Manager / Senior Manager, Knowledge & Insights

National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC); Singapore; On-site; SGD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

NVPC in Singapore seeks a seasoned researcher to lead and support national-level studies on volunteering and philanthropy. You will oversee the full research cycle, design instruments, apply quantitative and qualitative methods, and translate findings for policy and practice.

Collaboration with government and sector partners is essential to inform Singapore's social landscape. The role requires a Masters in a related field and 4–6 years of applied research experience, including survey management

Qualifications

• Masters in Social Sciences, Public Policy, Statistics, Data Analytics, Evaluation, or related disciplines or postgraduate training would be an advantage.
• At least 4–6 years of experience in applied social research, survey research, programme evaluation or related fields.
• Experience managing large-scale surveys, especially household or population-level studies.
• Experience in research design, questionnaire development, data cleaning, quantitative analysis, and report writing for non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience coordinating vendors, fieldwork teams, interns, or cross-functional project teams.
• Direct people management experience is not essential but would be useful.

Responsibilities

• Lead or support national-level, population-level and sector studies on donating, volunteering and social impact.
• Manage the research cycle from scoping, proposal development, study design and ethics clearance to procurement, fieldwork coordination, data management, analysis and reporting.
• Design and review research frameworks, survey instruments, sampling plans, fieldwork protocols, data cleaning processes and analytical plans.
• Apply suitable quantitative and/or qualitative methods, including descriptive analysis, cross-tabulation, hypothesis testing and regression analysis.
• Familiarity with more advanced methods such as factor analysis, clustering, segmentation, longitudinal analysis, causal inference approaches or latent variable modelling would be an advantage.
• Analyse findings, identify meaningful patterns, assess evidence quality, and develop coherent evidence-based narratives.
• Translate findings into clear 'so what' implications that are analytically sound, context-sensitive and practical for Singapore's context.
• Work with internal teams, senior management, government stakeholders and sector partners to understand questions, constraints and evidence needs.
• Translate broad or ambiguous needs into feasible research questions, study designs, evaluation approaches or learning agendas.
• Identify evidence gaps, connect learning across studies, and propose research ideas or directions where appropriate.
• Support cross-functional work, organisational events, procurement, documentation, knowledge management and other team priorities as needed.

Skills

Research design

Questionnaire development

Data cleaning

Quantitative analysis

Qualitative analysis

Statistical inference

Regression analysis

Report writing

Stakeholder communication

Project management

Vendor coordination

Statistical software

Education

Masters in Social Sciences

Tools

SPSS

Stata

R

Python

Mplus

Job description

NVPC is the national agency dedicated to growing a culture of volunteerism and philanthropy in Singapore. By engaging individuals, organisations, communities and leaders across the people, private and public sectors, we seek to create a more caring, inclusive, and compassionate society. Together, we envision Singapore as a City of Good, where everyone is able to give every day and everywhere (3Es), contributing their time, talent, treasure, ties and testimony (5Ts). Learn more at nvpc.org.sg.

Job Description

1. Research management and project execution

• Lead or support national-level, population-level and sector studies on donating, volunteering and social impact.
• Manage the research cycle from scoping, proposal development, study design and ethics clearance to procurement, fieldwork coordination, data management, analysis and reporting.

2. Technical rigour and fit-for-purpose methods

• Design and review research frameworks, survey instruments, sampling plans, fieldwork protocols, data cleaning processes and analytical plans.
• Apply suitable quantitative and/or qualitative methods, including descriptive analysis, cross-tabulation, hypothesis testing and regression analysis.
• Familiarity with more advanced methods such as factor analysis, clustering, segmentation, longitudinal analysis, causal inference approaches or latent variable modelling would be an advantage.

3. Insight generation and applied sense-making

• Analyse findings, identify meaningful patterns, assess evidence quality, and develop coherent evidence-based narratives.
• Translate findings into clear "so what" implications that are analytically sound, context-sensitive and practical for Singapore's context.

4. Stakeholder engagement and research translation

• Work with internal teams, senior management, government stakeholders and sector partners to understand questions, constraints and evidence needs.
• Translate broad or ambiguous needs into feasible research questions, study designs, evaluation approaches or learning agendas.

5. Contribution to research direction and organisational priorities

• Identify evidence gaps, connect learning across studies, and propose research ideas or directions where appropriate.
• Support cross-functional work, organisational events, procurement, documentation, knowledge management and other team priorities as needed.

Qualifications

• Masters in Social Sciences, Public Policy, Statistics, Data Analytics, Evaluation, or related disciplines or postgraduate training in research methods, statistics, survey research, programme evaluation, or applied social research would be an advantage.
• At least 4 - 6 years of experience in applied social research, survey research, programme evaluation, policy research, or related fields.
• Experience managing large-scale surveys, especially household or population-level studies, would be a strong advantage.
• Candidates should have experience in research design, questionnaire development, data cleaning, quantitative analysis, report writing, and translating findings for non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience coordinating vendors, fieldwork teams, research assistants, interns, or cross-functional project teams would be an advantage.
• Direct people management experience is not essential but would be useful

Other Relevant Skills & Knowledge

• Strong grounding in research design, social science research methods, survey methodology and applied data analysis.
• Strong ability to critically evaluate evidence quality, methodological limitations, data gaps and competing interpretations.
• Proficiency in applied quantitative analysis, including descriptive analysis, bivariate analysis, statistical inference, and regression-based modelling. Familiarity with specialised approaches would be an advantage, including measurement modelling such as factor analysis or structural equation modelling; clustering or segmentation methods; longitudinal analysis; and causal inference designs.
• Experience with statistical software such as SPSS, Stata, R or Python. Familiarity with Mplus or other specialised software for latent variable modelling would be an advantage.
• Ability to manage research projects end-to-end, including proposal development, timeline planning, ethics/IRB clearance, vendor coordination, fieldwork monitoring, data cleaning, analysis and reporting.
• Strong writing and communication skills, with the ability to explain research findings and methodological trade-offs clearly to non-technical audiences.
• Ability to work with internal teams to understand organisational questions and translate them into feasible research, evaluation or learning approaches.
• Interest in giving, volunteering, corporate purpose, nonprofit governance, social impact, behavioural insights or Singapore's social sector would be an advantage.