Senior Research Manager - Cape Town at HSRC

Minimum Requirements

• A Master’s degree, preferably in the area of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) or Planning.
• A doctoral degree in the Social Sciences would be an advantage.
• A minimum of between 3-5 years M&E experience.
• Qualitative and quantitative data analysis expertise.
• Experience in managing monitoring and evaluation projects.
• Track record of peer reviewed, accredited publications (at least 3, with some first authored and some international).
• Experience in research-oriented administration and coordination.
• An understanding of administrative procedures linked to research processes and activities will be an advantage;
• Fluency in English.
• Competency in computer programmes such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, referencing software and data analysis programmes such as SPSS and Atlas.ti.
• A problem-solving mindset, and attention to detail.
• Sound organisational, written and verbal communication skills.
• The capacity to work under pressure, to meet deadlines and to work after hours if required.
• Ability to develop innovative and/or alternative data gathering or synthesis approaches towards MESL.
• Experience in participatory research and using innovative data collection or analyses approaches would be an advantage.
• Preference will be given to South Africans and those who contribute to meeting the equity targets of the HSRC.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Supporting the development and execution of an integrated Monitoring, Evaluation and Strategic Learning (MESL) framework under the guidance of the Principal Investigator, two Co-Principal Investigators and a national research funding partner (NRF);
• Coordinate all aspects of MESL across the U’Good research programme as part of a large multi-country research team
• Support the u’Good programme team, on all aspects of planning, monitoring, evaluation and strategic learning;
• Coordinate MESL activities – including timelines scheduling engagements with partners, work with team members to attend and document all project activities, monitoring milestones and overseeing staff;
• Manage, plan and coordinate MESL timelines, project meetings, dissemination workshops and events;
• Coordinate fieldwork activities, both qualitative and quantitative;
• Oversee and write reviews and team outputs;
• Assist with the write up of research results for research reports, conference/dissemination presentations, and manuscripts for publication with programme team;
• Provide expert insights on the development and implementation of the u’Good MESL framework, activities (data collection, analysis and dissemination) and write up;
• Manage processes of quality assurance of deliverables for Principal Investigators; and
• Interface closely with the project manager to ensure smooth running of monitoring and evaluation tasks that relate to governance and those that have the additional aspect of strategic learning