Full-Time Research Lead
Job Description
About Jacaranda Health
Jacaranda is designing the future of maternity care for the patients who need it most. Jacaranda Health aims to change the way maternal healthcare is provided by building and evaluating new ways to provide high-quality, patient-centered maternity care at low cost. In the last year, we have launched our second maternity hospital, are evaluating expansion to a third, and are now partnering with 3 government hospitals to test our model for improving quality of care in the Kenya’s public sector. Jacaranda is committed to producing high quality evidence to guide implementation of maternal and newborn health programs and is building its capacity as a center for implementation science research in maternal and newborn health care. We have built strong partnerships with local and international research institutions and have conducted rigorous experimental and implementation science research with partners such as Harvard University, the Duke Global Health Institute, and UCSF Global Health Sciences. We have won global and local recognition, including from the Center for Health Market Innovations, the Gates Foundation, Savings Lives at Birth, and the International Partnership for Innovations in Healthcare Delivery – and our facilities have been independently rated as among the highest quality in Kenya. Please visit www.jacarandahealth.org for more details about our work.
Job Description: Research and Impact Evaluation Lead
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Scope of work:
The Research and Impact Evaluation Lead will work with world-class academic partner to design, test, and evaluate at scale new models for maternity and newborn health service delivery. This work will include positioning Jacaranda Health’s capacity as a leading center for implementation science research in maternal and newborn health in East Africa.
We seek a technical expert with exceptional quantitative analytical skills, excellent experience in designing and executing rigorous evaluative research in developing country settings, and a passion for applying rigorous impact evaluation methods to real-world implementation science research questions to lead Jacaranda Health’s research and evaluation activities. The scope of work will include identifying and developing a network of local and international researchers who will collaborate with Jacaranda to conduct rigorous implementation science research to answer pressing questions in maternity care delivery in low-resource settings. The Research and Impact Evaluation Lead will also oversee Jacaranda’s monitoring and evaluation activities, setting our strategy for evaluating impact and supporting program managers with useful and timely data to improve program performance.
Responsibilities:
-Build systems and standards for impact measurement at Jacaranda, and manage all ongoing program monitoring and impact evaluation of programs and initiatives (including M&E design and overseeing quality data collection conducted by in-house team)
-Analyze, prepare, and disseminate M&E data for practical use by program managers for program improvement, support development and reporting of key metrics to partners and funders
-Manage a team of M&E Associates & Fellows, including guiding performance objectives training work plans and providing mentorship to all M&E team members
-Coordinate academic research partnerships (including developing a strategic plan for Jacaranda’s research activities, identifying and securing research partnerships, identifying and securing funding for implementation science research)
-Lead Jacaranda’s strategy to build a center for maternal health implementation science in East Africa, including driving all program activities and strategy for the center and establishing key research partnerships and affiliations
-Support Jacaranda’s influence in the maternal and child health landscape through publication of academic papers and presentation at conferences
Qualifications and Experience
-Advanced degree (Masters or PhD) in public health, statistics, social sciences research, or related field
-Minimum 3+ years of relevant work experience in quantitative analysis, research and/or monitoring and evaluation, with work experience in East Africa preferred
-Strong technical ability in a variety of evaluative science methodologies, including mixed methods research
-Highly-motivated, results-oriented leader
-Exceptional communication and project management skills – you will be serving as a consultant and liaison with outside research partners.
-Experience developing research protocols for IRB review and managing IRB correspondence and requirements
-Proficiency in quantitative statistical analysis, with demonstrated experience in one or more of these software: Stata, SPSS, SAS, or R
-Passionate about social impact and applying rigorous research methods to real-world challenges and questions
-Two-year minimum commitment required