Technical Director at International Rescue Committee

• IRC is seeking a Technical Director for a USAID-funded 10-year project to integrate existing, relevant impact and cost evidence from high-quality evaluations into USAID activity designs. The project is aimed at making it easier for USAID staff to fund impact evaluations, understand evidence, and use the best tools available to social science to guide program design and inform project management. This project will provide a platform for academics from the social and behavioral sciences to engage with USAID design teams and strengthen the Agency’s current and future programming by understanding the causal impact per dollar of its programs and producing a public good in the form of high-quality contributions to the global evidence base that can improve policy and programming of other development partners.
• The Technical Director will manage the overall impact evaluation and cost-effectiveness technical program work across the consortium and provide expertise on generating, synthesizing, sharing, and ensuring the take-up of rigorous impact and cost evidence across diverse stakeholders. S/he will be responsible for identifying cost evidence gaps, matching and coordinating stakeholders to generate evidence to fill those gaps, and working with USAID stakeholders to integrate existing cost evidence into USAID grantmaking and activities.
• This position is contingent on the IRC being awarded funding and is anticipated to begin in September 2024.

Job Responsibilities:

• Provide technical leadership and direction, defining and implementing activities to achieve the greatest impact toward project goals and objectives;
• Guarantee the excellence and thoroughness of the services. This might include, but is not limited to leading the technical aspects of learning agenda-setting, recruitment/staffing, research partnership coordination, designing evaluations, developing instruments, collecting data, ensuring data security and privacy, analyzing data, writing, publishing in peer-review journals, disseminating information, and utilizing evidence;
• Ensure project delivery meets all standard operational policies and procedures of USAID regulations, policies and procedures related to data, research, evaluation and learning;
• Ensure appropriate methodologies and technical approaches are developed for all program activities;
• Lead response and course correction for programmatic challenges, applying collaborative, flexible, and practical thinking;
• Oversee and review technical writing products and deliverables;
• Oversee ongoing quality assurance and quality improvement for technical activities;
• Identify issues and risks related to program implementation in a timely manner and ensure appropriate program adjustments.

Requirements:

• Candidates from the Global South are strongly encouraged to apply;
• Advanced degree (MA, with preference for PhD) from an accredited university in Economics, International Development, Development Economics, Statistics, or related field;
• At least 10 years of experience managing technical assistance for cost-effectiveness programming, research and/or conducting randomized controlled trials (RCTs)
• Significant prior technical experience with evidence reviews, impact evaluations, and costing analyses; 
• Strong communication skills, both oral and written; experience translating research and evidence outputs into accessible and relevant products tailored to the needs of donor, policymakers, and practitioners;
• Fluency in English is required; proficiency in French, Arabic, Spanish, or additional languages is preferred;
• Ability to travel internationally up to 20% of the time.