International Center: Employment Opportunities- Researchers

Employment Opportunities: ResearcheR

Position overview
Mathematica seeks researchers committed to contributing to the evidence base of what works to improve a range of outcomes in developing country contexts. We welcome researchers with experience implementing impact evaluations in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and/or Latin America who want to be part of our rapidly growing team of international evaluation researchers and who are passionate about helping to identify programs that result in better development outcomes. Researchers will join our research team and work as part of Mathematica’s Center for International Policy Research and Evaluation (CIPRE) and to contribute to CIPRE’s rapidly growing portfolio of impact evaluations of interventions in education, health, agriculture, and infrastructure in various countries across the globe.

Candidates should have strong analytic and quantitative skills and be able to design rigorous evaluations of international programs, conduct analyses, write reports, and present findings to policy and research audiences. We provide extensive support for staff engagement in professional activities including journal publications and conference participation. Candidates should have some field experience working in developing countries, and have worked closely with stakeholders including implementers and local data collection firms.

Candidates should enjoy working in a collaborative environment that emphasizes quality, rigor, critical thinking, teamwork, and professional development. Excellent written and oral communication skills are essential. The position may be filled in any of our six offices located in Ann Arbor, Cambridge, Chicago, Princeton, Oakland, and Washington, DC.

Responsibilities

Contribute to designing and implementing rigorous evaluations of development programs across sectors and in a variety of environments
Travel to the field to discuss and execute rigorous designs working with local partners
Conduct analyses, write reports and papers, and present findings to funders and country-level stakeholders and at research conferences
Help to develop and implement capacity building efforts in rigorous evaluation to local stakeholders and funders
Contribute to the growth and development of Mathematica's Center for International Policy Research and
Evaluation, including helping to identify new business opportunities and writing strong proposals

Qualifications

PhD or equivalent in economics or a related social science
Three or more years of field experience in international development research, with a focus on impact evaluations in Asia, Africa, Latin America, or Eastern Europe
Experience in evaluation design, preferably experience with quantitative and qualitative methods, and ability to strike balance between rigor and feasibility of implementation
Experience working closely with local stakeholders, implementers, and local data collection firms, and collaborating and communicating effectively with a wide range of professionals and cultures
Highly motivated and self-directed, with strong interpersonal skills
Excellent written and oral communication skills, and the ability to convey complex technical issues to a broad and diverse audience.
Fluency in Spanish, French, or Hindi is a plus

Company overview

Mathematica is an internationally recognized nonpartisan research organization that conducts social policy studies in the areas of health, education, nutrition, child development, and related topics in the United States and in developing countries. Our mission is to improve public well-being by bringing the highest standards of quality, objectivity, and excellence to bear on the work we do for government agencies, private foundations, and other private sector organizations. Mathematica has a rapidly growing portfolio of impact evaluations across Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa, in education, health, agriculture, infrastructure, democracy and governance, and a variety of other fields. In addition to hundreds of impact evaluations conducted domestically, Mathematica has conducted randomized and quasi-experimental studies in over 20 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and former Soviet Republics in the past five years alone. In February 2013, we established the Center for International Policy Research and Evaluation (CIPRE) to house and expand this rapidly growing body of work.

Selected examples of the kinds of evaluations we're conducting include:

Early grade reading, in Latin America and the Caribbean: examining the impact of teacher training, curriculum development and other education reform efforts in USAID-funded countries, using a mix of experimental and quasi-experimental designs. (Client: USAID)

Scholarship and support services, Africa and other countries: examining the effectiveness of scholarships and support services to youth, with a focus in Africa, to expand access to education and to build a new cohort of leaders, prepared to support equitable socioeconomic growth. (Client: MasterCard Foundation)

Girl-friendly schools program, Burkina Faso: conducted an impact evaluation of school construction in rural villages with low female enrollment rates, using a randomized design. (Client: MCC)

Farmer training program, Armenia: examined the impact of farmer training and improvements in irrigation infrastructure using a clustered random assignment and matched comparison group designs respectively. (Client: MCC)

Family health initiative, Bihar, India: leading the evaluation work to assess the effects of a variety of interventions aimed at reducing maternal and child mortality and improving child health, using a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. (Client: Gates Foundation)

Dropout prevention, India, Tajikistan, Cambodia, and Timor Leste: examining the impact of four school dropout prevention programs across four countries, using a randomized design. (Client: USAID)

Mathematica provides staff with a stimulating, team-oriented work environment, with our strong commitment to quality, analytic rigor and focus on meeting our clients' needs. Our research staff consists of over 100 doctoral-level researchers with degrees in economics, public policy, statistics, psychology, education, sociology, demography, and related fields. We offer our employees competitive salaries, and a comprehensive benefits package, as well as the advantages of employee ownership.

To apply for a researcher position

Visit our website and review our posting for International Researcher. Applications must be submitted online. Questions may be addressed to HumanResources@mathematica-mpr.com.

As an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer we strongly encourage applications by researchers of all racial, ethnic, and cultural groups.