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Senior Manager, Research & Insights Storytelling

Nairobi, Kenya

About GiveDirectly

GiveDirectly (GD) aims to reshape international giving – and millions of lives – by providing cash grants directly to the world’s poorest. The Brookings Institution estimates that $70B of cash transfers would be required to eliminate the poverty gap; the aid sector currently spends $135B each year, much of it on evidence-free interventions. GiveDirectly wants to change that, establishing cash transfers as a benchmark for foreign aid – as the index fund is a benchmark for the financial industry – and in the process accelerating the end of extreme poverty.

GD has raised over $1B since launching in 2011, delivered cash to more than 1.5 million people in 15 different countries. We’ve also supported large-scale, experimental research that indicates strong recipient impact of our programs. As a result, GD has been celebrated as one of the most innovative non-profit companies by Fast Company, while the growing cash transfer movement (and GD’s leading role within it) have been featured in the New York Times Magazine, This American Life, Foreign Affairs, and The Economist.

Our culture is candid, analytical, agile, and non-hierarchical. Our global team of ~150, and country operations teams of ~650, together come from 21 different countries speaking 69 different languages. Team members bring experiences from the private sector, NGOs and government. From software engineers to seasoned humanitarian workers, former management consultants to public servants, researchers to field operations -- it’s an incredible group of people.

Our values are central and deliberately opinionated. We genuinely center the people we serve in our decision making, and strive to build an ambitious, fast moving and high performing environment. We strongly encourage you to read through our values carefully, if they reflect how you like to work and energize you, this could be a great fit.

We work hard to create an environment in which all our team members can thrive, succeed and grow.  We support flexibility, take care of each other, have fun, and create professional growth opportunities.

Position type: 6 month fixed-term contract with the possibility of extending, based on organizational need and available budget

About the Role

We are seeking a Fundraising-Focused Research Senior Manager to help surface and package compelling insights, data, and evidence from our direct cash programs to engage and inform high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) and foundation donors. This role will sit at the intersection of research, fundraising, and communications—transforming complex programmatic and research findings into accessible and persuasive donor-facing content.

The ideal candidate will have a strong research analytical background, excellent storytelling skills, and experience translating data into engaging narratives for external audiences.

This Senior Manager should spike on:

  • Curiosity: empowered to be an ‘internal journalist,’ you dig through our data, outside research, and recipient narratives to discover original throughlines
  • Lateral thinking: you’re focused on connecting the dots into a compelling narrative, saying something clear and compelling even amidst ambiguity
  • Code-switching: on an average day, you will be thinking like an academic researcher, writing for a time-poor layperson, and speaking with program staff on the ground. 
  • Details: your layperson assets will be scrutinized by research experts, so plan to triple-check
  • Doggedness: to move your projects along, you’ll need members of the research, programs, communications, and design teams along with outside researchers to answer your requests and hit deadlines

Key Responsibilities

  • Research & Insights Generation
    • Identify, analyze, and synthesize key data points and evidence from GiveDirectly’s programs, surveys, and external research.
    • Conduct deep dives into our program data to uncover trends, case studies, and insights relevant to donor engagement.
    • Stay updated on external research related to cash transfers, poverty alleviation, and philanthropy to contextualize GiveDirectly’s work.
  • Donor-Facing Content Development
    • Translate program data and impact evaluations into digestible, donor-friendly insights, decks, reports, blogs, and case studies (example) 
    • Support the fundraising team by crafting compelling narratives backed by data to demonstrate GiveDirectly’s impact (example)
    • Work closely with the partnerships and communications teams to refine messaging and tailor research outputs to different donor segments (example)
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration
    • Partner with internal teams (programs, research, fundraising, communications) to ensure alignment in messaging and storytelling.
    • Work closely with frontline fundraisers to anticipate donor questions and proactively develop data-backed responses.
    • Serve as a resource for the partnerships and philanthropy teams, providing analytical support for grant proposals, donor presentations, and impact reports
  • Strategic Thought Leadership
    • Identify opportunities to position GiveDirectly as a leader in evidence-based philanthropy.
    • Collaborate on thought leadership content, including white papers, blog posts, and donor briefings.
    • Train key GiveDirectly staff to be well-versed in our body of research and able to sell in the room.

Qualifications (must haves)

  • 4-7+ years of experience in research, impact evaluation, or a related analytical role.
  • Strong ability to translate complex research data into compelling narratives for external audiences, particularly donors.
  • Familiarity with impact evaluation methods and the ability to interpret and summarize research findings.
  • Familiarity with data analysis tools (e.g., Excel, Stata, R, Python) and data visualization tools (e.g. Adobe, Canva, Flourish)
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills - particularly critical is strong writing free of jargon, but the strongest candidates will be able to communicate using a variety of media, including presentations, charts, etc. 
  • Strong project management skills and the ability to juggle multiple workstreams.
  • Ability to work cross-functionally and translate research insights into actionable fundraising content.

Nice to haves

  • Experience in international development, global health, philanthropy, fundraising, or poverty alleviation.
  • Experience in writing or data storytelling for large layperson audiences. 
  • Fluent in a language other than English, especially German, French, Swahili, or Portuguese  

#LI-REMOTE

 

Working at GiveDirectly

GiveDirectly is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to the person’s race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

US applicants only:  We invite you to "Know Your Rights" as an applicant.

Commitment to Safeguarding

As a global organization serving some of the world’s most vulnerable communities, GiveDirectly takes the safeguarding of its recipients, staff, and partners seriously. To that end, GiveDirectly is a member of the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme, and will systematically check with previous employers about any sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment issues relating to potential new hires. We may also employ other robust pre-hire screens, including in-depth reference checks, criminal background checks, and sanctions screens.

GD is committed to observing all local, national and international laws that protect children, vulnerable adults, and basic human rights of all. GD is committed to a policy of “zero tolerance for sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment (SEAH)” and expects anyone who works for GD to uphold the protection and safeguarding of our recipients as a priority.

These efforts help us continue to build and maintain trust with the communities we serve, and prevent harm to our recipients.

 

Want to put your best foot forward on your GiveDirectly application? Take a look at our Candidate Application Prep Guide!

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