Senior Specialist - Research

Udhyam; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 1,800,000 - 2,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Udhyam Learning Foundation in Bangalore is seeking a Senior Specialist, Research to lead evaluation design and data-driven improvement of the Shiksha program. You will develop evaluation tools, guide data collection, and generate insights to inform on-ground strategies with external partners.

The role emphasizes rigorous qualitative and quantitative methods, tool development, and dissemination of findings to funders and governments.

Qualifications

• Graduate degree (PhD, MA, MSc) from a UGC recognised University (ongoing or completed)
• Undergraduate degree (BA, BSc, etc) from a UGC recognised university plus equivalent work experience
• Highly creative and entrepreneurial
• Experience in program evaluation, preferably in education
• Ability to design evaluation frameworks
• Data collection and analysis experience in education projects
• Strong communication skills

Responsibilities

• Conceptualize, design, and test new tools for Program evaluation
• Engage in tool reiteration and refinement
• Liaise with state teams and negotiate data collection protocols
• Quantitative and/or qualitative data collection from the field
• Data analysis - quantitative and qualitative with actionable insights
• Outcome analyses, syntheses, and presentations for external stakeholders
• Secondary research and literature reviews
• Grant and proposal writing for research projects
• Disseminate research through publications and seminars

Skills

Methodological expertise in research

Social sciences knowledge

Evaluation frameworks design

Tool design & validation

Projects at scale

R/SPSS/Python

Disseminating findings

MS & G Suite

Communication skills

Collaborative work

Education

Graduate degree (PhD, MA, MSc) from a UGC recognised University

Undergraduate degree (BA, BSc) from a UGC recognised University + equivalent work experience

Tools

R

SPSS

Python

Job description

About Udhyam:

At Udhyam Learning Foundation (Udhyam), our vision is to “Co-create a caring world, where people fearlessly pursue their potential.” We believe that entrepreneurial thinking and mindsets are a powerful way to channelize an individual’s potential. Entrepreneurship enables agency and allows an individual to work on their strengths while creating value for the world.

Our programs:

• Udhyam Shiksha works on developing entrepreneurial mindsets among the youth and enabling them to achieve their potential, having impacted ~47,00,000 learners across 10 Indian states.
• Udhyam Vyapaar focuses on nano businesses, and helps solve foundational problems faced by them, at scale having already enabled income uplift for 10000+ entrepreneurs.

The goal for Udhyam is to build a thriving and supportive ecosystem, where every individual feels empowered to define their own path.

This role is for the Shiksha program as part of the Monitoring, Evaluation and Research function.

About the role:

The Monitoring, Evaluation and Research function at Udhyam Learning Foundation is a team of qualitative and quantitative researchers. The primary role of the function is to provide vital data that is central to monitoring overall program health and implementation, as well as to evaluate short-term, medium-term, and longitudinal outcomes for students and teachers. In addition, the team also functions as the central point of contact for evaluations and research studies with external partners, and as the central point of contact for all internal evaluation needs.

The team is currently looking to expand with the hiring of a Senior Specialist, Research. The day-to-day functioning of the role will involve the design of evaluation tools, data analysis and insight generation for on-ground interventionary strategies, outcome evaluation, and public-facing dissemination of the results to both external stakeholders (governments, funders, partners) and iteration improvement of the program design.

Role & Responsibilities:

• Conceptualize, design, and test new tools for Program evaluation
• Engage in tool reiteration and refinement
• Liaise with state teams and negotiate data collection protocols and timelines
• Quantitative and/or qualitative data collection from the field.
• Data analysis - Quantitative and qualitative analysis with the lens of providing actionable insights for operations teams
• Outcome analyses, syntheses, and presentations for external stakeholders
• Secondary research and literature reviews to address potential emergent needs
• Grant and proposal writing - for research projects and in providing specialist support to fundraising teams
• Engage with dissemination of research through publications and seminars.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Methodological expertise in quantitative and/or qualitative research methodologies, with relevant experience in program evaluation (strong preference for previous experience in evaluating programs in Education)
• Strong conceptual training in any domain of the social sciences; strong preference for candidates with expertise in education and learning theory
• Proficiency and previous experience with designing evaluation frameworks
• Quantitative expertise in tool design and validation (optional but preferred)
• Previous experience in working with projects at scale
• Technical expertise in R, SPSS, Python, or other statistical analysis package
• Previous experience in disseminating research findings for a broader audience
• Comfort in working with the MS Suite and G Suite range of platforms
• Good oral and written communication
• Ability to work collaboratively with a diverse set of people

Mandatory Requirements:

• Graduate degree (PhD,M.A, M.Sc, etc) from a UGC recognised University (ongoing or completed) OR Undergraduate degree (B.A, B.Sc, etc) from a UGC recognized university plus equivalent work experience
• Highly creative and entrepreneurial

Location:

Bangalore