MSI Nigeria is a result-oriented social enterprise, which uses modern management and marketing techniques to provide reproductive health care and allied services. MSI Nigeria’s goal is to meet the needs of underserved Nigerians and dramatically improve access and use of a range of reproductive health services.
MSI Nigeria is part of Marie Stopes International’s Global Partnership which is in over 37 countries worldwide and it operates in Nigeria through six service delivery channels.
POSITION: MANAGER, STRATEGIC RESEARCH & LEARNING
LOCATION: ABUJA
OBJECTIVES:
We are seeking an accomplished and visionary leader to manage and drive strategic research, and evaluation activities. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in designing and managing large-scale surveys, data collection, and evaluation methodologies to inform sexual and reproductive health programs. As a Manager, you will play a pivotal role in ensuring evidence-based decision-making, generating actionable insights, and managing relationships with consultants and partners on research and evaluation related initiatives. Additionally, you will lead human-centred design projects, oversee knowledge management, and promote the dissemination and publication of research findings.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Technical leadership in Sexual and Reproductive Health Research and Evaluations including sampling and budgeting.
• Set the research priorities working with the country leadership, and global evidence team.
• Serve as principal investigator on all research working with the co-PIs from other country programmes, the Global Evidence and at MSI Nigeria.
• Manage ethical clearance from local and international institutional Review Boards
• Lead the design, planning, and ethical delivery of strategic research and evaluation projects, including large-scale multi-country surveys such as client experience surveys, market assessments, mystery client surveys, and innovation testing among others.
• Oversee research data management systems and build staff capacity in data analysis, visualization, and quality assurance processes.
• Model the impact of the MSI programme at national and state levels.
• Generate insights from data and research findings to inform decision-making and
• Translate evidence into actionable insights to drive programme implementation, course correction, business development, and support evidence-based advocacy.
• Provide oversight of knowledge management, ensuring the capture, curation, and transfer of knowledge to support evidence-based decision-making, and drive the culture of continuous learning across the organization.
• Disseminate research findings to internal and external stakeholders and scientific communities, through conferences presentations and publications in peer-reviewed journals.
• Foster collaboration with external stakeholders, including government agencies, donors, research consultants, and academic partners, to ensure the alignment of research outputs with broader health sector priorities.
• Manage all outsourced research and evaluation projects ensuring quality delivery within set time and budget.
• Contribute research evidence to support new proposals and business cases.
• Identify research and evaluation risks and deploy appropriate risk mitigation strategies to ensure research integrity.
• Stay abreast of population, social, economic, political and security developments in Nigeria and in the African regions where research projects are being implemented, adjusting research management strategies as needed.
• Any other task assigned by MSI leadership.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATION, EXPERIENCE & SKILLS:
• PhD in the Social Sciences, Public Health, or a related field.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in research, and evaluation, 5 of which is at leadership level.
• Formal Project Management training and experience.
• Proven experience managing complex multi-country research/evaluation projects in the health sector, particularly in sexual and reproductive health.
• Strong proficiency in sampling, research training, and data analysis tools like SPSS/Stata/R, NVivo/Atlas Ti, and ArcGIS; working knowledge of Tableau and Power BI is an advantage.
• Experience with project management tools like Jira and Trello.
• Demonstrated success in translating research insights into programmatic actions.
• Familiarity with donor’s research interests and processes including BMGF, CIFF, USAID, and FCDO.
• Adept research conceptualization and management skills
• Strong analytical and technical writing skills, with the ability to assess the quality of research and evaluation protocols, adequacy of budget, research reports, abstracts, and papers.
• Excellent verbal communication skills, tailored for diverse audiences.
• Demonstrated people management skills, including training, coaching, and mentoring.
• Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills.
• Ability to manage risk and overcome project challenges.
• Ability to work autonomously or as part of a team and maintain a high level of flexibility.
Note: There are no relocation allowances available for this position.
Interested persons may send a comprehensive resume with a brief cover letter as ONE MS Word document or PDF to [email protected] no later than January 3, 2025. If you wish to be considered for the post, please specify the Position and Location in the subject line if you want your application to be considered. Note that if the underline instructions are not followed application will not be considered.
Kindly note that this role is open until filled and we will be conducting Interviews on a rolling basis even while advertisement is still active.
MSI Nigeria Reproductive Choices provides equal opportunity in employment and prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of race, sex, colour, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability.
MSI Nigeria is dedicated to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of everyone we serve, particularly vulnerable adults, children, and young people.
Children by Choice not Chance
