Senior Research Associate - Precision Development

Summary of the Organization:

PxD is a global non-profit that harnesses the power of technology, data science, and behavioral economics to provide targeted information to farmers in low and middle-income countries. Providing the right information to the right people in the right way and at the right time increases incomes, protects the environment, and improves well-being. We are evidence-based: we test our interventions with randomized controlled trials to prove our impact and cost-effectiveness to simultaneously learn from and improve our service, and to demonstrate our value to funders and partners. There are few programs in international development that are as demonstrably cost-effective as ours. 

PxD’s activities in India are implemented in partnership with Behaviour Change Advisory Services (BCAS) LLP.

Summary of the role:

PxD is looking for a driven, creative, and independent person to join a high-performing, flexible, and non-hierarchical team as a Senior Research Associate.

The successful candidate will have opportunities to work closely with PxD and affiliated researchers and substantially contribute to PxD's programs to test and refine new ideas, use rigorous methods to experiment and measure the impact of these services, and identify pathways to scale. The successful candidate must have a strong interest in and commitment to PxD's mission to provide actionable information and other cost-effective, scalable services to people in poverty so that they can sustainably improve their incomes and well-being.

Responsibilities (including but not limited to):

The role will grow as you develop, but you will start by focusing on the following key responsibilities:

• Work with the team leadership and other colleagues in scoping, designing, piloting, and scaling evidence-backed digital agriculture services, including spending time with farmers in the field to ensure that services are closely aligned with user needs.
• Conduct qualitative and quantitative data collection (including farmer focus groups, interviews, and quantitative surveys) and data cleaning. 
• Produce accurate and organized summaries of data, including basic analysis for descriptive statistics and simple regression analysis, and contribute to report writing. 
• Carry out literature reviews and other desk research, providing input on research questions and structure. 
• Develop and update project documentation regularly.
• Assist in managing partner relations and working with external stakeholders for the implementation of program operations.
• Contribute and support internal and external communications to disseminate project results and research findings, including briefs, blogs, reports, and presentations. 
• Contribute to PxD’s institutional knowledge management and internal learning efforts.

Requirements:

The ideal candidate will have:

• Bachelor’s degree in economics, public policy, international development, or closely related fields.
• Strong understanding of economics, econometrics, and familiarity with randomized evaluations.
• Excellent knowledge of Stata or R or similar software for data analysis.
• Experience working on field research in economics in LMIC countries.
• Experience in using SurveyCTO/ODK or a similar program for survey design.
• Ability to draw inferences from data to identify pathways for program improvement (e.g., call center productivity, feedback of users to an SMS campaign, looking at usage statistics).
• Experience in a multi-faceted role, with the ability to balance and prioritize across multiple projects and stakeholders.
• Strong writing and oral communication skills in English, with attention to detail and advanced writing and presentation skills.
• Proficiency in Hindi is required. Knowledge of any other Indian language is a plus.
• Experience working with government agencies.
• Willingness to travel to field sites in India.