Director, Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA) – Ashoka University

Ashoka University: 10 years ago, we embarked on a journey to establish a world-class, multi-disciplinary, liberal arts and sciences university in India. Built on the finest global best practices of institution and university governance, Ashoka has truly transformed higher education in India with its unique pedagogy, governance and best practices.

Ashoka is today India’s #1 liberal arts and sciences university that is home to the most diverse student body, a hub for impactful research and a magnet for best-in-class faculty and staff.

Ashoka has been ranked in the top five among private Universities in India by QS Asia and has also secured the top rank among all Indian Universities in the ‘International Faculty’ indicator. The University was earlier awarded a Diamond rating by QS I.GAUGE as a recognition of its continuous focus on academic rigour, inter-disciplinary pedagogy, world-class faculty, academic research, innovative modules of engagement with the community and teaching methods.

For further information, visit www.ashoka.edu.in.

We aim to co-create a nurturing space for our students, faculty, staff, donors and community positively through
universal values:

● Be Mission-Driven

● Think Strategically

● Act Authentically

● Take Accountability

● Build Collaboration

● Deliver Excellence

About Centre

• The Economics Department of Ashoka University has set up the Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA) with the primary aim of facilitating informed debate about economic and social developments in India.
• CEDA also aims to directly contribute to public discussions on policy relevant issues by generating written content in the form of blog posts, summaries of research papers, commentaries on economic and social issues etc.
• In addition to the analytical content, CEDA has constructed an interactive data visualisation portal with socio-economic data for India (employment, wages, education, health, demographic characters) from several data sets; with agricultural prices data and with daily price data for food commodities. Check out our website here.

Experience (in years): 8-12 years

Role and Responsibilities:

• Play a critical role in building the profile of the Centre and popularizing the research profile of the Economics department at Ashoka University.
• Strengthening and Expansion of CEDA’s footprint: Lead the team in developing content for CEDA. This could arise directly out of the data portal or data narratives based on data from other sources.
• Devising strategies and action plans for making CEDA the first port of call for those looking for quick and
  usable data summaries and statistics for India, including the addition of new datasets.
• Planning and organizing events (lectures, panel discussions, etc.)
• Providing ideas to generate audio and video content.
• Managing all communications related to internal reporting within the Ashoka ecosystem, generating newsletters, and working with the Editor in managing social media handles.
• Be responsible for the overall communications, news media, and web presence of the Centre and its activities.
• Supervising staff who work with CEDA on the data portal or on content.
• Work with the lead faculty/ scientific director to flesh out the strategy for CEDA focus areas such as gender,
  financial inclusion, employment, etc., and the path to sustainability for these areas.
• Lead this effort for creating partnerships (both internal at Ashoka) and external (with the private sector/ govt/ leading foundations/ other academic centers/ media for dissemination) critical for CEDA’s success
• Fundraising and grant management along with the university Development team for securing funding to drive the growth of the Centre through grant applications, fundraising activities, and outreach relating to CEDA.
• Be responsible for day-to-day operations, and proposing, finalizing, and managing budgets.

As a full time, Director,

• You will play a critical role in building the profile of the Centre and popularising the research profile of the
  Economics department at Ashoka University. We need an entrepreneurial leader with a strong background and interest in policy/ economics/ data, and good co-technical skills. The person gets to work with one of the best economics departments of the country.
• Beyond the data portal, CEDA will create focus areas such as on gender, financial inclusion, employment, etc. The person will work with the lead faculty/ scientific director to flesh out the strategy for each focus area. This also includes path to sustainability for these areas.
• Partnerships (both internal at AshokaU) and external (with private sector/ govt/ leading foundations/ other academic centres/ media for dissemination) would be critical for CEDA’s success. The person will lead this effort. Fundraising and grant management will be is a critical part of this role.

Overall, the Centre Director would run the centre to achieve goals and targets set by the overall academic and scholarly guidance and vision of the Economics faculty. The Director will launch, build and scale deliverables and collaborate with faculty to drive the intellectual vision set for the Centre. This would be a key result area (KRA) for the Director.

Eligibility:

• 8-12 years of functional experience, experience in a leadership role formally or informally will be considered strong positive
• Familiarity with survey-based and administrative datasets as well as knowledge of statistical software like Stata, R, or Python is essential.
• Preference will be given to candidates with a PG degree or higher in social sciences (economics, sociology or
  political science), especially economics.
• We need an entrepreneurial leader with a strong background and interest in policy/ economics/ data, and good co-technical skills. The person gets to work with one of the best economics departments of the country.
• The ideal candidate should be self-driven, great in building networks and partnerships and manage multiple projects.

We are open to other applications, as long as the candidate’s skill set matches with the operational requirements of this position.

Application Submission Process
Please apply by filling out this Google Form, including details of your current employment. Please include
the names of two referees and indicate when you can start work if hired. References will be asked only from
the candidates who have been shortlisted.

Application Form: https://forms.gle/jj94MnAhNNSMJeJd9

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Ashoka is an equal opportunities employer. Remuneration will be competitive with Indian non-profit pay scales and will depend upon the candidate’s experience levels and the overall organization’s salary structure