(Senior) Policy Manager – J-PAL Europe France

J-PAL Europe, based at the Paris School of Economics, leads J-PAL’s work in Europe. J-PAL Europe conducts randomised evaluations, builds partnerships for evidence-informed policymaking and helps partners scale up effective programmes.

With a network of affiliated professors based across Europe and beyond, we partner with governments and civil society actors to conduct rigorous impact evaluations of social programmes in Europe. We also work with J-PAL offices around the globe to help inform the work of European development actors.

Organization: J-PAL Europe
Location: France
Start Date (Earliest): 2 May 2023
Length of Commitment: More than two years

J-PAL Europe is looking to hire a new member of its Policy and Communications team to contribute to its mission of promoting evidence-based policy across Europe, with a particular focus on liaising with development aid agencies. This position will be based in our offices at the Paris School of Economics.

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 200 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.

J-PAL Europe’s Policy and Communications team plays a key role in translating research by J-PAL affiliates into actionable poverty alleviation policies in the region and in helping create new links between partner organisations and researchers to launch new evaluations. Staff connect the dots between economics and policy and are passionate about forming partnerships for evidence-informed development policy.

The selected candidate will join a growing team based in Paris. The post holder will help lead the work of the Policy and Communications team in Europe and contribute to our work building partnerships to identify, synthesise and disseminate insights from rigorous evidence, to apply these insights to the design of social programmes and policies, and to foster the generation of new rigorous evidence. S/he will also serve  as coordinator for the “Development Methodologies” chair established by the French Development Agency (AFD) and Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL), and held by J-PAL co-founders and directors Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. This chair was established to promote research in development economics in order to shine light on public policies in development, and particularly French policy.

Responsibilities: 

As a  (Senior) Policy Manager, you will work with a growing team to: 

• Support the Chair holders and the J-PAL Europe team in the development of presentations and analysis of research findings for a broad public.
• Work with development agencies across Europe, including AFD, to promote the application of research findings to development policy.
• Develop and maintain partnerships with government agencies across Europe to promote the generation and application of rigorous evidence as part of social policy-making, particularly in the fields of education, labour market interventions, and social inclusion.
• Provide technical assistance to partners in the design and implementation of evidence-based policies.
• Write evidence summaries, blog posts and op-eds designed to synthesise research findings from across the J-PAL network to highlight key insights for policy-makers.
• Help organise and deliver tailored capacity building offers, including support on evidence use, to partners in Europe.
• Contribute to otherJ-PAL Europe policy and training objectives as they arise.

Professional Development 

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

Learn: J-PAL Europe supports a culture of learning. All J-PAL staff are also eligible to take the innovative online MITx MicroMasters credential in Data, Economics, and Development Policy (DEDP) free of charge. You will also be a member of an active community of economists and professionals at the Paris School of Economics dedicated to evaluating social programs and development programs around the world.

Engage: J-PAL Europe staff have the opportunity to work directly with J-PAL affiliates and directors by disseminating lessons learned to policymakers and practitioners.

Travel: J-PAL Europe staff have the opportunity to present at and attend policy events and meet government partners across Europe and beyond.

Grow: J-PAL Europe 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 technical expertise, strong communication and organisational skills, passion for translating research into action, and interest in poverty reduction and development make you an ideal candidate for this role.

Education: You hold a Master’s degree in economics, public policy, international development or a closely related field, including coursework in microeconomics, econometrics, and program evaluation. Candidates with Master’s-level degrees in other fields may be qualified as long as they have a solid understanding of quantitative research methods.

Experience: You have five or more years (more for a Senior Policy Manager) of relevant and substantial work experience, including work related to impact evaluations and evidence-informed policymaking. You have considerable experience working with policymakers and government agencies in Europe to help explain how policy can meaningfully be informed by research findings. You have some experience of field research, preferably linked to randomised evaluations or to large-scale data collection. You have a successful track record of identifying opportunities, developing and managing external partnerships, and relevant experience in communication and development. Experience in the French higher education and/or government setting will be advantageous.

Skills: You have strong project and budget management skills, as well as excellent written and oral communication skills in both French (preferably at native-speaker level) and English. Working knowledge of a third European language would be an asset. Experience running or interpreting randomised evaluations and some experience in managing research projects is desirable but not required.

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 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 projects at once with little supervision, meet deadlines while conducting high-quality work, and effectively manage your time.

Attitude: You love learning. You are passionate about international development 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.

How to Apply
Interested applicants should send a CV and cover letter, including details on how their experience and qualifications are relevant to the position and on their authorisation to work in the European Union, to europejobs@povertyactionlab.org.

J-PAL values the strength that diverse teams bring to our work. We actively welcome applicants who come from backgrounds that reflect populations most impacted by poverty and from backgrounds that are underrepresented in the economics field.

Please apply as soon as possible and no later than April 22nd, 2023. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for an interview.