Back Country Director - Rwanda

Laterite is looking for an experienced professional to provide strategic direction, oversee research projects, and lead and mentor research teams in our office in Kigali, Rwanda.

About Laterite

Laterite is a data, research, and technical advisory firm that helps clients understand and analyze complex development challenges. We work with universities, global think tanks, international NGOs, multilateral donor organizations, and government ministries and agencies.

Our network of offices currently includes the Netherlands, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The team brings together more than 55 full time local and international staff, as well as 1,000 enumerators across countries, in a dynamic work environment. We are proud to be a culturally diverse organization. Learn more: www.laterite.com

About the role

Laterite was founded in Rwanda in 2010, and Kigali is our oldest and largest office, both in terms of team size and volume of work. The team in Rwanda comprises about 10 researchers (from entry-level Research Analysts to Research Managers), 15 data collection experts, 3 data quality specialists, and a finance and admin team. Our project portfolio in Rwanda is varied and ranges from data collection (including mixed-methods studies with observational assessments or anthropometric measurement modules) to long-term learning partnerships. The Rwanda team works across all our key sectors with the majority of projects in education, public health and early childhood development topics.

Within this context, the key responsibilities of the Country Director in Rwanda are:

• Overseeing office operations, including contributing to corporate strategy, process improvements, and financial and personnel management.
• Building and managing the pipeline of research projects, turning internal research ideas into externally funded projects and designing evaluations for clients.
• Developing and managing relationships and communication with Laterite clients and government officials.
• Taking a lead in identifying opportunities for organizational growth and innovation, be it from a technical, learning or business perspective.
• Providing technical leadership in all aspects of our work, including on program and impact evaluation design, sampling methods, and data analysis and modelling.

Profile

We are looking for an accomplished researcher with experience managing complex projects, growing research or business pipelines, and leading and mentoring teams. Our requirements are:

• Masters or PhD degree in Economics, Econometrics, Development Research, or in one of Laterite’s core sectors.
• 8 years of experience managing complex projects, growing research or business pipelines, and leading and mentoring teams.
• Strong quantitative data analysis skills and proficiency in Stata
• Strong oral and written communication skills in English
• Experience living and working in different cultural settings
• Motivation to work in social and economic research in Rwanda

More information

• You can find examples of our research and work in our blog
• Our publications page contains examples of our most recent research outputs, from reports to policy briefs