Data (Senior) Manager (Training)
Data (Senior) Manager (Training)
Location - New Delhi
Team- Training
Minimum duration of commitment- At least 3 years
DoJ - 1st August 2026
Type- Full-time
Reporting to- Associate Director
About J-PAL South Asia:
J-PAL is a global research centre working to reduce poverty and fight climate change by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of over 1,100 researchers at universities across the world, J-PAL works with governments, NGOs, and donors to generate evidence and scale effective solutions. J-PAL South Asia, based at the Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR) in Chennai, leads J-PAL’s efforts to advance evidence-informed policymaking across the region. The office works with over 20 state governments and multiple central ministries in India, across sectors including health, education, labour markets, energy, environment, climate action, and gender.
J-PAL South Asia hosts CLEAR South Asia, the Regional Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results, coordinated by the World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group (IEG). CLEAR South Asia is a key implementing partner of the Global Evaluation Initiative (GEI), a global network of institutions dedicated to strengthening evaluation capacities in developing countries.
About the Training vertical:
The Training vertical at J-PAL South Asia works to strengthen monitoring, evaluation, data, and evidence-use capacities and systems. The team delivers open-enrolment and customised courses, technical advisory services, fellowships, knowledge products, and long-term institutional capacity-building engagements with governments and other development partners. J-PAL South Asia also hosts CLEAR South Asia, a key implementing partner of the Global Evaluation Initiative.
Role summary:
J-PAL South Asia seeks a data-focused Training Manager / Senior Manager to lead the design and delivery of capacity-building programmes that help public institutions and social-sector organisations improve how they collect, manage, analyse, govern, and use data for decision-making and evaluation. The role sits at the intersection of applied data analytics, monitoring and evaluation, adult learning, and institutional strengthening.
The successful candidate will translate real-world administrative and programme data challenges into rigorous, practice-oriented curricula and advisory engagements. They will lead technical content development, facilitate training for diverse audiences, manage partnerships and programmes, mentor team members, and help build a portfolio of data-capacity initiatives that is closely connected to J-PAL’s research and policy mission.
Key responsibilities:
1. Data-focused training strategy and portfolio development
● Support the development and execution of the Training vertical’s strategy for data and evidence capacity building, translating priorities into annual plans, milestones, budgets, and measurable outcomes.
● Contribute to thought leadership on the evolving role of data systems, AI, and digital tools in M&E practice, helping government partners navigate opportunities and risks as these technologies reshape how evidence is generated and used in public systems.
● Identify opportunities for new courses, technical assistance, fellowships, and institutional partnerships focused on administrative data, data governance, analytics, and evidence use.
● Build a coherent pathway from foundational data literacy to advanced applied analytics, tailored to the needs of government officials, M&E practitioners, researchers, and implementing organisations.
● Contribute to fundraising, proposal development, donor engagement, and the stewardship of existing grants.
2. Curriculum and technical content development
● Lead the design, adaptation, and quality assurance of curricula, teaching materials, exercises, datasets, manuals, toolkits, and knowledge products on data-focused topics.
● Develop applied learning content using realistic government and social-sector datasets, while ensuring confidentiality, ethical use, and appropriate data protection.
● Create training modules for partners on topics such as data quality assessment, data cleaning and validation, reproducible workflows, administrative data systems, data visualisation, dashboarding, data governance, responsible data use, and the use of data for monitoring and evaluation.
● Translate technical concepts into accessible and engaging learning experiences for audiences with different levels of quantitative proficiency.
● Keep content current by drawing on J-PAL research, field experience, partner needs, and emerging good practices in public-interest data systems.
3. Training delivery and facilitation
● Lead and facilitate high-quality in-person, virtual, and blended training programmes for government and non-government stakeholders.
● Teach technical sessions and oversee hands-on labs using relevant software such as Excel, Stata, R, Python, SQL, or data-visualisation tools.
● Design assessments, assignments, capstone exercises, and feedback mechanisms that measure learning and application rather than participation alone.
● Coach other trainers and subject-matter experts to ensure consistency, accuracy, strong pedagogy, and an inclusive learner experience.
4. Technical advisory and institutional data-capacity strengthening
● Work with state and central government partners, civil society organisations, and other institutions to diagnose data-system and analytical-capacity gaps.
● Translate partner needs into feasible technical assistance plans, including data-quality protocols, documentation standards, reporting frameworks, analytical workflows, and capacity-building roadmaps.
● Advise partners on strengthening data collection, metadata, data dictionaries, codebooks, validation rules, reproducible analysis, and responsible data-sharing practices.
● Support partners to move from one-off analysis towards institutionalised routines for monitoring, learning, and evidence-informed decision-making.
● Coordinate with J-PAL’s research and policy teams to identify data assets and problem statements that may support future research or evaluation opportunities.
5. Programme and partnership management
● Manage multiple training and advisory engagements end to end, including scoping, work planning, staffing, contracting, delivery, risk management, reporting, and close-out.
● Build and maintain trusted relationships with senior government officials, donors, universities, technical partners, and civil society organisations.
● Ensure programmes are responsive to partner needs while maintaining J-PAL’s standards for technical quality and ethical data use.
● Represent the Training vertical in external meetings, workshops, and ecosystem convenings.
6. Learning, knowledge management, and evidence of programme effectiveness
● Develop monitoring, evaluation, and learning frameworks for data-capacity programmes, tracking learning gains, application of skills, institutional adoption, and improvements in data practices.
● Create and maintain reusable repositories of curricula, code examples, teaching datasets, templates, case studies, and delivery guidance.
● Lead the production of practical briefs, case notes, playbooks, and donor-facing learning products that document what works in strengthening institutional data capacity.
● Use learner and partner feedback to continuously improve programme design and delivery.
7. Team leadership and organisational contribution
● Supervise, mentor, and support Training Associates, Senior Training Associates, consultants as the need may be.
● Set clear goals and quality standards, review technical outputs, and support the professional development of team members.
● Contribute to financial and operational management, grant reporting, recruitment, and cross-vertical organisational initiatives.
● Promote a collaborative culture that combines technical rigour, practical problem-solving, and strong partner orientation.
Minimum qualifications:
● Master’s degree in economics, statistics, data science, computer science and AI, engineering or a related quantitative or social science field.
● For Manager: at least 5 years of relevant professional experience. For Senior Manager: typically 7 or more years of relevant experience, including substantial programme or team leadership.
● Demonstrated experience using data for public policy, monitoring and evaluation, social-impact programmes, government advisory, or applied research.
● Strong applied data-analysis skills and proficiency in at least one statistical programming language such as R, or Python; working knowledge of SQL is strongly preferred.
● Experience working with large, messy, or administrative datasets, including data cleaning, validation, documentation, analysis, and visualisation.
● Strong understanding of monitoring and evaluation concepts, research workflows, and the role of administrative data in evidence-informed decision-making.
● Experience designing and delivering technical training, workshops, curricula, or advisory services for adult learners.
● Strong project and stakeholder management skills, including the ability to manage multiple workstreams, deadlines, budgets, and external relationships.
● Excellent written and spoken English, with the ability to explain complex technical ideas clearly to non-technical audiences.
● Willingness to travel within India.
Preferred qualifications:
● Experience working directly with state or central government departments, public data systems, multilaterals, or large-scale social programmes.
● Experience developing data pipelines, reusable code libraries, dashboards, automated reporting workflows, or data-quality systems.
● Familiarity with data governance, privacy, ethical data use, data-sharing agreements, and responsible use of sensitive administrative data.
● Knowledge of causal inference, impact evaluation, survey design, sampling, or identification strategies.
● Experience using geospatial data, machine learning, cloud-based analytical environments, or business-intelligence tools in applied development settings.
● Experience developing open-source curricula, technical manuals, operational toolkits, or knowledge products.
● Prior experience with fundraising, grant management, donor reporting, or partnership development.
● Fluency in Hindi.
Core competencies:
● Technical depth with practical judgement: Strong understanding and expertise in data governance in governments and other partners; Applies strong analytical skills to real institutional problems and selects tools appropriate to the context.
● Pedagogical leadership: Designs rigorous, accessible, and practice-oriented learning experiences for diverse adult learners.
● Institutional capacity building: Looks beyond one-off training to strengthen systems, routines, documentation, and organisational ownership on data governance.
● Partner orientation: Builds trust, listens carefully, and co-creates solutions that are technically sound and operationally feasible.
● Operational excellence: Plans and delivers complex programmes with attention to quality, timelines, budgets, and risk.
● Communication: Explains technical ideas clearly and produces high-quality written, visual, and oral outputs.
● People leadership: Sets clear expectations, gives constructive feedback, and supports the growth of a diverse team.
● Mission alignment: Demonstrates a strong commitment to evidence-informed policy and the responsible use of data for social good.
Work authorisation:
Candidates must be authorised to work in India.
Application:
Interested candidates should submit a CV and cover letter describing their relevant experience in applied data work, capacity building, and stakeholder management. Candidates may be asked to complete a technical and/or teaching exercise as part of the selection process.