Senior Research Manager, (M&E) BBC World Service Trust

Senior Research Manager, (M&E), BBC World Service Trust Department

The BBC World Service Trust is the independent international charity of the BBC which uses media to advance development worldwide. Our mission is to improve the quality of people’s lives in developing and transitional countries through innovative use of media. We do this through our focus on health, governance, livelihoods, climate change and humanitarian response. We work in partnerships that include governments, broadcasters, civil society institutions, donor agencies and international Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs). As Senior Research Manager, you’ll lad the research, monitoring and evaluation on an important multi-country project. You’ll deliver research that guides our media development and development communications projects, as well as assessing their impact.

Expanded Department

Our Research & Learning (R&L) Group focuses on four key activities:

1) Providing Trust projects with audience and market insights to guide project strategies

2) Conducting quantitative and quantitative research studies to capture the impact of all Trust media interventions

3) Building capacity in audience research skills and methodology on projects in country

4) Documenting and disseminating the learning from the Trust’s projects internally and to the wider development community.

Role

Based in London, you’ll have a focus on measurement and evaluation (M&E) with the opportunity to expand into other areas. You can expect to take the lead on a variety of research elements. As well as being responsible for quality control and innovation from yourself and the team. You’ll also have business development and staffing & resourcing duties. In addition, you’ll design all research inputs across a range of our projects, oversee commissioning, implementation and delivery, as well as managing project research budgets. Importantly, you’ll analyse and combine audience research results, applications and innovations to identify lessons learned and future best practice for our learning.

Salary will be from £38500 to £58,653 per annum and is likely to be offered as a 12 month fixed term contract. Please note that the role is subject to securing funding.

Expanded Role

You’ll represent our work, and liaise with staff such as Senior Management, Project Managers and production teams as well as external parties such as donors, media partners, research firms and NGOs. Your role has global coverage and although London based, there will be an element of international travel.

Requirements

A valuable asset in this role will be your specific measurement and evaluation (M&E) experience and also field experience in Africa, Asia or the Middle East would be beneficial. Your previous experience of conducting research within cross-cultural and/or multi-lingual audiences is essential, as is your previous fieldwork management in challenging conditions. With previous experience of managing fieldwork and adapting methods to challenging and constrained conditions, you’ll bring strong experience of qualitative and quantitative research techniques and know how to apply them to media and/or development projects. In particular, you will have strong SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) data analysis skills, including multivariate and segmentation techniques.

Expanded Requirements

Linked to this will be your excellent interpersonal skills which will be evident in your ability to address all levels from grassroots up to the highest levels of government and media. It would be advantageous if you have experience in international research project management, working with national research teams and nationally-based field agencies in developing countries. It would also help if you have spoken and written proficiency in a major African, Asian, Middle Eastern and/or Latin American language(s).

To apply: Please click on Apply button to be redirected to the BBC website.

Closing date: 6 November 2011.