Associate at Busara Center

What you’ll do: Associates lead the planning, execution, and day-to-day management of Busara projects. As primary project manager for all external Busara projects, you will quickly gain an expert understanding of a particular problem or research question, develop creative and rigorous solutions to client and partner needs, and manage both internal and external relationships with energy, enthusiasm, and professionalism. 

An Associate directly manages other project staff that work on their projects and liaises effectively with other Busara teams.

Does this sound interesting? If so, are you looking to: Work closely with Busara team members and directly with academic researchers and advisory clients to perform a variety of tasks including:

• Engaging in multiple large-scale research and advisory projects at a given time.
• Incorporating the latest research in qualitative and quantitative methods, behavioral science, psychology, economics, and development to provide creative solutions to engagements.
• Planning, managing, and executing external and internal engagements independently from start to finish with limited supervision.
• Managing and conducting qualitative and quantitative research and data analysis.
• Designing, launching and analyzing effective quantitative and qualitative survey instruments with coordination among project staff (Analysts, Project Leads, Data and Programming, and Operations teams).
• Serving as a point of contact for clients and partners and effectively managing the needs of stakeholders through proactive communication and troubleshooting.
• Contributing to project on-boarding and off-boarding for knowledge management.
• Being responsible for project timelines, deliverables, reports, and staffing.
• Contributing to the creation of proposals, concept notes, and pitch decks for new business opportunities and knowledge sharing.
• Presenting at conferences, networking events, or client meetings.
• Contributing to the design, execution, and dissemination of Busara internal research projects.
• Leading or supporting other Associates to fulfill engagement requirements.
• Contributing to internal skills-building workshops.
• Coaching & mentoring Analysts and Project team members.

Good. So you’re interested in the organization and what the role entails. But do you have what we’re looking for?

• A Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Social Sciences, Public Policy, or related fields.
• Strong qualitative, quantitative, research, and data analytic skills including knowledge of and experience working with data analysis software
• 1-3 years’ previous work experience in a related field, with experience managing large-scale research and consulting projects in developing countries.
• Ability to quickly understand and adapt to new contextual situations
• Ability to manage high-level relationships with partner organizations.
• Excellent management, project management, and organizational skills.
• Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and a team player.
• Interest and experience working in a fast-paced working environment.
• Fluency and excellent communication and writing skills with a mastery of English.
• Ability to execute projects while sustaining a global focus and vision for institutional planning and decision making.

And preferably:

• A Master’s degree in Economics, Social Sciences, Public Policy, or related fields.
• Experience managing or mentoring staff.
• Familiarity with randomized controlled trials and/or quasi-experimental designs
• Technical understanding of qualitative research techniques.
• Strong academic behavioral science background.

• Knowledge of the application of behavioral science to real-world problems.
• Proficiency in Stata, R, or Python

Important information on applying

At Busara we embed behavioral science into everything we do, including the hiring process. In an effort to de-bias ourselves from what we know can cause systematic hiring discrimination, we do as many things as possible blindly and objectively. For you, that means you have to fill out the questions on the application as well as upload your CV. I know, this is infuriating, but it’s not because we’re lazy — it’s because we are going to blindly review candidates based on the answers to your questions as well as their education and experience, and consider full CVs in future stages of the process. Thus, it’s very important for you to fill out the questions completely, without mention of your name or any other potentially biasing information about yourself.