Country MEL Support Manager

As a valued employee of the British Council, you already help us deliver our mission to support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. For over 90 years we have shaped brighter futures through education, arts, culture, language, and creativity. You are part of our organisation in over 200 countries and territories and where we are on the ground in more than 100 countries. We connect. We inspire. Role Purpose The primary purpose of this role is to oversee and manage a portfolio of countries, providing professional MEL (Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning) support and guidance across the British Council's three Cultural Engagement sectors — Education, English and School Education, and Arts. The postholder is the point of contact for MEL advice for programmes within a portfolio of countries aligned, as far as possible, with their own time zone, and acts as the go-to authority on MEL approaches, methods, resourcing, standards and quality, recommending when evaluation activity is needed and helping to plan annual evaluation needs. The postholder guides the end-to-end process of commissioning evaluation suppliers, including via the Evaluation team's Global Framework of suppliers, and supports the provision of insights across their portfolio of countries for stakeholder engagement and business development, alongside colleagues in the Research and Insight team. They also support MEL capability and capacity development within their portfolio, particularly around impact monitoring, provide technical support on monitoring and evaluation to teams delivering partnership and contract-funded work, and support any contract-funded MEL managers in their portfolio. The role also supports the Senior Evaluation Alignment and Standardisation leads with ad hoc MEL requests and enables Strategic MEL managers to access data and participants for cross-cutting studies. Role Accountabilities Strategy and Planning Supports the development of monitoring and evaluation plans for grant, partnership and contract-funded programmes, ensuring they are strategically aligned, appropriately designed and resourced, and timed for greatest impact on stakeholders, and supports the development of evaluation plans and priorities across the portfolio of countries. Leadership and Management Plays a lead role in the design and implementation of high-quality evaluations to articulate and drive organisational impact, and supports the development of wider evidence within the Evidence, Evaluation and Learning (EEL) team and across the portfolio of countries. Effectively coordinates the work of colleagues and consultants leading on data management, to support the use of performance data and insights across the portfolio. Programme Management Makes authoritative professional recommendations about the focus and content of evaluation plans and programmes, and identifies new approaches and techniques to enhance the efficiency, quality and wider impact of monitoring, evaluation and learning processes. Subject Expertise Represents the British Council as a recognised, credible authority in monitoring, evaluation and learning, including with key external stakeholders, and builds and maintains external networks to access, absorb and apply professional best practice. Business Development Drafts monitoring and evaluation components of programme proposals within agreed corporate schedules of delegation. Relationship and Stakeholder Management Supports complex or key stakeholder and partner relationships, particularly with global programme and country leadership, to help achieve agreed short- to medium-term targets, and monitors, evaluates and reports on the effectiveness of stakeholder management strategies, adapting approaches as needed and proactively sharing experience and insights. Knowledge & Experience Education Desirable: * First degree or master’s degree in a social science or equivalent subject Experience Essential: * Experience of designing and delivering independent evaluations within a programme delivery organisation and/or an agency delivering for clients * Experience of different methodological approaches applied in the design and delivery of evaluation projects * Operational experience of implementing the collection of monitoring data, assessing data quality characteristics and resolving challenges to quality * Understanding of the MEL standards of major funders of British Council programmes, particularly the FCDO (or other UK Government departments) and the EU and/or equivalent overseas donors and funders * Experience of providing extensive input to the design of MEL strategies for new business proposals * Experience of procurement and of managing suppliers of evaluation consultancy work * Experience designing theories of change, outcomes, results frameworks and indicators * Experience designing data collection tools, including impact monitoring surveys * Strong practical skills across quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods, including survey design, key informant interviews and focus group development * Strong understanding of monitoring data quality, including threats to quality and how to mitigate these * Good writing skills, including summarising findings and recommendations, developing impact case studies, and writing business development proposals Desirable: * Delivery of work across different international contexts and working with and through diverse international teams * Competence in data management/analysis software (SPSS, Stata, SAS, Excel, Power BI/Power Apps) * Operational experience in digital survey platforms and digital data collection * Operational experience of data quality assurance processes Important Information * Location: Pakistan * Contract Type:Indefinite Contract * Pay band: 8 * Department: Cultural Engagement * Right to Work Requirements: You must have the legal right to work in the location in which the role is based * Languages: Written and verbal proficiency in English is required * Closing date for applications: 11.59 PM IST, 30 August 2026 11.29 PM Pakistan Time (PKT), 30 August 2026 --- A connected and trusted UK in a more connected and trusted world. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Statement We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and welcome applications from all sections of the community as we believe that a diverse workforce gives added depth to our work. The British Council is a Disability Confident Employer. The Disability Confident scheme helps challenge attitudes, increase understanding of disability and ensure staff are drawn from the widest possible pool of talent. We guarantee an interview for disabled applicants who meet the minimum role requirements. We welcome discussions about specific requirements or adjustments to enable participation and engagement in our work and activities. Safeguarding Statement The British Council is committed to safeguarding children, young people and adults who we work with. We believe that all children and adults everywhere in the world deserve to live in safe environments and have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse, maltreatment and exploitation as set out in article 19, UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) 1989. Appointment to positions where there is direct involvement with vulnerable groups will be dependent on thorough checks being completed in line with legal requirements and with the British Council’s Safeguarding policies for Adults and Children. If you experience any difficulties with submitting your application, please email askhr@britishcouncil.org