Senior Policy Manager - Zurich

Position description

J-PAL and the University of Zurich are looking to hire a senior member of J-PAL’s Policy and Communications team to support the work of J-PAL's co-founders and Nobel laureates Professors Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo and contribute to the mission to promote evidence-based policy across Europe and beyond.

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research centre working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence, and is anchored by a network of some 2,100+ affiliated professors at universities around the world. J-PAL Europe is one of J-PAL's seven regional offices and leads the network's work to generate and use evidence to inform social programmes in Europe. J-PAL Europe also anchors work with European development actors on behalf of the network to help inform their work across the globe.

Summary of the Role:

The post holder will be based in Zurich and will work directly with J-PAL co-founders and Nobel laureates Professors Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo and report jointly to the Global Executive Directors of J-PAL Iqbal Dhaliwal (based at MIT in Cambridge, USA) and to the Executive Director of J-PAL Europe Cillian Nolan (based at Paris School of Economics, France). 

The primary responsibility of this position will be to manage the broad range of partnership, speaking, advisory and collaboration requests directed to the founders of J-PAL: triaging incoming opportunities, filtering those that are not strategically aligned, and routing the most promising ones to the appropriate team members in the J-PAL network. In parallel, the post holder will be a senior member of J-PAL Europe’s Policy and Communications team, contributing to its partnership-building, fundraising and research dissemination work across Europe. This is not an academic position.

Responsibilities :

• Strategic management of partnerships, requests and founder engagement
  • Serve as the principal point of contact for partnership, speaking, advisory and collaboration requests addressed to the J-PAL founders and to J-PAL more broadly.
  • Review, triage and assess incoming requests against strategic priorities and institutional objectives.
  • Exercise independent judgement in determining which opportunities should be declined, redirected or escalated.
  • Develop and maintain relationships with senior representatives of governments, foundations, multilateral organisations and development agencies, with a particular focus on French- and German-speaking partners.
  • Support long-term strategic partnerships with European governments and EU institutions to promote evidence-informed policymaking.
  • Represent J-PAL and, where appropriate, the founders in external meetings, conferences and high-level stakeholder engagements.
• Knowledge dissemination
  • Prepare evidence summaries, policy briefs, blog posts, speeches, op-eds and other communication products.
  • Translate rigorous academic research into concise, accurate and accessible messages for policymakers, practitioners and donors.
  • Ensure scientific accuracy while adapting communication to different audiences and formats.
  • Contribute to dissemination activities across the J-PAL network.
• Fundraising and strategic development
  • Identify funding opportunities from philanthropic, governmental and multilateral sources.
  • Lead or contribute to the preparation of concept notes, grant proposals and other fundraising materials.
  • Maintain and strengthen relationships with current and prospective funders.
  • Support the strategic development of J-PAL Europe's policy and communications portfolio.
• Coordination
  • Coordinate closely with J-PAL Europe and Global leadership on external engagement and institutional positioning.
  • Coordinate with J-PAL regional offices, affiliated researchers and functional teams to ensure appropriate ownership and timely follow-up.
  • Track requests and ensure high-quality execution and communication with external partners.
  • Support policy, communications and training initiatives across J-PAL Europe.
  • Contribute to cross-office projects and organisational priorities.
  • Undertake regular international travel, including meetings in Zurich, Paris, Cambridge and other partner location.

Professional Development:

The Policy Group invests in your professional development. As a Senior Policy Manager, you will learn, engage, travel, and grow.

• Learn: J-PAL supports a culture of learning. All J-PAL staff are eligible to take the innovative online MITx MicroMasters credential in Data, Economics, and Development Policy (DEDP) free of charge. You will also be part of an active community of economists and professionals dedicated to evaluating social programs around the world.
• Engage: J-PAL staff have the opportunity to work directly with J-PAL affiliates and directors, disseminating lessons learned to policymakers and practitioners.
• Travel: J-PAL staff have the opportunity to present at and attend policy events and meet government and donor partners across Europe and beyond.
• Grow: J-PAL staff can expect to join a peer group eager to build institutional knowledge, focused on sharing and implementing best practices and lessons learned.

Qualifications

Your seniority, strong communication and organisational skills, ability to navigate complex partner relationships, and passion for translating research into action make you an ideal candidate for this role.

• Education: You hold a Master's degree in public policy, economics, international development or a closely related field.
• Experience: You have at least eight years of relevant and substantial professional experience. You have a strong track record of building and managing senior partnerships with governments, foundations, multilateral institutions or development agencies. You have demonstrated experience in fundraising, including writing successful proposals and stewarding donor relationships. You are a confident, accomplished writer for senior audiences.
• Familiarity with impact evaluation: You are familiar with randomised evaluations and evidence-informed policymaking and comfortable engaging with researchers and technical findings. You do not need to be an expert in impact evaluation methods, but you should be able to communicate research insights accurately and credibly to senior partners. Familiarity with impact evaluations in the environment and climate change sector is an asset.
• Skills: You are fluent in English and at least one other European language, with excellent written and oral communication skills. Full professional fluency in German and French will be a particular asset for this position.
• Communication: You are detail-oriented and have advanced writing skills. You understand how to communicate policy lessons from technical academic research in ways that policymakers, funders and practitioners understand. You are precise, clear, and creative. You are adept at managing relationships across countries and time zones.
• Organisation: You are a strategic thinker. You can handle multiple priorities at once with little supervision, exercise independent judgement on which opportunities to pursue, meet deadlines while conducting high-quality work, and effectively manage your time and that of senior counterparts.
• Attitude: You love learning. You are passionate about evidence-based policy and the rigorous research that informs it. You are self-motivated, work hard, and enjoy working in teams, and mentoring and guiding the professional development of junior staff

Work Authorization:

Applicants must have valid authorization to work in Switzerland. Sponsorship is not available for this role.

Application instructions

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