Research Manager (Scale) – Every Child Counts
Role: Research Manager
Project: (Scale) – Every Child Counts
Location: Delhi or Bengaluru, India
Organization: J-PAL South Asia at IFMR
Language requirement: English, Hindi
About J-PAL South Asia:
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center dedicated to reducing poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. J-PAL South Asia, based at the Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR) in Chennai, focuses on disseminating research results and building partnerships with policymakers and implementers across India. J-PAL South Asia works to ensure that policy is driven by evidence and that programs proven effective are scaled up.
About Every Child Counts:
Every Child Counts (ECC), also known as Math Games, is an evidence-based early years mathematics program that provides young children with the right stimulus to translate their innate understanding of numbers and geometry into formal symbolic applications of mathematics in school. The program comprises four structured games (two targeting geometric and spatial understanding, and two focused on developing number sense) designed for pre-primary and Grade 1 classrooms.
Rigorously evaluated through three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in Delhi (2013–2019) in collaboration with Pratham Education Foundation, including by 2019 Nobel Memorial Prize winner Prof. Esther Duflo, and piloted across five Indian states between 2019 and 2023, ECC has demonstrated robust, positive impacts on children's mathematics skills.
In November 2023, J-PAL South Asia launched the Every Child Counts Certificate Program, a coalition model designed to scale ECC by building the capacity of NGO partners to implement the program independently. The certificate program involves a week-long in-person training, an online course component, and a three-month implementation pilot monitored by J-PAL South Asia. The second cohort of the certificate program was successfully completed in November 2025, with partners operating across six states including Meghalaya, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Uttarakhand, and Arunachal Pradesh. The program is currently operational in 11 states reaching nearly 900,000 students annually.
The Role:
J-PAL South Asia is looking for a Research Manager (Scale) to join their Every Child Counts team. This role is sitting at the intersection of rigorous monitoring and evaluation, partner engagement, and knowledge management. The Research Manager will be the primary steward of ECC's evidence and research agenda as the program continues to grow in reach and institutional complexity, working in close coordination with a 12 people strong scale-ups (ASPIRE) team dedicated to only this program.
The Research Manager will manage a small team of Research Associates and work closely with the principal investigator as well as J-PAL South Asia's ASPIRE vertical leadership, external NGO partners, state government counterparts, and donor representatives.
Key Responsibilities:
1. Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL)
• Lead the design and implementation of ECC's MEL framework across NGO partners and direct implementation sites, spanning classroom observation, training assessments, and student learning outcomes.
• Manage all data collection, storage, analysis, and reporting systems, including tools such as SurveyCTO, ensuring data quality and reliability.
• Conduct and oversee process evaluations, develop theories of change and logframes, and set up feedback loops to enable adaptive program management.
• Design and oversee baseline, midline, and endline outcome assessments; analyze results to measure program performance and impact.
• Lead or support implementation research studies, including any experimental or quasi-experimental designs (e.g., A/B tests) tied to ECC's scale-up.
• Manage IRB submissions and amendments (MIT and IFMR) as required for new geographies or research components.
• Facilitate the transfer of MEL systems, tools, and capabilities to NGO partners and government counterparts, enabling them to independently manage data collection, analysis, and learning cycles over time.
2. Team and Project Management
• Manage and mentor a team of Research Associates, providing guidance on research tasks, field activities, data management, and professional development.
• Manage the ECC project budget across multiple grants and donor streams, working with other teams to ensure effective allocation and timely reporting.
• Coordinate across J-PAL South Asia verticals and with the broader J-PAL network on scale-up strategy, organizational learning, and cross-cutting initiatives.
• Proactively participate in organizational-level initiatives within J-PAL South Asia.
3. Knowledge Management and Dissemination
• Develop and maintain high-quality knowledge products, including partner-facing reports, case studies and cross-cohort analyses, that document ECC's learning and evidence base.
• Ensure systematic documentation of program processes, implementation learnings, and M&E findings for internal and external audiences.
• Generate interim and annual reports for donors and institutional stakeholders, translating complex data into actionable insights.
• Contribute to internal cross-team learning and knowledge exchange on scaling evidence-based programs, ensuring that insights from ECC inform broader organizational learning.
4. Stakeholder Engagement
• Engage with state government counterparts and implementation partners across multiple states.
• Navigate government permissions, data-sharing agreements, and integration processes with state education platforms and systems.
• Represent J-PAL South Asia in relevant forums, meetings, and conferences related to early childhood education and program scale-up.
• Engage with donors (IGI, GDI, ASPIRE) along with the team to fulfill reporting requirements and share findings.
Desired Qualifications, Experience & Skills:
• Master's degree in economics, public policy, education policy, statistics, or a related social science. Strong coursework in economics or quantitative methods is highly preferred.
• Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience, with at least 2 years in a senior or managerial role involving M&E, program management, or research in the development sector.
• Proven experience designing and leading M&E systems for multi-site or multi-partner programs; familiarity with both quantitative and qualitative research methods.
• Background in early childhood education, foundational learning, or education research is strongly preferred. Candidates with a teaching fellowship background (e.g., Teach For India) or experience in implementation and M&E of education programs are particularly encouraged to apply.
• Proficiency in data analysis tools (Stata, R, or equivalent) and data collection platforms (especially SurveyCTO).
• Experience working with or supporting NGO partners, state government counterparts, or multilateral organizations in a program management or technical assistance capacity.
• Familiarity with randomized controlled trials and experimental or quasi-experimental research designs is desirable.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to produce high-quality reports, presentations, and knowledge products for diverse audiences.
• Strong project management and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple workstreams and deadlines simultaneously.
Cultural Fit:
• Ability to operate effectively at the intersection of research rigor and implementation pragmatism, comfortable with ambiguity and adaptive in approach.
• Strong orientation toward mentorship and team development; ability to work with and build up colleagues with varying aptitudes and experience levels.
• Ability to build consensus across diverse stakeholders like NGO partners, government officials, donors, and internal teams, while balancing competing priorities.
• Demonstrated leadership in driving organizational or programmatic change, particularly in contexts of scale-up and uncertainty.
• Ability to work independently while proactively collaborating with other verticals and teams within J-PAL South Asia.