Embedded Lab Manager

About this role

The Embedded Lab Manager leads a team that supports government partners in building their data systems and analytical capacity. The role focuses on strengthening monitoring, evaluation and learning systems and translating evidence into actionable insights for policy and programmes. It involves working closely with government institutions and other stakeholders to improve how evidence informs policy decisions. The position reports to the Associate Director, Policy, with dotted-line oversight from IPA’s Global Policy team and the Financial Inclusion Program. The employer is Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), a research and policy nonprofit that designs and evaluates solutions to global poverty and aims to ensure evidence informs policy and practice.

What you would do

• Plan and manage project activities with partner staff and maintain ongoing engagement.
• Promote lab visibility and encourage collaboration with stakeholders.
• Build and maintain relationships with senior decision makers to secure buy-in.
• Support project management tasks such as progress tracking, financial oversight, and reporting.
• Collaborate with partner teams to align work plans with project goals.
• Lead co-creation of a policy-driven research agenda and guide analytical projects.
• Develop and implement data analysis and visualization systems, including dashboards and automated reports.
• Facilitate engagement with academics and experts to strengthen policy research.
• Design and deliver capacity-building workshops on data engineering, analytics, and tooling.
• Oversee end-to-end research projects, data collection, analysis, and quality control, ensuring reproducibility and rigor, and establish SOPs for sustainability.

What they are asking for

• Experience supervising staff and managing multiple engagements.
• Strong written and spoken communication skills in English.
• Ability to multitask and meet tight deadlines with limited supervision.
• Strong quantitative skills and understanding of academic research.
• Experience with IPA or partner institutions preferred.
• Five or more years of relevant experience, with at least one year collaborating with government or large NGO partners in LMIC context (preferred).
• Master's degree in a relevant field preferred; equivalent experience considered.
• Knowledge of Nigerian policy-making or ability to learn quickly in a new country context (preferred).
• Ability to coordinate across teams and manage relationships with policy and research staff.
• Experience in MEL, or working with government teams, researchers, or development policy evidence (preferred).

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