Senior Analyst- Quantitative Research at Busara Center

About the role:

• At Busara, we work on some of the most pertinent challenges faced by vulnerable populations in the Global South from a behavioral lens. Our work covers Health, Financial Inclusion, Agriculture, Climate Change and much more. The Technical Vertical at Busara works across these impact areas to bring methodological rigor and expertise to our work.  
• As part of the Technical Vertical, the Senior Analyst will get the opportunity to explore different areas of applied research in the development sector. You will be exposed to the full range of basic and advanced methodologies. You will function as a thought leader on the technical aspects across projects, guiding other team members on quantitative research methods and best practices.
• The Senior Analyst (TV) will be expected to have accurate knowledge of the research process (experiment design, outcome selection etc.) as well as common research methods (field experiments, RCTs etc.) that are useful in supporting project delivery from a technical perspective. You will engage in a variety of quantitative research activities and will be required to support research preparation. structuring, and ultimately composing reports, deliverables, and analysis on ongoing projects, in close coordination with Associates. You will also be responsible for sensitive and delicate client interactions, and final project outputs, requiring extreme attention to detail and dedication to high-quality outputs.

Key Accountabilities/Responsibilities

CORE PROJECT RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Senior Analyst will work closely with Busara Project Leads, research team, and advisory clients to perform a variety of tasks including, but not limited to the following :

• Conduct research preparation activities including literature reviews. 
• Engage in multiple large-scale research and advisory projects at a given time.
• Manage external and internal engagements independently and with limited supervision.
• Interpret, evaluate, and clarify research requests to determine potential data sources and informational resources; identify, and discuss research needs with Associates and Directors.
• Provide customized reports, highlighting main findings and key points, and effectively communicate the results to the end-user both orally and in writing.
• Identify, troubleshoot, and resolve inquiries on external and internal research data and act as a research resource person for senior leadership, internal teams, staff, and external parties.
• Recommend data sources and make recommendations on all phases of projects. Work closely, when necessary, with the data and programming team to source, clean, and structure data.
• Design effective quantitative survey instruments and guide the team on all activities associated with survey development and data collection including, formatting, liaising with survey programming teams, analyzing, summarizing, and presenting results; write reports highlighting key findings and present results.
• Contribute to the drafting of client reports, experimental designs, literature reviews, proposals, and pitch decks.
• Contribute to project on-boarding and off-boarding for knowledge management.
• Ensure that all project work is communicated with the relevant teams at Busara to ensure proper roll-out of the engagement.  This includes, but is not limited to, finance, procurement, operations, and facilities and wellness.
• Maintain and update project timelines. Alert project teams of upcoming deadlines, deliverables, and meetings.
• Provide support as required on staff trainings organized and led by the Technical Vertical
• Perform any other duty as may be assigned by the project supervisor.
• Maintain an understanding of the high-level engagement, the goals of the clients, partners, and teams within Busara, and continually push the project teams to realign around those goals.
• Identify generalizable lessons and ensure that project teams are working with the most relevant, up-to-date knowledge and insights.
• Work on the most sensitive or complex projects, often with minimal supervision or support.
• Execute the core project responsibilities with the highest degree with respect to creativity, rigor, relevance, detail, and timeliness. 

CORE ORGANIZATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

In addition to project responsibilities, Analysts also have the following organizational responsibilities to ensure a healthy and functioning organization:

• Work with the Analyst team to conduct goal-setting exercises, objectives and key results, and team building events.
• Contribute to skills-building workshops for Analyst teams, especially with quantitative research based trainings
• Assist with internal initiatives where necessary.
• Serve as mentors to Senior Field Officer team members, when requested.
• Serve on internal committees when necessary.
• Serve as champions for the Analyst team to manage the team and bring forward all relevant and actionable requests to the proper leadership teams.
• Maintain team morale and organizational alignment
• Serve as examples to other Analysts of how to execute project responsibilities to a high degree.
• Serve as sounding boards for initiatives that affect the Analyst team.
• Coordinate internal initiatives, committees, and exercises for the Analysts.
• Coordinate across teams to ensure healthy work relationships are maintained.  Mediate and escalate (to supervisors, HR, or wellness teams) any issues that require attention.

Knowledge, Skills, and Experience: Minimum Requirements

• A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
• Strong quantitative research skills, backed by sound working knowledge of inferential statistics
• Up to 2 years previous work experience in a related field
• Familiarity with behavioral science.
• Familiarity with R, STATA, Python, SAS, and/or other programming languages 
• Familiarity with basic experimentation and experimental design
• Demonstrates the ability to manage high-level relationships with partner organizations.
• Excellent management and organizational skills.
• Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and a team player.
• Must have a growth mindset, and have interest and experience working in a fast-paced working environment.
• Fluency and excellent communication and writing skills with a mastery of English
• Extreme attention to detail while sustaining a global focus and vision for institutional planning and decision making.

Desired Qualifications

• Preferred Bachelor’s in Economics, Social Sciences, Public Policy, or related fields.
• Familiarity with qualitative research methods and behavioral design a plus
• Exposure to large-scale research and consulting projects in countries in which Busara has an office.