Policy Associate - J-PAL North America

• Stakeholder engagement: Participate in initial conversations with prospective partners to identify promising opportunities for randomized evaluations or evidence dissemination activities. Support and attend convenings designed to bring policymakers, practitioners, and researchers together to spur new research or scale-up collaborations and share policy lessons from completed research. (15%)
• Evaluation support: Support collaborations with researchers, policymakers and practitioners to design randomized evaluations of innovative policies and programs. Share feasibility assessments and initial analyses with policymakers and researchers through in-person meetings, memos, and phone calls. You will learn how to help partners identify their target population, define eligibility criteria, refine their program’s theory of change, and identify constraints and potential threats to the integrity of the study. (25%)
• Research proposal and funded project management: Implement processes related to Requests for Proposals to fund randomized evaluations, including promoting funding opportunities among academic researchers, organizing the application process, monitoring the progression of funded projects and any related publications, and maintaining initiative records and tracking compliance in Salesforce. (25%)
• Policy writing and outreach: Draft publications and presentations that summarize and synthesize the policy implications of key research results. Support the policy group in identifying opportunities for informing policy development and strategically sharing evidence with policymakers, philanthropic partners, and other stakeholders. Provide guidance and assistance to practitioners working to scale up evidence-based programs. (20%) 
• Policy team coordination: Provide support for general policy team activities such as engaging affiliated professors, recruitment and hiring, special projects, funder reporting, and coordinating across technical assistance or research initiative projects. (15%)

• Commitment to Mission & Values: Cares personally and deeply about policy that has the potential to reduce poverty and the rigorous research that informs it. Demonstrates interest in poverty alleviation in the North American (primarily the United States) context in particular. Demonstrates a commitment to J-PAL North America’s values. 
• Education: A bachelor’s degree in economics, public policy or administration, statistics, or a closely related field is required, as is training in statistics and quantitative methods and training in effective non-technical writing.  
• Experience: This is a junior-level position generally occupied by recent college or master program graduates, which requires demonstrating the equivalent of 2 years of relevant work experience, which can include experience gained through part-time work, college level coursework, related internships, volunteer experiences, research assistant or teaching assistant experience and/or policy work. Prior lived or direct experience working with communities of color and/or those experiencing poverty in North America is a plus.
• Technical Skills: Demonstrates the ability to accurately explain basic concepts related to randomized evaluation, other impact evaluation methodologies, and research generalizability with minimal support. Is able to understand and communicate details on research design, study implementation, results and their implications, and/or data systems on assigned projects. 
• Ownership of Work: Takes responsibility/is accountable for effectively completing assigned discrete tasks or projects with high attention to detail under direct supervision. Produces high quality work in the time expected; identifies and follows up with stakeholders as needed to ensure assignments are completed on time.
• Written Communication: Accurately and succinctly communicates in writing with J-PAL staff and stakeholders on assigned projects with minimal supervision from senior-level staff. Clearly communicates technical information to non-technical audiences. 
• Oral Communication: Demonstrates strong active listening skills and accurately and succinctly communicates information orally to staff and external partners with minimal supervision from senior-level staff. 
• External Stakeholder Relations: Supports partnership development between researchers and potential implementing partners and/or maintains relationships with existing stakeholders under supervision from researchers or managers. Demonstrates experience exercising general stakeholder management skills in the context of policymaking or program implementation is a plus.
• Task & Project Management: Takes on a process-oriented task, plans and organizes work, delegates appropriately, coordinates with others, establishes appropriate priorities and timelines, exercises follow through, and adds overall value to the process. 
• Problem Solving/Decision Making: Demonstrates adeptness at analyzing facts, judgment, and strong decision-making ability. Responds to problems, issues, and opportunities that are identified by supervisors. Collaborates to identify a solution or response.  
• Travel: Willingness and ability to travel as needed locally and in the US (usually minimal) to attend events or participate in meetings. 

How to Apply

1. Cover letter which answers the following questions: 
2. Tell us about your interest in poverty alleviation in the North America region, especially in the US, and what experiences have you had that demonstrate that you are able to work with communities experiencing poverty?
3. What experiences have you had with quantitative policy/social science research, and how they have prepared you to be effective in this Policy Associate role?
4. What experience have you had in communicating effectively with policy and practitioner audiences, including your experience in using inclusive language that resonates with diverse communities?
5. Resume