CARE · 1 month ago
Senior Director Impact Evaluation and Strategic Learning
Atlanta, GA
Full-time
Hybrid
Director/Executive
$124K/yr - $177K/yr
10+ years expCARE is a global leader in evidence-informed development, seeking a visionary Senior Director of Impact Evaluation and Strategic Learning to transform how the organization uses evidence to drive impact. The role involves leading a high-performing team to embed rigorous evidence and cost-effectiveness analysis into CARE’s strategy and program design, ensuring that every dollar delivers maximum impact for the people served.
Health CareNon ProfitUnderserved Children
Responsibilities
Build and Lead a High-Performing Evidence & Impact Technical Hub
Serve as the strategic anchor for the Evidence & Insight unit, transforming CARE’s unified research, evidence, and impact measurement functions into a best-in-class evidence engine. You will translate the high-level evidence strategy into a clear operational reality for the team, ensuring the right people, systems, and standards are in place to deliver
Cultivate a culture of intellectual honesty and rigor: Manage and mentor a high-performing, cross-functional team capable of executing complex evaluations
Build 'Fit-for-Purpose' Capabilities: Assess and upgrade the team’s technical capabilities to deliver on the evidence strategy (Rigorous Impact Evaluations vs. Use of Big Data/Administrative Data vs. Lean Measurement vs. Networked/Catalytic Measurement). Ensure the team has the requisite skills in both econometrics and complexity-aware monitoring to execute the vision
Drive Operational Excellence & Quality Assurance: Foster a cohesive network of practitioners to ensure every data point is credible, defensible, and ready for external scrutiny. Ensure accountability for high-quality evidence across a range of methodological approaches
Architect the Evaluation Portfolio & Drive Causal Proof
Serve as the organization’s chief scientific lead for high-rigor evidence, moving CARE beyond simple output tracking or before-and-after comparison toward causal attribution and scientific credibility
Strategic Evidence Curation: Lead the decision-making framework for how we evaluate, distinguishing between interventions that require counterfactuals (RCTs, QED) and those best suited to large administrative data or lean impact measurement. Ensure resources are focused on generating high-quality evidence where it matters most (e.g., signature solutions)
Oversee the Impact Evaluation Pipeline: Directly supervise the design and execution of a portfolio of rigorous impact evaluations to establish causal links between CARE’s work and downstream outcomes. Sharply prioritize the pipeline to focus on the fewest feasible evidence opportunities that will deliver the most significant impact for CARE's work and the sector. (This includes knowing where to deprioritize investments in places where we are not set up for success)
Academic & Strategic Partnerships: Serve as the primary technical counterpart to high-level research partners, ensuring CARE’s methodologies withstand external scientific scrutiny and contribute to the broader development sector's body of knowledge through peer-reviewed publications and white papers
Research Ethics & Integrity: Enhance and lead CARE’s internal review processes to ensure all evaluation activities adhere to the highest ethical standards and methodological integrity, including the ethical use of AI in research and evaluation
Lead Innovation in Measuring Systems Change & Catalytic Impact
Recognizing that transformative impact often occurs through systemic change that RCTs cannot capture, this role will lead the frontier of measuring 'Networked Impact' or 'Catalytic Impact'—developing novel methodologies to prove how CARE’s influence unlocks government capital and shifts market systems
Model Catalytic & Networked Impact: Refine CARE's methodologies to model and measure the leverage of CARE’s work, specifically how our investments unlock capital, influence government policy, or shift market systems (impact that goes beyond direct service delivery) that lead to positive changes in people's lives
Systems-Level Measurement: Lead the team in utilizing complexity-aware monitoring approaches (e.g., Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis) to assess advocacy wins and systems change where counterfactuals are not possible
Drive Evidence-Based Decision Making & Strategic Pivots
Lead the generation, synthesis, and mobilization of insights from rigorous data-driven research and evaluation, and catalytic modeling to inform CARE's strategic direction and improve impact
Drive Program Strategy & Pivots: Synthesize findings to challenge assumptions and guide leadership on 'Program Choice'—providing data-driven recommendations on which interventions to scale and, crucially, which to sunset/stop when evidence suggests they are not cost-effective
Own the Evidence Landscape: Conduct systematic reviews of external evidence (e.g., J-PAL, 3ie) to benchmark CARE’s performance against the sector, ensuring we are not reinventing the wheel but adopting what is proven to work
Collaborative stakeholder engagement: Work effectively with a range of stakeholders, including country offices, research partners in the Global South, governments, and the private sector, in places where we aim to build scaling strategies to deliver evidence that drives action and uptake
Vision 2030 Strategy and Accountability: Oversee the aggregation of diverse data (direct, networked impact, and catalytic leverage) to credibly report against CARE’s FY26-30 Strategy goals and Vision 2030 targets, ensuring the organization can tell a unified impact story
Participant-Centered Inquiry: Champion the integration of real-time participant feedback and community insights into evaluation and learning frameworks. Ensure that 'rigor' includes the voices of the people we serve, using these insights to drive programmatic adaptation and continuous learning
Qualification
Required
PhD in Development Economics, Public Policy, Statistics, or related field; or a master's with a significant, demonstrated track record as a Principal Investigator on large-scale, complex impact evaluations
Demonstrated track record working with the private sector, government actors in countries where CARE has presence, or other scaling stakeholders who must buy into evidence before it will be broadly scaled
At least 10 years of professional experience with increasing levels of responsibility in monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL) or development organization performance assessment
At least seven years of successful management and team leadership experience, with a demonstrated ability to build and lead cross-functional and geographically dispersed/diverse teams
Deep expertise in econometric methods and causal inference, with a portfolio of designing and managing experimental (RCT) and quasi-experimental evaluations in low-resource settings
Experience in modeling catalytic impact or measuring systems change (e.g., market systems development, policy influence)
Strategic thinker with the ability to translate vision into actionable plans
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, particularly in translating technical reports and data for broader audiences
Experience at a global level in a multi-national organization
Preferred
Formal training in organizational knowledge management and learning
Formal training in policy application or policy influence with evidence
Theoretical background and practical application of emerging approaches, including complexity science, systems thinking, locally led development, and scaling for networked impact
A proven track record in leveraging emerging technologies, including AI, machine learning, or geospatial analysis, to enhance the rigor and scalability of evaluation methodologies
Demonstrated experience securing and managing research grants and partnering with academic institutions
Process facilitation and presentation skills
Fluency in French or Spanish
Company
CARE
CARE is a leading international humanitarian organization.
5001-10000 employees
H1B Sponsorship
CARE has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (17)
2024 (8)
2023 (21)
2022 (20)
2021 (25)
2020 (12)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageTotal Funding
unknownKey Investors
The Pfizer Foundation
2021-11-30Grant
Leadership Team
Rasmus Stuhr Jakobsen
Chief Executive Director, CEO
Chris Noble
Corporate Partnerships
Recent News
2025-12-18
2025-08-08
Company data provided by crunchbase