Embedded Lab Manager

About the role

IPA Nigeria is seeking an Embedded Lab Manager to work with government institutions and other sector stakeholders to strengthen their capacity to generate, interpret and use evidence to improve policies and programmes. The role strengthens MEL systems and government data systems, fosters institutional ownership of evidence-informed decision-making, and turns evidence into actionable insights through policy briefs and presentations. It leads a team of associates supporting government partners in building their data systems and analytical capacity, and reports to the Associate Director, Policy, with dotted-line oversight from the Global Policy team and the Financial Inclusion Program.

Key responsibilities

• Workplan management, reporting and stakeholder engagement: share a work plan with the partner, track progress, handle financial oversight and donor reporting, and cultivate relationships with local decision-makers.
• Evidence generation: co-create a policy-driven research agenda, engage academics and experts, and use large administrative datasets for policy-relevant research.
• Manage research projects end-to-end, from objectives and protocols to data collection, statistical analysis and quality control.
• Provide hands-on technical leadership in data engineering and analytics, including data pipelines, merging and wrangling, and training workshops using Power BI, Tableau, Stata, R or Python.
• Design dashboards and data-visualisation systems, and set up SOPs and reproducible workflows so partners can maintain them.
• Share evidence with partners, produce policy briefs, and take part in policy events and local policy conversations.
• Explore opportunities to institutionalize the lab for sustainability.

Required profile

• 5+ years of experience analyzing and communicating complex research results, including at least 1 year with government or large NGO partners in a low- or middle-income country.
• Knowledge of the Nigerian policy-making process and government structures, or proven ability to learn it quickly.
• Strong quantitative skills, excellent written and presentation communication, and ability to multitask under tight deadlines with limited supervision.
• Experience supervising staff and managing multiple concurrent engagements.
• Fluent professional English.
• Preferred: Master's degree in economics, development, international relations, public administration or public policy; experience with IPA or partners, MEL, or in agriculture, education, financial inclusion or social protection.