Associate Director/ Director at IDinsight

Job Description

The Associate Director/Director will report to the East and Southern Africa Regional Director and will be supported by other Directors in the Region and IDinsight’s CEO. The Director will contribute to driving large pieces of IDinsight’s work and strategy in the East & Southern Africa Region. The Director will be supported by high-quality research teams, an excellent operations team that ensures a well-functioning organization, and a communications team to help amplify the Director’s voice in policy circles. They will be also provided with bi-annual performance reviews (including feedback from peers and direct reports) to help them continuously grow and learn as professionals.

The Director will be provided significant autonomy to leverage IDinsight as a platform to drive social impact (in accordance with our mission and strategy), while also being held accountable for the clear goals that they will set for themselves in consultation with the East and Southern Africa Regional Director and other leaders at IDinsight.

Each Director role at IDinsight is unique and tailored to specific individuals’ strengths. However, at a high level, this role will include:

•  Develop and lead high-impact opportunities: Building on their experience, expertise, and networks, the Director will help conceptualize, secure, fundraise, and execute impactful initiatives that use data and evidence to drive change. All initiatives should be in line with IDinsight’s mission and strategy but can take various forms, ranging from direct client-service engagements to amplifying our partners’ impact, contributing to public knowledge products aimed at infusing data and evidence into important social sector debates.
•  Lead, mentor, and guide project teams: Project leadership involves liaising with senior clients regularly, ensuring the highest standards of research quality and ethics, overseeing and mentoring teams (usually 3-5 Managers, with 10-15 members in total), ensuring a safe and enabling atmosphere for colleagues, and keeping within project budgets. Most importantly, Directors are expected to set and drive their projects toward achieving social impact.
•  Be a thought leader, a trusted advisor, and an advocate for data-driven reforms : In addition to leading projects, Directors will be expected to apply their considerable experience, expertise, and skills to shape evidence-informed action within one or multiple sectors, regions, or specializations. This includes writing in leading newspapers and journals, speaking at important conferences, harnessing relationships and networks within the impact community to develop trusted advisory positions with senior leaders, and participating in consultative councils within governments, foundations, and/or non-profits.
•  Contribute to IDinsight strategy : The Director will support the Regional Director and work alongside regional and global leadership teams to craft, refine and execute on realizing IDinsight’s strategy in the region.
•  Support organizational development : The Director will also be involved in contributing to global and regional operations such as recruitment, onboarding, and performance reviews. They will be expected to support IDinsight to remain an impact-first, values-based, and nimble organization even as we grow.
•  Exemplify IDinsight’s mission and values : Ensuring a strong alignment between incoming Directors and IDinsight’s values is an important priority for us. Directors are the face of IDinsight both externally and internally and will be expected to always and unambiguously exemplify our mission and values.

This position is based in Nairobi, Kenya, or Lusaka, Zambia. It will likely include a good amount of domestic and international travel (up to 30% dependent).

Qualifications

We are looking for leaders who demonstrate:

•  Deep passion for development and social impact, and strong alignment with IDinsight’s vision and mission;
•  Record of building strong stakeholder and client relationships, especially with governments, Foundations, and non-profits in East & Southern Africa Region
•  Record of impactful thought leadership and advocacy around important social and/or technical issues;
•  Fluency in the role of data and evidence tools – such as impact evaluations, representative surveys, monitoring systems, and/or machine learning – to create insights and impact;
•  Ability to be an inspiring leader in a dynamic, multicultural, and values-based environment;
•  Attitude to thrive in an entrepreneurial setting, and be able to adapt to dynamic growth and change;
•  Eagerness to be a lifelong learner with keen intellectual curiosity and sense of humor;
•  Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English;
•  Willingness to travel as needed and to work with remote colleagues;
•  10+ years’ experience using data and evidence to improve social impact, ideally in Kenya or East Africa;
•  An advanced degree (Master’s or Doctoral), preferably in public policy, economics, public administration, international development, business, or public health;
•  Excitement to work across multiple development sectors.