Senior Associate, Operations - Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning at Teach For All

Position Summary

The Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL) team supports Teach For All and its network partners to generate evidence of our network’s total impact – on student learning and leadership, participant and alumni leadership, and communities and systems impact. The MERL team engages in evidence generation through a variety of internal, programmatic research on strategic initiatives in teacher and local leadership development, and works in close partnership with external researchers and donors to study Teach For All’s theory of change. The MERL team also supports Teach For All’s internal monitoring, evaluation, and learning approach to support evidence-based decision-making among the various teams at Teach For All.

The Senior Associate, MERL Operations will provide operational and administrative support, playing an integral role in supporting senior MERL team members in ensuring grant-funded research studies operate efficiently and produce high-quality, cutting-edge research. This position provides an individual with superior leadership, analytical, communication, and interpersonal skills, as well as a passion for evidence-driven decision making, the opportunity to serve as a key contributor to the success of the MERL team.

Responsibilities

The Senior Associate, MERL Operations is accountable for designing and implementing systems and processes that will equip the MERL team to work effectively and achieve 1) progress toward our overall team vision and research and evaluation agenda; 2) efficient operations of MERL grants and research; and 3) strong team culture and orientation for diversity, equity, and inclusiveness. They will report directly to the Director of Research, Evaluation, and Network Learning.

The primary responsibilities for this role include, but are not limited to:

MERL Projects, Grants, and Research Coordination (60%)

• Develop project management systems to monitor multiple research projects and grants simultaneously.
• Create systems for communication and coordination between Teach For All teams, donors, network partners, researcher partners, and other vendors.
• Support resource management and budgeting.
• Assist with research project proposal development, kickoff, instrument and protocol design, data collection, analysis and reporting.

Internal Team Operations (40%)

• Support the development of team culture.
• Assist with developing systems for effective operations to enable our growing team to effectively reach our goals.
• Contribute to the team’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusiveness strategy.
• Develop and maintain systems for cross-team communication and collaboration.
• Manage the team’s finances and budget.
• Support special projects, including data analysis to guide team strategy and team/partner event planning.

Outcomes

Success in this role will be measured by:

• Feedback from network partners and renewal prospects with donors.
• Contributions to developing a team cultural and learning strategy, including diversity, equity, and inclusiveness strategy
• Budget management within +/- 10% of projected budget
• MERL Team staff feedback and satisfaction surveys

Education and Experience

• 3+ years related work or training experience helpful
• Experience supporting research studies and data collection coordination required; experience in classroom/school-level research preferred
• Familiarity with research and evaluation methods for educational research settings (RCTs, quasi-experimental impact evaluations, qualitative methods)
• Experience with data analysis and cleaning
• Experience successfully solving complex and dynamic problems required
• Experience managing complex relationships and multi-stakeholder projects required
• Experience in fundraising preferred

Language

• Fluency in written and spoken English required
• Proficiency in written and spoken Spanish, French, Arabic, or Chinese (Mandarin) a plus

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Exceptional reasoning and strategic problem solving abilities
• Ability to develop strong relationships with diverse individuals, across all levels of the organization
• Ability to deeply understand and operate sensitively within various local cultural contexts
• Ability to build relationships and communicate in a way that is sensitive to diversity in backgrounds and beliefs (e.g., racial, cultural, socioeconomic, political, etc.)
• Have a strong orientation toward diversity, equity, and inclusiveness in how to approach research and team building
• Ability to be adaptable to an entrepreneurial, fast-paced, results-oriented culture
• Ability to prioritize, multi-task, and build systems to increase efficiency
• Highly interdependent and team-oriented, proactive, responsible, even when confronted with ambiguity and shifting circumstances
• The judgment and strong critical thinking to know how to prioritize actions, manage workload, and execute in a timely manner
• Effectively communicates ideas to others clearly, simply, and compellingly (both oral and written)
• Strong ability to analyze data and diagnose problems and collaboratively develop solutions in a global context
• Highly organized and detail-oriented in planning and executing tasks, even amid ambiguity
• Confidence in interacting with senior stakeholders and ability to manage confidential or sensitive information with a high degree of maturity and good judgment
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite & Google Documents; Stata or R is a plus
• Exemplifies Teach For All’s core values and a commitment to Teach For All’s mission:
• Reflects a sense of possibility in mindset and vision
• Believes in the value of being locally rooted and globally informed
• Drives toward constant learning and improvement
• Convinced of the necessity of diversity and inclusiveness in our work
• Believes in the interdependence between us and our partners in solving this global problem

Compensation

Salary for this position is competitive and depends on prior experience. A comprehensive benefits package is included.

Work Authorization

Please note, this position is not eligible for employment visa sponsorship. All candidates must possess permanent local work authorization/permit in order to be considered.

Travel and Hours

Travel expected, approximately 10%, when it is safe to do so and in accordance with local travel guidelines. Travel is dependent on emerging research and grant opportunities. Otherwise, this position is fully remote. Given that we work across different time zones, some non-traditional hours for early or later calls are an expectation of this role.

Apply now

Please submit your resume or curriculum vitae and a one-page letter of motivation in English directly online. Your letter should summarize motivations for your application and how your skills and experience align with the terms of this opportunity.