the opportunity to present at and attend policy events and meet government partners across Europe and beyond. 
• Grow: J-PAL Europe staff can expect to join a peer group eager to build institutional knowledge, focused on sharing and implementing best practices and lessons learned.  

Qualifications 

Your technical expertise, strong communication and organisational skills, passion for translating research into action, and interest in poverty reduction and development make you an ideal candidate for this role. 

• Education: You hold a Master’s degree in economics, public policy, international development or a closely related field, including coursework in microeconomics, econometrics, and program evaluation. Candidates with Master’s-level degrees in other fields may be qualified as long as they have a solid understanding of quantitative research methods.
• Experience: You have at least ten years of relevant and substantial work experience, including work related to impact evaluations and evidence-informed policymaking. You have considerable experience working with policymakers and government agencies in Europe to help explain how policy can meaningfully be informed by research findings. You have some experience of field research, preferably linked to randomised evaluations or to large-scale data collection. You have a successful track record of identifying opportunities, developing and managing external partnerships, and relevant experience in communication and development. Experience working in government will be an advantage. 
• Skills: You are fluent in French and English, with excellent written and oral communication skills in both. Working knowledge of a third European language would be an asset. Experience running or interpreting randomised evaluations and some experience in managing research projects is desirable but not required. 
• Communication: You are detail-oriented and have advanced writing skills. You understand how to communicate policy lessons from technical academic research in ways that policymakers and practitioners understand. You are precise, clear, and creative. You are adept at managing relationships across countries and time zones. 
• Organisation: You are a strategic thinker. You can handle multiple projects at once with little supervision, meet deadlines while conducting high-quality work, and effectively manage your time. 
• Attitude: You love learning. You are passionate about international development policy and the rigorous research that informs it. You are self-motivated, work hard, and enjoy working in teams, and mentoring and guiding the professional development of junior staff.