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Req #: 245936

Department: SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY & GOVERNANCE

Appointing Department Web Address: https://evans.uw.edu/policy-impact/epar

Job Location Detail: This position will benefit from the telework policies that provide flexibility in work location with a hybrid schedule of in person and remote options.

Posting Date: 05/14/2025

Closing Info:

Closes On 05/28/2025

Salary: $7,466 - $8,700 per month

Shift: First Shift

Notes:

As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs. For a complete description of our benefits for this position, please visit our website, click here. (https://hr.uw.edu/benefits/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/benefits-professional-staff-librarians-academic-contract-covered-exempt-20250130-a11y.pdf)

As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills, and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.

UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits, and natural beauty.

The Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, at the University of Washington, invites applications from qualified candidates for a position as a **Research Scientist 4** with an expertise in agricultural data and economics to support the Evans School Policy Analysis and Research team (EPAR). The position is based at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.

EPAR conducts rigorous interdisciplinary research on a range of topics related to agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, including digital financial services, small-scale producers, gender, health and nutrition, climate, markets, and development policy and finance. Our research streams focus on data and measurement, and we use economic, statistical, spatial, and other analytics and promote open-access tools and programming. For more information about EPAR, please see: https://evans.uw.edu/policy-impact/epar

The Evans School invites applications for a position as a full-time **Research Scientist 4.** This position is based at the University of Washington Seattle campus, but provides telework/remote work opportunities. The Research Scientist will work for the Evans School Policy Analysis and Research Group (EPAR). EPAR conducts rigorous interdisciplinary research on a range of topics related to agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, including small-scale producers, gender, nutrition, climate, food system risks and digital financial services. For more information about EPAR, please see: https://epar.evans.uw.edu/

We expect the Research Scientist 4 to spend their time across three EPAR investments whose workflow varies over the year: EVITA, EPARIII and CRIFS. EVITA is a grant in support of measurement, evaluation and learning (MEL) efforts around country-led inclusive agricultural transformation and investments by the Gates Foundation (GF). EVITA’s goal is to provide an independent, robust, and consistent approach for conducting evaluations that generate high quality, and more easily shared, evidence of impact. EPAR does not conduct evaluations, but rather tracks communications and deadlines, manages the contracting process, provides technical review and support for a core set of evaluators, and ultimately endeavors to advance the learning objectives of BMGF program officers.

The Research Scientist 4 will lead and take accountability for the strategic and day-to-day management of the EVITA portfolio. This position will involve managing some systems across a portion of the evaluation portfolio and communicating with evaluators and program officers to refine evaluation objectives, followed by drafting requests for proposals (RFPs), reviewing proposals, offering technical feedback on instruments, sampling and evaluation design, and all evaluation reports and outputs, and preparing internal confidential reports and presentations for the Gates Foundation. Experience with, or knowledge about, experimental, various quasi-experimental, mixed-methods and process evaluations is essential.

For the remaining portion of their appointment, the Research Scientist 4 will support other analytical work streams at EPAR III and CRIFS. EPAR III is a service-oriented investment that provides public goods and support to AgDev including: providing code for our GitHub site, on-demand requests for evidence reviews, data analysis to inform donor decision-making, and constructing agricultural indicators. CRIFS is a research-oriented investment with multiple external partners focused on understanding farmer demand and risk perceptions facing climate and other risks to food systems. There may be an opportunity to prepare or contribute to public research briefs, public coding files, and peer-reviewed journal articles.

**DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES** The Research Scientist 4 will be responsible for the strategic and day-to-day management of, and technical input for, a portfolio of evaluations under EVITA (50%):

+ Oversee existing systems to track implementation of 8-12 ongoing evaluations and overall progress towards the stated goals of the grant.

+ Set agendas, lead meetings, and steward relationships with Gates Foundation program officers, grantees, and evaluation firms.

+ Refine learning questions and assess potential methods and data sources to inform RFPs.

+ Manage the development of RFPs and evaluator selection process.

+ Support efforts to harmonize indicators across evaluations and curate collected data.

+ Provide technical reviews of outputs and deliverables submitted by evaluators to EPAR.They will also be responsible for advanced data analytics under EPAR, and for advancing strategic goals related to MEL at the Gates Foundation (50%):

+ As requested, provide input into Gates Foundation learning goals and approach to M&E.

+ Respond to ad hoc data and other requests from the Gates Foundation.

+ Organize events to share evaluation learnings.

+ Construct agricultural indicators using LSMS-ISA and other agricultural data as needed.

+ Potentially manage one-two full-time Research Scientist Engineers 3. **MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS**

+ A minimum of a Master’s degree in economics, international development, public policy or a related field.

+ Four years of experience in development or agricultural economics AND program evaluation in rural economies in low-income countries. **Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.** **ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS**

+ Strong professional and technical judgement when faced with trade-offs with respect to technical rigor, stakeholder priorities, budgeting, etc.

+ Deep understanding of a range of evaluation methodologies, including impact evaluations, mixed methods, and process evaluations.

+ Demonstrated organizational and project management skills.

+ Strong interpersonal skills, the ability to work independently and on research teams.

+ Excellent writing, research, and analysis skills. **DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS**

+ Management experience is highly desirable.

+ Experience in or knowledge about South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa is desirable.

+ Familiarity with the LSMS-ISA or other agricultural household surveys and advanced Stata skills are highly desired.

+ Experience with spatial mapping software, databases, and text analysis (e.g., text mining, natural language processing, topic modeling) is highly desired. **CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT**

+ This position will benefit from the telework policies that provide flexibility in work location with a hybrid schedule of in person and remote options.

+ To be considered for this position, please submit a cover letter briefly describing your interest in the position, your qualifications, and your professional development goals, and at the end of letter list three names and contact information for references. Letters of reference will be requested for short-listed candidates. **Application Process:** The application process may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process. These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment, you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your “My Jobs” page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are access ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.

University of Washington is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, among other things, race, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.