Senior Research Manager

Job Description

Title: Senior Research Manager | Full-time Position

Location and Work Authorization: Nairobi, Kenya, or Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with current and ongoing work authorization. Visa sponsorship may be offered for candidates interested in living and working in Kenya.

PxD seeks a dynamic, creative, and self-motivated Senior Research Manager to join a high-performing, flexible, and non-hierarchical team. In this role, you will have the opportunity to contribute to PxD’s new workstreams, collaborate closely with PxD and affiliated researchers, and play a key role in testing and refining innovative ideas. We are looking for a proactive self-starter with strong research management skills and the ability to engage with diverse stakeholders.

The Senior Research Manager will manage a portfolio of projects across PxD programs in Africa focused on designing, testing, and scaling impactful and inclusive digital agricultural initiatives. While anchored in research and evidence generation, this role will work fluidly across service delivery and research functions, ensuring that insights are embedded into program implementation, operational decision-making, and government-facing engagements.

The Senior Research Manager will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams and external stakeholders to build sustainable systems that improve agricultural services for farmers, institutionalize processes to ensure service longevity, and support the integration of solutions that positively impact smallholder farmers. In practice, this means not only leading research (rapid user testing, A/B tests, experiments, and evaluations) but also supporting program refinement, operational troubleshooting, and strategic decision-making across PxD initiatives.

Responsibilities (including but not limited to):

• Work with relevant stakeholders and experts to identify learning objectives and resources available for multiple projects and manage the implementation of research activities, ensuring that projects receive appropriate input from internal and external stakeholders and adhere to appropriate rigor, policies, timelines, and budgets.
• Collaborate with team leadership across research and service delivery to scope, design, pilot, and scale evidence-backed digital agriculture services, ensuring research insights are translated into operational improvements.
• Interpret and contextualize external and internal evidence and insights for PxD programs.
• Guide teams on the use of evidence-based approaches and ensure that PxD maintains the standards for technical appropriateness and rigor.
• Oversee data management and analysis for the project and survey creation, A/B testing and implementation.
• Oversee documentation of research activities, research results, and rationale for decisions made.
• Develop and fill in frameworks with specific information to identify program insights.
• Manage partner relations and work with external stakeholders for successful project implementation.
• Develop and ensure compliance with IRB protocols for human subject research and relevant in-country research permission requirements.
• Contribute to funding proposals and project reports.
• Contribute to the strategic planning and global functioning of the organization.
• Provide close mentorship and guidance to Associate and Manager-level staff.
• Operate flexibly across research, program management, and service delivery functions, contributing where needed to ensure program success beyond strictly defined research activities.
• Contribute and support internal and external communications to disseminate project results and research findings, including briefs, blogs, reports, and presentations.
• Contribute to PxD’s institutional knowledge management and internal learning efforts.

Qualifications & Experience

• Master’s degree or PhD in economics, agricultural economics, public policy, or a closely related field.
• Professional experience working on at least three large projects involving the design and management of rigorous research and/or evidence-based programs in African countries (Kenya, Nigeria, or Ethiopia, preferred).
• Ability to draw inferences from data to identify pathways for program improvement.
• Adept at consuming large amounts of academic and scientific literature as well as other technical information, synthesizing key findings, and applying takeaways to program and research design.
• Deep understanding of economics and randomized evaluations.
• Excellent knowledge of Stata, R, or similar software for data analysis.
• Experience in survey design using SurveyCTO/ODK or similar tools.
• Strong grasp of the research & program life cycle and ability to supervise all activities on the ground.
• Experience managing program and/or research staff.
• Experience managing partnerships with an implementing organization.
• Understanding and application of research ethics for human subjects in the social sciences.
• Strong writing and oral communication skills in English, with attention to detail and advanced writing and presentation skills.
• Willingness to travel to field sites.

How to Apply:

To apply, please visit the: >> PxD website and use the online application form to submit a CV, cover letter, and brief responses to the screening questions. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the application deadline of 8 June 2026, 6 pm EAT.

PxD is committed to building an inclusive and diverse organisation. We don’t make decisions based on gender, gender identity, class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other personal characteristics that are unrelated to the role. We understand that everyone has different lifestyles and we accommodate flexible working to make sure you are as productive and happy as you can be. 

We will use any personal data you provide for recruitment purposes only.