Purpose:The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab and the American University in Egypt (J-PAL/AUC) initiative for Egypt is a joint collaboration between J-PAL and AUC to develop and carry out policy-relevant research evaluating social policies in Egypt. While J-PAL and AUC have collaborated on work in Egypt for the past few years, the Initiative is a new, formal collaboration and is expected to eventually be part of the J-PAL Middle East and North Africa regional presence. This position is on the mid-level of the research staff ladder and requires significant training in economics with significant experience in field research. The job holder manages multiple projects involving field research operations in the areas of data collection, data security, data analysis and logistical support. He/she supervises project teams of senior research officers and research officers and is responsible for high quality, secure and ethical data collection. Also, interfaces directly with project PIs and may be involved in presentations to donors.
Principal Accountabilities:
Research assistance: For specific research projects (typically anywhere from one to three projects at a time), work under a J-PAL affiliate PI and co-PIs to
-Collaborate with PIs on the design and implementation of data collection plans
-Manage project research staff through all stages of empirical research
-Ensure the effective and efficient implementation of field activities by Initiative project staff
-Responsible for keeping research on schedule
-Accountable for the overall quality control of the project’s field activities, including the quality of the data collected
-Prepare, update, and manage project budgets
-Report regularly to PIs and Initiative management on project progress, problems, spending, and schedule
-Provide advance notice to PIs and Initiative management on potential problems such as delays, overspending, and data quality issues
-As needed, work with data sets, cleaning and running checks to spot errors, and generally preparing data for analysis
-As needed, assist with literature reviews and questionnaire writing
-Lead new and renewal institutional review board applications
-Prepare data for publication and publishing data
-Handle any other tasks assigned by the director, J-PAL/AUC IFE
Requirements:
Minimum Education Requirement:
-Bachelor degree, including significant training in economics-MA in economics, mathematics or statistics strongly preferred
Experience:
-Minimum of eight years of relevant experience, including five years of experience in research projects-Proven experience managing teams and projects
-Significant experience with data collection techniques and expertise with data analysis software such as Stata or RA minimum of eight years of relevant experience
Skills:
-Bi-lingual in Arabic and English-Proficient with data collection techniques and expert in data analysis software such as Stata or R
-Project management skills, the ability to plan tasks for teams, monitor progress, make corrections to plans
-Strong budget management skills required
-Team player with good problem solving and time management skills
-Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines
