Background information about the job or company (e.g., role context, company overview)

Save the Children is a leading independent organization that creates lasting change in the lives of children in need in the United States and around the world. Save the Children works in over 100 countries, including the United States, implementing 170 programs that reach 23.3 million children in 2020.

Responsibilities or duties

Strategic leadership and governance

• Lead a single, movement‑wide evidence and learning strategy and agenda that brings together Insights and Learning, MEAL, Research and Evaluation, Ethics and Evidence Generation, and Economic Evaluation, aligned with Save the Children’s Global Strategy, Theory of Change and inter‑agency agendas.
• Establish clear governance, roles and expectations for leaders on evidence use, learning and accountability, ensuring evidence is treated as a core organisational function rather than an add‑on.
• Champion a culture where impact intelligence is front and centre – it’s expected, resourced and rewarded, including aligning leadership pathways, incentives and support systems (e.g. HR, resourcing) to evidence‑driven work.

Enhance the impact intelligence ecosystem

• Oversee the design and implementation of simple, connected impact intelligence which prioritises data and learning systems that reduce duplication, improve data quality, and surface the right insights at the right time for country offices, members and global teams.
• Ensure MEAL frameworks, standards, policies and tools are coherent across SCI entities and integrated with other core systems (e.g. Global Indicators, GAR, digital platforms) to enable real‑time and routine learning rather than one‑off reporting.
• Partner with IT, data and digital teams, as well as external partners, to implement fit‑for‑purpose tools (e.g. dashboards, shared repositories, “PDF‑light” solutions) and quality assurance processes that strengthen data literacy and use.

Focus on decision‑critical evidence

• Lead a strategic prioritisation of impact intelligence, focusing the organisation on the decisions that matter most and right‑sizing evidence requirements accordingly (e.g. lean designs, proportional baselines, targeted evaluations).
• Ensure global indicators, MEAL standards, research and evaluation agendas, and economic analyses are aligned to these priority decisions, reducing unnecessary data collection and reporting burdens.
• Embed processes and routines so that insights from monitoring, evaluations, research, economic evaluations and learning reviews are systematically translated into programmatic and influencing decisions, including during design, adaptation and scale‑up.

Lead and connect organisational evidence efforts

• Act as the hub that connects evidence, data and learning across clusters and functions (programmes, operations, governance, funding, ethics, digital), enabling evidence to travel across units, countries and members.
• Build and steward strong collaboration mechanisms between the four units (Insights and Learning; MEAL; Research and Evaluation; Ethics and Evidence Generation; Economic Evaluation) and related functions (e.g. Global Indicators, GAR), reducing silos and duplication.
• Convene cross‑unit communities and platforms to share, package and communicate insights in accessible, decision‑ready formats that support influential storytelling, advocacy and resource mobilisation.

Across the Four Units Specifically:

Insights, learning and capability strengthening

• Lead the Insights and Learning unit to transform data and evidence into timely, actionable insights for country offices, members and global leadership, with a strong focus on synthesis, translation and “what this means for decisions”.
• Oversee movement‑wide capacity strengthening for MEAL, research, learning and cost‑informed programming, with particular emphasis on country offices and locally led partners, and on building habits of reflection and adaptation.
• Promote and model learning behaviours (e.g. after‑action reviews, learning cycles, experimentation) and ensure time and space are protected for teams to learn, adapt and improve.

MEAL architecture and practice

• Ensure high‑quality monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning architectures, tools and practices are in place across country offices, including staffing models, role clarity and career pathways for MEAL professionals.
• Champion and oversee strategic initiatives such as Prime and the Global Indicators, ensuring they are embedded in country programmes and influencing work and used to drive learning, accountability and impact at scale.
• Ensure that accountability to communities, children and young people is central to MEAL practice, including feedback, participation and transparent communication of findings and decisions.

Research, evaluation, ethics and evidence generation

• Lead the Research and Evaluation unit to design and deliver a coherent portfolio of high‑quality studies, evaluations and syntheses that respond to priority learning questions and strategic evidence gaps.
• Oversee the Ethics and Evidence Generation unit to ensure robust ethical governance, safeguarding and integrity in all data collection and research activities, including data protection and responsible use of emerging technologies.
• Promote partnerships with research institutions, governments and peer agencies to leverage external expertise, align with global agendas and enhance Save the Children’s thought leadership.

Economic evaluation and cost‑informed programming

• Lead the Economic Evaluation unit to integrate cost, cost‑effectiveness and value‑for‑money analysis into programme and influencing design, adaptation and scale‑up decisions.
• Ensure that economic evidence is presented in accessible ways for non‑specialist decision‑makers and used to guide smarter choices in tighter aid budget contexts.
• Promote use of economic evidence to reduce workload and improve efficiency, focusing on high‑leverage decisions rather than adding reporting burdens.

Locally led, inclusive and ethical learning

• Ensure that communities, children and young people meaningfully shape learning questions, participate in monitoring, research and evaluation, and see their feedback reflected in programmatic and influencing changes.
• Embed diversity, equity and inclusion in all evidence and learning work, including who produces knowledge, whose perspectives are visible, and how findings are framed and used.
• Contribute actively to diversifying the Innovation & Impact teams and building inclusive cultures where different types of knowledge and lived experience are valued.

Qualifications or requirements (e.g., education, skills)

Experience needed

Essential

• Curiosity and positive scepticism about how data is collected and used, and a passion for understanding what is ‘best in field’.
• Demonstrated track record in leading organisational learning and evidence agendas in large, complex, multi‑country organisations, including fixing fragmented data and learning systems.
• An interest in how trends and technology can enable and influence our impact for children.
• Extensive experience leading research and evaluation portfolios aligned to strategic priorities, including mixed‑methods designs and synthesis of evidence for decision‑makers.
• Experience overseeing or closely collaborating with ethics and research governance functions, including responsible data and safeguarding in evidence generation.
• Experience integrating economic evaluation or cost‑informed analysis into programme and influencing decisions, or proven ability to lead specialist teams in this area.
• Strong record of building and leading diverse, geographically dispersed teams, and of working through influence and matrix structures to align evidence efforts across units and countries.
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder engagement skills, including the ability to turn complex evidence into clear options and recommendations for senior leaders and partners.

Desirable

• Experience designing and implementing organisation‑wide learning or knowledge‑management initiatives, including digital solutions that reduce reliance on static documents and enable real‑time learning.
• Experience engaging communities, children and young people in co‑creating learning questions, monitoring, research and evaluation, particularly in humanitarian and development contexts.
• Demonstrated commitment to and experience in advancing diversity, equity and inclusion within evidence, research and learning work.

Education and Qualifications

Essential

• Advanced Degree: A post-graduate degree (Masters or PhD preferred) in a related field such as international development, social sciences, planning & statistics

Desirable

• Author of publications/thought pieces on learning, evaluation or research in development or humanitarian settings.
• Recognised Certification: Certification in Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) and in research, evaluation methodologies is highly desirable.

Values in Practice

Accountability:

• Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition:

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same
• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• Future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters
• Values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

• Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• Willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

• Honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity

• Lead a single, movement‑wide evidence and learning strategy and agenda that brings together Insights and Learning, MEAL, Research and Evaluation, Ethics and Evidence Generation, and Economic Evaluation, aligned with Save the Children’s Global Strategy, Theory of Change and inter‑agency agendas.
• Establish clear governance, roles and expectations for leaders on evidence use, learning and accountability, ensuring evidence is treated as a core organisational function rather than an add‑on.
• Champion a culture where impact intelligence is front and centre – it’s expected, resourced and rewarded, including aligning leadership pathways, incentives and support systems (e.g. HR, resourcing) to evidence‑driven work.
• Oversee the design and implementation of simple, connected impact intelligence which prioritises data and learning systems that reduce duplication, improve data quality, and surface the right insights at the right time for country offices, members and global teams.
• Ensure MEAL frameworks, standards, policies and tools are coherent across SCI entities and integrated with other core systems (e.g. Global Indicators, GAR, digital platforms) to enable real‑time and routine learning rather than one‑off reporting.
• Partner with IT, data and digital teams, as well as external partners, to implement fit‑for‑purpose tools (e.g. dashboards, shared repositories, “PDF‑light” solutions) and quality assurance processes that strengthen data literacy and use.
• Lead a strategic prioritisation of impact intelligence, focusing the organisation on the decisions that matter most and right‑sizing evidence requirements accordingly (e.g. lean designs, proportional baselines, targeted evaluations).
• Ensure global indicators, MEAL standards, research and evaluation agendas, and economic analyses are aligned to these priority decisions, reducing unnecessary data collection and reporting burdens.
• Embed processes and routines so that insights from monitoring, evaluations, research, economic evaluations and learning reviews are systematically translated into programmatic and influencing decisions, including during design, adaptation and scale‑up.
• Act as the hub that connects evidence, data and learning across clusters and functions (programmes, operations, governance, funding, ethics, digital), enabling evidence to travel across units, countries and members.
• Build and steward strong collaboration mechanisms between the four units (Insights and Learning; MEAL; Research and Evaluation; Ethics and Evidence Generation; Economic Evaluation) and related functions (e.g. Global Indicators, GAR), reducing silos and duplication.
• Convene cross‑unit communities and platforms to share, package and communicate insights in accessible, decision‑ready formats that support influential storytelling, advocacy and resource mobilisation.
• Lead the Insights and Learning unit to transform data and evidence into timely, actionable insights for country offices, members and global leadership, with a strong focus on synthesis, translation and “what this means for decisions”.
• Oversee movement‑wide capacity strengthening for MEAL, research, learning and cost‑informed programming, with particular emphasis on country offices and locally led partners, and on building habits of reflection and adaptation.
• Promote and model learning behaviours (e.g. after‑action reviews, learning cycles, experimentation) and ensure time and space are protected for teams to learn, adapt and improve.
• Ensure high‑quality monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning architectures, tools and practices are in place across country offices, including staffing models, role clarity and career pathways for MEAL professionals.
• Champion and oversee strategic initiatives such as Prime and the Global Indicators, ensuring they are embedded in country programmes and influencing work and used to drive learning, accountability and impact at scale.
• Ensure that accountability to communities, children and young people is central to MEAL practice, including feedback, participation and transparent communication of findings and decisions.
• Lead the Research and Evaluation unit to design and deliver a coherent portfolio of high‑quality studies, evaluations and syntheses that respond to priority learning questions and strategic evidence gaps.
• Oversee the Ethics and Evidence Generation unit to ensure robust ethical governance, safeguarding and integrity in all data collection and research activities, including data protection and responsible use of emerging technologies.
• Promote partnerships with research institutions, governments and peer agencies to leverage external expertise, align with global agendas and enhance Save the Children’s thought leadership.
• Lead the Economic Evaluation unit to integrate cost, cost‑effectiveness and value‑for‑money analysis into programme and influencing design, adaptation and scale‑up decisions.
• Ensure that economic evidence is presented in accessible ways for non‑specialist decision‑makers and used to guide smarter choices in tighter aid budget contexts.
• Promote use of economic evidence to reduce workload and improve efficiency, focusing on high‑leverage decisions rather than adding reporting burdens.
• Ensure that communities, children and young people meaningfully shape learning questions, participate in monitoring, research and evaluation, and see their feedback reflected in programmatic and influencing changes.
• Embed diversity, equity and inclusion in all evidence and learning work, including who produces knowledge, whose perspectives are visible, and how findings are framed and used.
• Contribute actively to diversifying the Innovation & Impact teams and building inclusive cultures where different types of knowledge and lived experience are valued.

• Curiosity and positive scepticism about how data is collected and used, and a passion for understanding what is ‘best in field’.
• Demonstrated track record in leading organisational learning and evidence agendas in large, complex, multi‑country organisations, including fixing fragmented data and learning systems.
• An interest in how trends and technology can enable and influence our impact for children.
• Extensive experience leading research and evaluation portfolios aligned to strategic priorities, including mixed‑methods designs and synthesis of evidence for decision‑makers.
• Experience overseeing or closely collaborating with ethics and research governance functions, including responsible data and safeguarding in evidence generation.
• Experience integrating economic evaluation or cost‑informed analysis into programme and influencing decisions, or proven ability to lead specialist teams in this area.
• Strong record of building and leading diverse, geographically dispersed teams, and of working through influence and matrix structures to align evidence efforts across units and countries.
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder engagement skills, including the ability to turn complex evidence into clear options and recommendations for senior leaders and partners.
• Experience designing and implementing organisation‑wide learning or knowledge‑management initiatives, including digital solutions that reduce reliance on static documents and enable real‑time learning.
• Experience engaging communities, children and young people in co‑creating learning questions, monitoring, research and evaluation, particularly in humanitarian and development contexts.
• Demonstrated commitment to and experience in advancing diversity, equity and inclusion within evidence, research and learning work.

• A post-graduate degree (Masters or PhD preferred) in a related field such as international development, social sciences, planning & statistics
• Author of publications/thought pieces on learning, evaluation or research in development or humanitarian settings.
• Certification in Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) and in research, evaluation methodologies is highly desirable.