The Busara Center for Behavioral Economics is an advisory and research organization focused on evaluation and implementation of behavioral interventions in understudied countries and populations. Busara's mission is to work with researchers and organizations to advance and apply behavioral science in pursuit of poverty alleviation. This involves the application of behavioral science to complex social and economic problems.

Responsibilities or duties

Strategy and Practice Leadership

• Define and lead Busara’s overall research, advisory & practice strategy across sectors and regions in alignment with Busara’s overall organizational strategy
• Ensure coherence and integration across practices, geographies, and portfolios
• Identify and develop new practice areas, service lines, and strategic opportunities in development and adjacent sectors.
• Translate research, delivery experience, and learning into scalable tools, frameworks, and approaches to strengthen institutional adoption
• Design and model the norms that ensure different portfolios operate as a unit towards a singular mission
• Ensure the overall sustainability of every practice area, measured against revenue, margin, utilization, share of practice partnerships and overall contribution to Busara's mission.

Commercial Leadership and Partnerships

• Own revenue growth, margin performance, utilization, and renewal targets across practice areas
• Oversee the full business development lifecycle, including pipeline management, forecasting, and conversion
• Lead or support the development of major proposals, partnerships, and contracts
• Build and maintain senior relationships with funders, governments, multilaterals, and implementing partners
• Strengthen commercial discipline, including pricing, opportunity selection, and portfolio balance
• Coach and support senior leaders in business development and account management
• Allocate resources strategically across practices.

Delivery Excellence and Impact

• Hold overall accountability for the quality, rigor, and impact of program delivery
• Strengthen and enforce quality assurance systems across all projects and portfolios
• Improve delivery reliability, including timelines, staffing models, and execution consistency
• Monitor portfolio performance and address delivery risks proactively
• Strengthen implementation capability across teams and geographies
• Build and maintain knowledge management systems to support learning and reuse
• Drive continuous improvement based on performance data and feedback

Leadership and Organizational Development

• Lead, coach, and develop senior leaders across practices and portfolios
• Build a strong leadership pipeline and succession plans for critical roles
• Clarify roles, decision-making structures, and accountability across teams
• Strengthen management capability, including performance management and delegation
• Partner with the People function on recruitment, retention, and talent development
• Partner with Director Voice on designing and co-creating impact strategies that are rooted in practice area relationships but can be supported with voice outputs
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous learning

Qualifications or requirements 

Skills and Capabilities

• Strategic thinking with operational discipline – able to hold the long arc and the near-term simultaneously.
• Deep commercial acumen, including revenue growth, margins, and pipeline management
• Entrepreneurial builder – comfortable creating structure where none exists, and evolving it as the organization grows.
• People leadership – a coach and talent developer who builds diverse, high-trust teams.
• Behavioral science fluency – able to translate rigorous methods into practical, client-facing solutions.
• External presence – credible, warm, and articulate in front of the most senior stakeholders.
• Cross-functional influence – able to lead with authority across People, Finance, Comms, and Project Operations.
• Future-oriented: able to engage with new technologies and support implementation of our AI strategy.

Experience needed

Experience

• 12–15+ years of experience in global development, consulting, research, or advisory environments with at least 5 years at the senior executive level
• Proven track record of leading strategy, business development, and delivery at scale
• Experience managing complex, multi-country portfolios or programs
• Demonstrated success in building partnerships with funders, governments, or multilaterals
• Experience leading and developing senior teams
• Deep familiarity with applied behavioral science, psychology, economics, or a related discipline.
• Experience working across Africa and South Asia strongly preferred; lived or worked

Any other provided details (e.g., benefits, work environment, team info, or additional notes)

What Success Looks Like

• Sustained revenue growth and improved financial performance across practice areas.
• High-quality, consistent delivery across practice areas, portfolios and geographies.
• Strong pipeline and conversion of strategic opportunities.
• Clear and scalable practice areas with increased reuse of tools and approaches.
• Strengthened leadership bench and organizational capability.
• Enhanced reputation and influence of Busara in the global majority development ecosystem.

• Define and lead Busara’s overall research, advisory & practice strategy across sectors and regions in alignment with Busara’s overall organizational strategy
• Ensure coherence and integration across practices, geographies, and portfolios
• Identify and develop new practice areas, service lines, and strategic opportunities in development and adjacent sectors.
• Translate research, delivery experience, and learning into scalable tools, frameworks, and approaches to strengthen institutional adoption
• Design and model the norms that ensure different portfolios operate as a unit towards a singular mission
• Ensure the overall sustainability of every practice area, measured against revenue, margin, utilization, share of practice partnerships and overall contribution to Busara's mission.
• Own revenue growth, margin performance, utilization, and renewal targets across practice areas
• Oversee the full business development lifecycle, including pipeline management, forecasting, and conversion
• Lead or support the development of major proposals, partnerships, and contracts
• Build and maintain senior relationships with funders, governments, multilaterals, and implementing partners
• Strengthen commercial discipline, including pricing, opportunity selection, and portfolio balance
• Coach and support senior leaders in business development and account management
• Allocate resources strategically across practices.
• Hold overall accountability for the quality, rigor, and impact of program delivery
• Strengthen and enforce quality assurance systems across all projects and portfolios
• Improve delivery reliability, including timelines, staffing models, and execution consistency
• Monitor portfolio performance and address delivery risks proactively
• Strengthen implementation capability across teams and geographies
• Build and maintain knowledge management systems to support learning and reuse
• Drive continuous improvement based on performance data and feedback
• Lead, coach, and develop senior leaders across practices and portfolios
• Build a strong leadership pipeline and succession plans for critical roles
• Clarify roles, decision-making structures, and accountability across teams
• Strengthen management capability, including performance management and delegation
• Partner with the People function on recruitment, retention, and talent development
• Partner with Director Voice on designing and co-creating impact strategies that are rooted in practice area relationships but can be supported with voice outputs
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous learning

• Strategic thinking with operational discipline – able to hold the long arc and the near-term simultaneously.
• Deep commercial acumen, including revenue growth, margins, and pipeline management
• Entrepreneurial builder – comfortable creating structure where none exists, and evolving it as the organization grows.
• People leadership – a coach and talent developer who builds diverse, high-trust teams.
• Behavioral science fluency – able to translate rigorous methods into practical, client-facing solutions.
• External presence – credible, warm, and articulate in front of the most senior stakeholders.
• Cross-functional influence – able to lead with authority across People, Finance, Comms, and Project Operations.
• Future-oriented: able to engage with new technologies and support implementation of our AI strategy.

• 12–15+ years of experience in global development, consulting, research, or advisory environments with at least 5 years at the senior executive level
• Proven track record of leading strategy, business development, and delivery at scale
• Experience managing complex, multi-country portfolios or programs
• Demonstrated success in building partnerships with funders, governments, or multilaterals
• Experience leading and developing senior teams
• Deep familiarity with applied behavioral science, psychology, economics, or a related discipline.
• Experience working across Africa and South Asia strongly preferred; lived or worked