Current Openings

Please apply for the position you are interested in accordance with the directions specified. Please note that only those selected for an interview will be contacted. Due to the decentralized nature of the hiring process, we will be unable to provide feedback on specific applications. Also please note that because all of these positions are being recruited by different offices & people, if you apply for more than one position it is possible that you will be contacted by multiple hiring managers. Difficulties of a technical nature may be directed to jobs@povertyactionlab.org

Field Based Research Assistant, Leveraging Pollution Inspections, Gujarat India

Field-Based Research Assistant to work on a randomized evaluation of industrial pollution control regulations based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India and run by professors Esther Duflo (MIT), Michael Greenstone (MIT) and Rohini Pande (Harvard). Would join another RA already on nascent project, which seeks to evaluate the impact of inspection frequency, improved third-party environmental audits and community participation on industrial compliance with environmental standards. 

Work includes refining the design of interventions to be evaluated, coordinating intervention details with the Gujarat Pollution Control Board and other local partner organizations, serving as liason between the professors and such partners, monitoring implementation of the interventions, maintaining the project budget and analyzing existing and incoming data on industrial pollution. 

Candidate should have a strong quantitative background with at least a bachelor's degree in economics including training in microeconomics, development economics, econometrics and statistics. Fluent English, very strong quantitative, organizational and communication skills, as well as some experience with statistical analysis packages,such as Stata, are required. Must be independent and self-motivating; experience in developing countries is a strong plus.

This position starts in September 2008. We are looking for a minimum commitment of 12 months. 

Please apply online on our website and select “Field Based Research Assistant” as the position you are applying for. 

Field Based Research Assistant, Immunization Campaign Scale-up, India

Field-Based Research Assistant to work on an immunization campaign scale-up in Orissa and Bihar. An initial immunization campaign in rural Rajasthan, India, jointly designed, run and evaluated by NGO Seva Mandir and J-PAL researchers, was found to significantly impact child immunization rates. Because of the program’s success, Seva Mandir and J-PAL are interested in learning how to best expand it to a broader population. To test the program’s scalability, to see how it will perform in different settings, and also to test possible variations of the initial program, Seva Mandir and J-PAL are collaborating on scaling up the program and conducting a randomized evaluation of the scaled-up program. 

As this is a brand-new project, work will include refining the design of interventions to be evaluated, identifying the target group, building new partnerships with NGOs and public health officials, and helping to design, setting up, and supervising the baseline survey. 

More generally speaking, the RAs job will be to supervise a rigorous randomized evaluation, which involves overseeing field activities, helping write surveys, coordinating survey teams, negotiating contracts with survey firms, running checks on the data to spot errors, analyzing data, preparing reports and liaising with local partners running the programs being evaluated.

Candidate should have a strong quantitative background with at least a bachelor's degree in economics including training in microeconomics, development economics, econometrics and statistics. Fluent English, very strong quantitative, organizational and communication skills, as well as some experience with statistical analysis packages,such as Stata, are required. Must be independent and self-motivating; experience in developing countries is a strong plus.

This position starts in September 2008. We are looking for a minimum commitment of 12 months. 

Please apply online on our website and select “Field Based Research Assistant” as the position you are applying for. 

Field Based Research Assistant, Rural Water Program, Gujarat India

Field-Based Research Assistant to work on a randomized evaluation examining the impact on health of providing piped water to tribal households in remote rural areas. The project is being done in close collaboration with the Tribal Development Department in Gujarat. The RA will be based primarily in Ahmedabad, with frequent travel to rural areas. 

As this is a brand-new project, work will include refining the design of interventions to be evaluated, identifying the target group, building new partnerships with NGOs and public health officials, and helping to design, setting up, and supervising the baseline survey. 

More generally speaking, the RAs job will be to supervise a rigorous randomized evaluation, which involves overseeing field activities, helping write surveys, coordinating survey teams, negotiating contracts with survey firms, running checks on the data to spot errors, analyzing data, preparing reports and liaising with local partners running the programs being evaluated.

Candidate should have a strong quantitative background with at least a bachelor's degree in economics including training in microeconomics, development economics, econometrics and statistics. Fluent English, very strong quantitative, organizational and communication skills, as well as some experience with statistical analysis packages,such as Stata, are required. Must be independent and self-motivating; experience in developing countries is a strong plus.

This position starts in September 2008. We are looking for a minimum commitment of 12 months. 

Please apply online on our website and select “Field Based Research Assistant” as the position you are applying for. 

Project Manager, Cambridge, MA

Position Overview:
Amy Finkelstein, a Professor of Economics at MIT and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), is seeking a Project Manager to oversee and support an evaluation of a randomized health insurance experiment currently being conduced in the state of Oregon. This complex project involves collecting objective measures of health outcomes from thousands of respondents and will be funded by several multi-million dollar grants. The project is a collaboration between a Cambridge-based research team (Kate Baicker (Harvard), Amy Finkelstein (MIT), Jonathan Gruber (MIT), and Joe Newhouse (Harvard)) and a team of researchers and state officials in Oregon.

Job Description:
The Project Manager will have responsibility for overseeing the many and varied aspects of this project. Key responsibilities will include: (1) coordinating work of teams collecting data in the field; (2) taking a lead role in the preparation of funding proposals, institutional review board applications, and interim progress reports to funders; (3) providing support to the research team in gathering background information and preparing written documents; (4) trouble-shooting, path-smoothing, and independently dealing with whatever arises. The Project Manager will ensure that this challenging and exciting project is implemented as efficiently and smoothly as possible.

Qualifications:
Requirements include very strong organizational skills and attention to detail; clear written and oral communication; and people skills; demonstrated management capability and ability to meet tight deadlines. Strong pluses include prior supervisory roles and experience with large-scale data collection projects, a background in economics, and an interest in health care, health policy, or health economics. A master’s degree in public health, public policy, economics or related fields is preferred; however, recent college graduates with exceptional capabilities will also be considered. Prior experience with statistical analysis is not required but would be a great strength.

To Apply:
Please send the following by email to Amy Finkelstein (afink@mit.edu):

• A cover letter describing your relevant skills, interests, and experiences, as well as your possible (and preferred) start and stop dates. A current CV or resume.
• Transcripts from all undergraduate and graduate studies (unofficial transcripts are fine),
• The names of three references, their contact information, and the capacity in which they know you.

Evaluation Coordinator, Western Kenya

We are hiring an Evaluation Coordinator to work with a Kenyan NGO and a team of US-based academics on 2 research projects. The first project is an evaluation of a program to provide small farmers with fertilizer and high-yield producing maize. The second project is a program to study the business decisions of small shopkeepers, and to pilot and evaluate several small scale interventions targeted at small retail establishments.

The Coordinator will be based in Western Kenya. Responsibilities will include implementing data quality controls and coordinating data entry as well as hiring and coordinating survey staff, overseeing field activities, meeting with government officials and preparing reports for US-based researchers. Successful candidates will have a Bachelors or Masters degree, some experience with statistical analysis packages such as Stata, and excellent interpersonal skills.

Principal Investigators: Lori Beaman is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Northwestern. Pascaline Dupas is an Assistant Professor of Economics at UCLA and an affiliate at the Abdult Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL) at MIT. Jeremy Magruder is an Assistant Professor in the Agricultural and Resource Economics Department at UC Berkeley. Jon Robinson is an Assistant Professor of Economics at UC Santa Cruz and a JPAL Affiliate.

Timeline: Ideally, the position will start in October/November, 2008. We are looking for a minimum commitment of 9-12 months.

Compensation and Benefits: We will provide a stipend to cover living expenses and covers health and travel expenses.

How to Apply: Interested candidates should send CVs with cover letter and academic transcripts via email (subject line: “JPAL Evaluation Coordinator Position”) to pdupas@ucla.edu and jmrtwo@ucsc.edu (please include both recipients). Reference letters may be required after an initial screening.

Graduate Intern – Development Policy and/or Nonprofit Management, Cambridge, Massachusetts

J-PAL is currently recruiting Cambridge office Graduate Interns for the fall semester. The graduate intern position is only open to students currently enrolled in a relevant masters program (e.g. public policy, public administration, nonprofit management, economics, and international development). Interns will work in J-PAL’s Cambridge office. 

Hours: 10 hours/week
Period: 5-6 months starting in September
Location: MIT Campus (30 Memorial Drive, suite 275, Cambridge MA 02142). 

Position Overview:
The graduate interns are supervised by a J-PAL senior project manager, and assist on a variety of nonprofit management tasks, policy writing tasks, or a combination. The graduate interns collaborate directly with people across the organization. 

While each individual intern’s portfolio is tailored to best meet the intern’s interest and experience and the organizations needs, common tasks include:

• Fundraising and development (proposal and report writing)
• Producing publications (writing, editing, design, getting sign-offs, overseeing copyeditor and graphic designer)
• Preparing and labeling datasets for publication.

How to Apply
Send the following three items to Tricia Gonwa at gonwa@mit.edu

• Resume
• Personal Statement. Please be sure to explain specifically what is attractive to you about this opportunity, and what you would be hoping to learn and build skill in.
• Transcript

Opportunities with Partner Organizations

Innovations for Poverty Action, a partner organization of J-PAL which also does randomized evaluations, is also currently recruiting for a variety of positions in Mali, Mexico, Philippines, and the US. For IPA's job openings and instructions on how to apply, please see http://www.poverty-action.org/participate/jobopenings.php

The Centre for Micro Finance, a partner organizaion of J-PAL which also does randomized evaluations, is also currently recruiting for a variety of positions, all in India. for CMF's job openings and instructions for how to apply, please see http://ifmr.ac.in/cmf/openings.html