Job Description
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab seeks a Policy Manager to
support its mission of promoting evidence based policy by contributing
to the design and execution of J-PAL’s policy outreach and capacity
building work. The Policy Manager is a mid-level position based at the
Institute for Economic and Social Research, Faculty of Economics and
Business, University of Indonesia (LPEM FEB UI), Jakarta.
Regional
offices are where the heart of J-PAL’s policy outreach and capacity
building activities occur. Regional policy staff have the opportunity to
help take the highest quality of academic research and translate it
into action on the ground. Regional offices are housed within major
economic research institutions around the world, giving policy staff
access to an international network of top economists. Policy staff
collaborate across regional offices and with J-PAL’s Global Office at
MIT. Regional staff develop expertise in the development challenges
facing their region and have the opportunity to travel and interact
regularly with policymakers.
Responsibilities include:
Policy Outreach
- Meeting and building relationships with key partners in government agencies, NGOs, foundations, and multilateral aid agencies worldwide. Giving presentations on J-PAL’s work and research findings, encouraging policymakers to attend J-PAL’s courses and run randomized evaluations.
- Leading networking follow-up and provision of technical assistance to government and civil society policymakers to promote scale-up and replication of projects demonstrated effective by J-PAL evaluations
- Facilitating new randomized evaluation research by matching innovative projects in the region with J-PAL affiliated professors.
- Designing and drafting policy publications (background notes, briefcases and bulletins) and outreach documents summarizing key academic studies from J-PAL affiliated professors
- Delivering presentations and creating memos for policy conferences and meetings.
- Representing regional office at conferences and meetings with partners
- Building and maintaining institutional knowledge on the state of priority sectors in Indonesia (identify policy issues, conduct stakeholder mapping and literature reviews)
Capacity Building:
- Leading capacity building programs with partner organizations in the region
- Coordinating and overseeing training and custom courses, including the development of new capacity building material, for key clients including government agencies, international organizations, and NGOs.
- Organizing evaluation roundtables, seminars, and outreach events
Organizational:
Providing support in recruiting and onboarding, and mentoring junior
staff, as well as helping organize regional conferences, and building
the strength and systems of J-PAL’s policy group.
Qualifications:
- Education: Master’s degree in economics, public policy or a closely related field. Graduate level coursework in microeconomics, econometrics, and development economics is required. A strong technical understanding of economics is necessary to ensure that J-PAL’s findings are translated into general policy conclusions in a way that is both simple to follow but also accurate and undistorted. Strong interest in international development policy as demonstrated by coursework and/or professional experience.
- Experience: 5 or more years of relevant experience, including at least 2 years of experience working in Indonesia. All positions at J-PAL require a keen understanding of the value of randomized evaluations and their usefulness for policy decisions. Applicants with a master’s degree who do not have the years of experience for the Policy Manager position are encouraged to apply for the Policy Associate position and after accumulating experience at J-PAL can be considered for promotion based on performance.
- Communication: Attention to detail and advanced writing and presentation skills for communicating policy lessons from academic papers in ways that policymakers understand. This requires clear, precise, non-technical writing, and confident, effective spoken communication and presentation style.
- Time Management: Proven ability to multitask and successfully complete projects on tight deadlines with little supervision. A willingness to work hard, be self-motivated, and learn will be essential for doing well in this position.
- Willingness to travel: Position may require travel throughout the region to meet with senior policymakers in government agencies, NGOs, foundations and international development organizations as well as follow-up work to promote research projects and other policy and capacity building initiatives.
- Ability to supervise staff and manage projects independently.
- Languages: High-level of proficiency (fluent or native) in both Indonesian and English
How to Apply
Please send an email to jpalseajobs@povertyactionlab.org and jobs@poverty-action.org following these instructions exactly:
- Use the following as the email subject line: “J-PAL SEA, Policy Manager.” Please do not include any other text in the body of the e-mail. Adding extra text will interfere with the processing of your application
- Attach PDF copies of your CV, academic transcripts, and a cover letter no longer than 500 words. The cover letter should discuss how you meet the aforementioned position requirements, emphasizing relevant skills and experience, as well as why you are interested in working with J-PAL SEA
Short-listed
applicants will be asked to complete a policy analysis and a written
exercise and may subsequently be called in for an interview.
