Senior Associate - Education and Workforce

Kenya·NairobiFull-timesenior

OtherAssociate

0 views0 saves0 applied

Apply Now

Quick Summary

Overview

What does the Busara Center do? Busara implements research for organizations around the world, ranging from qualitative in-depth studies to lab experiments to large-scale randomized control trials.

Technical Tools

OtherAssociate

What does the Busara Center do?

Busara implements research for organizations around the world, ranging from qualitative in-depth studies to lab experiments to large-scale randomized control trials. In addition, Busara’s advisory arm works with governments, non-profit organizations and private sector enterprises on improving their policies and products: Through incorporating insights from behavioral economics, we help organizations understand decision-making and enable them and the people they serve to make better and more informed choices.

Role Purpose Statement:

Busara’s Education and Workforce portfolio applies behavioural science to strengthen the education-to-work pipeline across the Global South. We partner with governments, donors, NGOs, and private-sector actors to address behavioural, institutional, and systemic barriers shaping learning, skills development, workforce readiness, and transitions into employment and entrepreneurship.

As a Senior Associate, you will work closely with the Portfolio Lead to design and deliver rigorous behavioural science research and advisory projects across school systems, vocational and skills education, youth employment, and entrepreneurship. The role focuses on generating actionable insights into how students, educators, employers, and other stakeholders make decisions, respond to incentives, and navigate key transition points from education into work.

Senior Associates will work closely with Busara offices and directly with academic researchers and advisory clients to perform a variety of tasks including, but not limited to:

Lead the design and execution of rigorous mixed-methods research across the education-to-work pipeline, integrating qualitative and quantitative approaches into coherent, decision-ready evidence.

Ensure methodological robustness across study design, sampling, data collection, and analysis, with strong attention to validity, consistency, and analytical rigor.

Conduct advanced qualitative and quantitative analysis, and synthesize multiple evidence streams into clear, actionable insights for education, skills, and workforce stakeholders.

Serve as a technical quality gatekeeper across projects, reviewing research tools, analysis plans, and outputs to ensure adherence to agreed research standards.

Identify methodological risks and implementation gaps early, and proactively strengthen research design and execution to safeguard output quality.

Oversee the integrity of data pipelines and analytical processes across concurrent projects, ensuring accuracy, coherence, and traceability of findings.

Guide and technically supervise Associates in the execution of research tasks, including data collection, analysis, and reporting, ensuring alignment with protocols and analytical frameworks.

Own project timelines, budgets, deliverables, and staffing plans; escalate risks early and manage scope proactively.

Directly manage and mentor Analysts and Project Leads embedded on your engagements; build their research and advisory skills through active coaching.

Coordinate across Busara's Data, Programming, and Operations teams to ensure smooth execution of field and remote research activities.

Contribute to onboarding and knowledge management so institutional learning is captured and usable.

Own the client relationship across the full engagement lifecycle — from scoping and contracting through delivery and dissemination.

Lead senior-level conversations with donors, implementing partners, ministries, and private sector clients; anticipate needs, navigate complexity, and manage expectations proactively.

Translate client problems into well-defined research and advisory briefs; push back constructively when questions are ill-formed or scope is misaligned.

From time to time, develop proposals, concept notes, and pitch decks, and contribute to business development within the education and youth employment space.

Represent Busara at conferences, technical working groups, and client convenings — presenting findings with clarity and confidence to non-specialist and expert audiences alike.

Requirements

~2 min read

At least 5 years of experience in research, advisory, or program design roles with a meaningful focus on education and youth employment in sub-Saharan Africa or comparable contexts.

Deep expertise in mixed methods research.

Expertise with quantitative methods and data analysis tools (Stata, R, or Python)

Demonstrated ability to manage senior client and partner relationships with confidence, clarity, and professional maturity.

Proven track record leading complex, multi-stakeholder projects from inception to delivery.

Strong analytical and synthesis skills — you can turn messy data into a crisp, defensible argument.

Excellent written and verbal communication in English; able to write for both technical and non-technical audiences.

Bachelor's degree in a relevant field (Social Sciences, Development Studies, Economics, Public Policy, or related).

Desired Qualifications

Master's degree in a relevant field.

Experience applying behavioral science — formally or informally — to education and workforce development.

Experience with experimental or quasi-experimental designs (RCTs, difference-in-differences, etc.) as a research lead or collaborator.

As applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, we encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible.

Data Privacy Statement

As part of Busara’s recruitment process, personal information provided by an applicant through various means will be collected and stored. This includes but is not limited to the information which the candidate provides to Busara in their application and profile, any data from role assessments, interviews information including video interviews and data provided to us by your referees. This data will be used to evaluate the application, communicate with the candidate, and where a candidate has selected this option, for future recruitment opportunities. All this information will be treated as part of each job application record and only retained for the required record retention period.

By choosing to apply for this position at Busara, you are giving Busara your consent to process your personal data as described above. We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring that your personal information is secure.