Senior Policy Manager, Scaling at IPA | August 2024

As part of the Global Policy team, the Senior Policy Manager, Scaling will play a key role in advancing IPA’s strategy to catalyse and equip partners to scale effective development programs and policies, creating impact at scale. 

The Senior Policy Manager will report to and work closely with the Scaling Director to proactively identify and prioritize evidence-based solutions at scale for IPA to advance at a global, regional, and country level. S/he will help build coalitions of implementers (public, NGO, and private), funders, advocates, and academics to promote the implementation of these solutions at scale. S/he will also provide technical support to apply evidence to programs and policies in a locally-grounded way; and work closely with IPA’s country offices and teams in the resourcing, piloting and planning for scale of promising evidence-based interventions.

Responsibilities

40%

• Work closely with the Scaling Director to refine and implement IPA’s scaling strategy.
• Collaborate extensively across programmatic and functional teams at IPA to deliver on IPA’s scaling strategy and share lessons across teams and contexts.
• Identify, develop, and manage tools and resources for IPA teams and partners to leverage in evidence use and scaling projects.
• Provide technical support to IPA teams and partners in scaling evidence-based interventions.
• Develop and lead partnerships with key stakeholders in governments, NGOs, foundations, and multilateral aid agencies to facilitate and sustain scaling projects.

25%

• Manage the documentation of key learnings and challenges during the implementation process of country- and cross-country scaling projects, and communicate these lessons across IPA and our partners to advance the field of evidence-based scaling and implementation. 
• Write original policy communications publications and materials to communicate IPA’s scaling lessons to internal and external stakeholders. This may include writing and/or ghost writing original blog posts, case studies, website content, and other materials.
• Develop and advance the program’s communication strategy leveraging it to disseminate IPA’s scaling work and lessons.
• Represent IPA externally to share lessons learned on evidence-based scaling (i.e. articles, presentations, events, etc.).

25%

• Provide strategic thinking and talent management to facilitate coordination across different IPA teams to implement technical assistance in scaling projects.
• Provide strategic guidance and follow-up to the work plan of the Best Bets agenda in close coordination with IPA’s Global teams and country offices.

10%

• Proactively identify scale-relevant business development opportunities, and lead the pursuit of these opportunities in collaboration with global and country office-based staff. 
• Coordinate grant reporting and deliverable management for scaling-related grants.

Qualifications

Required

• 7+ years of relevant experience applying rigorous evidence to program or policy design and implementation, including at least 1 year of experience working closely with large NGOs or governments, preferably in a developing country context. Experience in on-the-ground adaptation and implementation of evidence-based programs at scale strongly preferred.
• Master’s degree in economics, development, international relations, public administration, public policy or a closely related field is strongly preferred. Will accept additional experience in place of master’s. 

Preferred

• Exceptional ability to understand academic research studies, draw policy lessons from these and communicate them to various audiences.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including clear, precise, non-technical written and presentation skills; as well as effective spoken communication and presentation style.
• Experience with business development and/or fundraising.
• Proven ability to multitask and successfully complete projects on tight deadlines with little supervision.
• Experience supervising staff teams and managing multi-country projects.
• Willingness to work hard, be self-motivated, learn, be a team-player, and adapt quickly will be essential for doing well in this position.
• Strong ability to manage up and across.

Reports to

Director, Scaling

Deadline to Apply

Friday August 9th, 2024 

Location

Existing IPA Country Office, New York, NY or Washington, DC

Application Instructions

Please include a cover letter as part of your application

About IPA 

Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is a research and policy nonprofit that discovers and promotes effective solutions to global poverty problems. IPA brings together researchers and decision-makers to design, rigorously evaluate, and refine these solutions and their applications, ensuring that the evidence created is used to improve the lives of the world’s poor. In recent decades, trillions of dollars have been spent on programs designed to reduce global poverty, but clear evidence of which programs succeed is rare, and when evidence does exist, decision-makers often do not know about it. IPA exists to bring together leading researchers and these decision-makers to ensure that the evidence we create leads to a tangible impact on the world. Since its founding in 2002, IPA has worked with over 600 leading academics to conduct over 900 evaluations in 52 countries. This research has informed hundreds of successful programs that now impact millions of individuals worldwide. 

IPA’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) 

As an organization, IPA is dedicated to improving the lives of the world’s most vulnerable populations through evidence and policy. We also recognize how important it is for our staff to reflect the diversity of the places where we work and the communities we work with. As such, IPA is committed to hiring from a diverse pool of candidates, from a range of backgrounds, beliefs, experiences, and perspectives. We know that this makes our work stronger and more responsive to the challenges faced by those we work with and for and we encourage people from historically underrepresented groups to apply. Click here to learn more about IPA’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Innovations for Poverty Action is an affirmative action-equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other protected class. IPA will endeavor to make a reasonable accommodation to a qualified applicant with a disability unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of our business. If you believe you require such assistance to complete this form or to participate in an interview, please contact us at jobs@poverty-action.org or via phone at 1-202-386-6200. The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of the work to be performed by the specified position. The statements are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all possible duties, tasks, and responsibilities. Management reserves the right to amend and change responsibilities to meet organizational needs as necessary. Please note that IPA will never request any form of payment from an applicant. Applicants are encouraged to confirm the information listed above with IPA prior to releasing any extensive personal information to the organization. Please direct questions to jobs@poverty-action.org. Please note that only qualified applicants will be contacted by the hiring manager