Kenya: Co-Pillar Lead / Senior Research Manager, Children and Youth Pillar

To continue strengthening our work under this pillar, Samuel Hall is currently seeking an experienced and driven Co-Pillar Lead to join our team and take on leadership responsibilities. As the Co-Pillar Lead, you'll work closely with your co-lead and the Director of Programmes to lead personnel management, ensure oversight and final approval on all projects and help define the strategic direction of the pillar,

In addition to your Co-Pillar Lead responsibilities, you'll also have the opportunity to act as a Senior Research Manager on projects. In this role, you'll be responsible for producing high-quality field research plans, methodologies, and tools, as well as delivering required project outputs. You'll also conduct post-project debriefs including lessons learned, and evaluations, ensuring your institutional contribution and maintaining Samuel Hall research standards.

We're looking for someone with a passion for driving impactful research on key themes of priority for our organisation. Our expertise in child protection, education in conflict contexts, and decision-making and youth aspirations is well-known, and your contributions to these areas will be essential to our continued success. If you're a strategic thinker, an excellent communicator, and a proven leader in research and personne; management, we'd love to hear from you!

Primary Reporting Line: Pillar Lead

Secondary Reporting Line: Director of Programmes

Who We Are: 

Our research connects the voices of communities to changemakers for more inclusive societies. Samuel Hall is a social enterprise that conducts research, evaluates programmes and designs policies in contexts of migration and displacement. Our approach is ethical, academically rigorous, and based on first-hand experience of complex and fragile settings. With offices in Afghanistan, Germany, Kenya, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates, we are based in the regions we study.

We have over ten years’ experience in 70+ countries and have become a trusted partner and leading voice in the field of migration and displacement research, working with governments, donors, multilateral organisations and NGOs, as well public and private sector entities. It’s an exciting time for Samuel Hall – we were recently selected by Stanford University as one of the Global South’s high-potential, fast-growth social enterprises. For more information, please visit www.samuelhall.org.

WORK ENVIRONMENT: We work in a fast-paced, demanding, and challenging environment – you will be expected to grow with us and carve out your own spot in the team. We look for proactive, creative individuals who find opportunities to make their mark and identify solutions to problems. We look for strong leaders and reliable team-players who can add value from the very start, expand our knowledge and help us to maximise our social impact.

Tasks & Responsibilities: 

Objective 1 – Pillar Management and Coordination: 

• Hold regular coordination meetings with the pillar staff
• Manage and coach pillar and project team members
• Participate in goal-setting processes and strategic pillar discussions
• Make recruitment decisions for each project - high level project staffing
• Hold coordination and staffing meetings with pillar staff and other RMs
• Liaise with Human Resources on contract discussions / recruitment, aligned with the pillar SWP or on project basis; flag any team or HR concerns in real time
• Maintain a pool of external consultants, researchers, partners on specific thematic issues
• Monitor the implementation of the project A to Z cycle for pillar projects
• Review Research Planning Team (RPT) content ahead of time

Objective 2 – Research Management: 

• Focus on specific thematic area of research and develops said in-house expertise
• Set the vision for projects, implement all processes and obtain all required approvals
• Guide the project teams to understand and implement the vision for the research
• Lead on methodology and tool design as per industry, academic, SH standards
• Review and evaluation of data quality
• Lead on analysis and report writing
• Lead on visualisation and presentation

Objective 3 – Business Development, Representation, and Communications: 

• Drive proposal and business development for the Children and Youth Pillar in coordination with the Partnerships Unit
• Contribute to dissemination strategies and activities

Opportunities for Growth: 

Working at Samuel Hall means that you are contributing to ground-breaking, innovative, and rigorous work that bridges research, implementation and policy. We commit to helping you to:

• Grow within the organisation, with gradual increases in responsibility and accountability
• Grow to become a sought-after focal point for development and humanitarian actors, with the opportunity for continued learning, and the chance to become a key voice in your area of expertise.
• Grow your personal and professional network as we expand our list of partners.

Vacancy Requirements:

Applicants should have a Master’s degree with 5+ years of relevant experience managing people and research projects. Must have proven expertise in Child- and Youth-related research and desire for a strong role in strengthening the pillar’s thematic knowledge. Should be able to articulate how their skillset will specifically add to the pillar and Samuel Hall’s work.

Applicants must also have proven strong experience in the project management of research in diverse and challenging contexts, preferably with UN organisations and / or NGOs, and understanding of contracting, administration, and finance needs. Experience with working with child-focused organisations and international organisations and their programming, priorities and frameworks is highly desirable.

The applicant is further required to have:

• Proven experience in writing research papers, consultancy reports, evaluation assignments
• Proven experience in project management, experience in managing field research
• Proven experience in people management
• Proven experience in quantitative and qualitative data analysis and tools
• Excellent spoken and written skills in English; French preferred

How to Apply: 

To apply for this position, please use this link: https://assessment.testgorilla.com/testtaker/publicinvitation/1e8f63a7-f24e-4fc4-9846-90d61c52ded1