Senior Associate, Governance - Busara

About Busara

Since 2014, Busara has evolved from a small behavioral science lab in Nairobi into a boutique research and advisory organization. Our diverse team of over 130 staff from 15+ countries has engaged in diverse projects across more than 50 countries in sectors like agriculture, health, governance and inclusive finance. While headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, we have expanded our footprint with offices now in India, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Latin America. 

About the role:

The Senior Associate supports both the advisory and research arms of Busara by leading the execution of Busara projects.

As the primary project manager and technical lead for all external Busara projects, a Senior Associate quickly gains an expert understanding of the project, challenges, relationships, and research questions and uses best practices and tools, both within and outside Busara to execute to the highest degree, with careful consideration of timelines and budget. They view research problems with a behavioural lens and have good intuition about potential barriers and levers, while drawing on problem-specific and general behavioral science knowledge.

The Senior Associate works directly with clients and partners and takes ownership of the overall project and its end products. 

The Senior Associate directly manages and effectively coordinates other project staff that work on their project as well as liaise with other Busara teams. This includes strong upward management skills to engage the Project Division’s vice presidents on substantive components of the project.

The Senior Associate works closely with Busara leaders and directly with researchers, clients and partners to perform a variety of tasks including, but not limited to:

Research Design and Execution

• Design high-quality qualitative, quantitative and experimental research, which takes into account key sampling, instrument, research integrity and ethics, analysis and interventions considerations on a variety of internal and external projects.
• Incorporate behavioral science into research projects. 
• Leads the design and the iteration of prototypes.
• Execute the core project responsibilities with the highest degree with respect to creativity, rigor, relevance, detail, and timeliness.

Project Oversight and Leadership

• 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.
• Manage the most sensitive or complex projects, typically of medium to large-scale research and advisory projects, end to end, with minimal supervision or support.
• Engage the leadership team and align on substantive components of the project
• Lead or support Associates and Analysts to fulfill engagement requirements.
• Develop and manage execution of project plans, budgets, work plans, and task schedules.
• Manage resources, financials, and adhere to the project plan throughout the full project life cycle.
• Monitor, track, and control outcomes to resolve issues, dependencies, and critical path deliverables.
• Manage project kick-off, on-boarding, and off-boarding for knowledge management.
• Responsible for project timelines, deliverables, reports, and staffing.
• Participate in field work for assigned projects as may be required. 
• Monitor and review project team performance.
• External Relationship Management
• Manage higher-level conversations and partnerships with clients and partners.
• Plan, manage and execute external and internal engagements from start to finish with minimal supervisory engagement.
• Serve as a point of contact for clients and partners and effectively manage the needs of stakeholders through proactive communication and troubleshooting.
• Identify opportunities to deepen engagement with clients and partners. 
• Present at conferences, networking events, and client meetings.

People Management and Organizational Engagement

• Ensure the engagement of direct and indirect reports by driving the development and nurture of Busara’s culture and values and oversee efforts related to their well-being
• Contribute to skills-building for projects’ teams and other teams as required.
• Manage performance and serve as mentors to Associates, Analysts, and Project team members, as required.
• Serve as champions for the projects team, manage the team and bring forward all relevant and actionable requests to the leadership team.
• Maintain team morale and organizational alignment
• Coordinate hiring and onboarding of Analysts, Interns, and new Associates as needed.
• Coordinate across teams to ensure healthy work relationships are maintained. Mediate and escalate (to supervisors, people or wellness teams) any issues that require attention.
• Communicate across organizational teams to ensure a healthy and functioning organization.
• Contribute to the design, execution, and dissemination of Busara internal research projects and initiatives
• Perform any other duty as may be assigned by the Engagement Director or equivalent.

Knowledge, Skills, and Experience: Minimum Requirements

• A Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Social Sciences, Public Policy, or related fields. 
• Strong qualitative, quantitative, and experimental research skills.
• Proficiency in Stata, R, or Python
• Proficient project management skills.
• Minimum of 5 years’ work experience in the global south, with at least 3 years in project and team management in a related field. 
• Strong academic behavioral science background.
• Extensive experience managing large-scale projects in developing countries.
• Demonstrated 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.
• Interest and experience working in a fast-paced working environment.
• Fluency and excellent communication and writing skills with a mastery of English.
• Ability to execute projects while sustaining a global focus and vision for institutional planning and decision making.
• Ability, interest, and willingness to travel to all project locations as assigned which may include in-country, regional, and international locations in the Global South.

Desired Qualifications:

• A Master’s degree in Economics, Social Sciences, Public Policy, or related fields is strongly preferred.
• Experience managing or mentoring staff.
• Technical understanding and practical experience of randomized controlled trials and/or quasi-experimental designs.
• Technical understanding and practical experience of qualitative research techniques.
• Experience in applying behavioral science to real-world problems