Global Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning at VisionSpring

About You

• Mission-driven, entrepreneurial leader. You build a mission-driven unit to support the delivery of the organization’s long-term outcomes. You foster ideation, iteration, and learning.
• Curious and passionate about evidence. You love understanding our impact based on the evidence and are curious to understand how to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our programs through ongoing monitoring, evaluation, and action research.
• Customer centric. You center MERL process designs around defined value propositions, customer experience, and feedback.
• Scaling champion. You are motivated transform your small-scale data, evidence, and learning into improved program and sales methods that reach millions of people based on their unit economics, repeatability, customer demand, and market opportunity.
• Inclusive player-coach. You mentor and develop people. In a diverse, growth-stage organization you create opportunities for participation and increased responsibility. You model vulnerability and accountability, and roll-up your sleeves to deliver when needed.
• Resource mobilizer. You build cases for financial support rooted in rigorous program design, evidence of impact, a track record of delivery, and multi-stakeholder research partnerships.

About Us

• VisionSpring is creating access to affordable eyewear, everywhere. Clear vision creates opportunities for increased learning, work, safety, civic participation, and quality of life.
• As a social enterprise, social change motivates us first. Our focus on sales and revenue targets serves and advances our mission objective—to increase functioning, productivity, and income earning potential for our low-income consumers by correcting refractive error with eyeglasses.
• We are working to transform the systemic dysfunction of an optical market that has failed to deliver eyeglasses—a 700-year-old technology—to 1.1 billion consumers in need of vision correction, most of whom live on less than $4 a day.
• We serve low-income consumers, not as beneficiaries but as customers. Our customers expect a high-quality and affordable product, and they will spend limited discretionary income for the immediate and tangible benefits of vision correction.
• By selling eyeglasses, we awaken new demand and seed a viable market. By selling new eyeglasses we are able to serve four times as many people per dollar input than the alternative of donating recycled ones. To efficiently scale, we must deliver each new unit with lower cost.
• We run our business on both sales metrics and social impact measures. We use a range of organizational forms and practices to get the job done.
• We believe in scaling our impact, not our organization. We are a lean team of doers.

What You’ll Do

Global MERL Strategy and Planning

• Lead the development and implementation of VisionSpring’s MERL strategy and framework, and related policies, guidelines, processes, and standard procedures, aligned with organizational strategic priorities and targeted outcomes.
• Lead the development and implementation of effective monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) plans, design and implement MEL systems, and provide quality assurance for MEL activities to ensure high-quality design and execution.
• Oversee and improve quality of paper-based and digital monitoring and evaluation systems.

Research

• Develop VisionSpring’s research agenda, in coordination with the global senior manager of evaluation and research, comprising assessments, evaluations, operational research, implementation research, randomized controlled trials, etc., to generate evidence of impact resulting from VisionSpring’s business models.
• Oversee implementation quality of all research and research elements, including terms of references, protocols, questionnaires, analyses, reports, etc.
• Execute designated research projects in collaboration with the global senior manager of evaluation and research.
• Ensure research protocols comply with global guidelines and facilitate/guide the submission of research protocols to Institutional Review Board.

Learning, Capacity Building, and Knowledge Management

• Embrace transparency and reveal hard truths, living daily into VisionSpring’s values, to create a culture of learning together which includes learning from both success and failure. Ensure fact-based evidence contributes to constant adaptation and relentless improvement.
• Work with program teams to document program results and lessons learned. Contribute to program knowledge management, including development and dissemination of tools, materials, reports, papers, and intervention-linked research.
• Develop a knowledge management strategy, address knowledge-related challenges, and draw on internal and external knowledge.
• Ensure team members have easy access to VisionSpring’s knowledge base. Assist program teams to develop learning agendas as appropriate.
• Suggest effective ways to achieve greater programmatic impact and innovation based on evidential learnings.
• Oversee the publication and dissemination of information on successful and promising approaches, lessons learned, and other program results to program partners, donors and CSR clients, country governments, and other key stakeholders. Collaborate with development and communications teams to share findings with key audiences.

Team Leadership and Development

• Recruit, manage, develop, and motivate MERL team members and the consultants and external research partners who support VisionSpring’s MERL agenda.
• Provide support for learning and ongoing career development for team members.

External Engagement and Thought Leadership

• Work with strategic partners and thought leaders in the vision and development sectors such as research institutions, universities, consultants, and international alliances.
• Seek opportunities to present research findings in relevant forums.
• Manage abstract submissions and represent VisionSpring in industry groups.

Business Development

• Actively contribute to generating funds for the organization, particularly for research, and form strategic partnerships with research institutions, universities, and consultants.
• Support the development of VisionSpring’s business by contributing to donor and CSR proposals with evidence and data.

Compensation

• Salary range will be disclosed to candidates invited for a preliminary interview.
• Annual performance-based bonus.
• VisionSpring offers competitive benefits, including health insurance, gratuity funds, and generous vacation/personal time.