Senior Associate - Research & Learning

The Gender x Digital (GxD) hub
is a research and evaluation centre at LEAD, IFMR–Krea University, working at
the intersection of digital systems, AI, and women’s realities in India. The
hub conducts rigorous gender-intentional research and evaluation, provides
technical advisory support to governments and implementers, and engages with a
range of stakeholders to ensure that evidence shapes how digital and AI systems
are designed and governed.

We are seeking a Senior
Associate whose  focus will be research and evaluation delivery, complemented by
writing and communications work that supports GxD’s research and evaluation
portfolio and its visibility as a thought leader on gender × digital × AI issues.
The candidate will sit primarily within GxD’s Evidence Generation workstream,
contributing directly to research or evaluation studies, while also actively supporting the Ecosystem
Engagement & Thought Leadership workstream in shaping how GxD’s findings
are communicated to policy, donor, and public audiences.

This is a research-forward role
for someone who is at home in the field or with a dataset, and who can also
turn findings into a clear report, blog, or deck. The ideal candidate is a
strong researcher, can write and communicate well, and who is energised by
variety across projects.

1.  Research
& Evaluation Design and Delivery

•     Contribute to the design and implementation of new
studies, including instrument design, sampling strategy, fieldwork
coordination, and analysis working with other team members.

•     Apply mixed-method approaches, combining quantitative
analysis (Stata, R, or Excel) with qualitative enquiry, to generate evidence on
women’s digital and AI capability and outcomes.

•     Support secondary data analysis for GxD’s internal
knowledge products and evidence briefs. 

•     Lead data cleaning, analysis, and interpretation for
assigned studies, with attention to methodological rigour and quality
assurance.

•     Support literature reviews and evidence synthesis, and
contribute to the design of MLE frameworks and indicators for ongoing
evaluations.

2.  Research
Writing & Knowledge Products

•     Draft evaluation reports, working papers,
policy briefs, and evidence notes to a publishable standard, ensuring findings
are both methodologically sound and accessibly written.

•     Translate technical research findings into clear,
methodologically grounded narratives for policy, donor, and public audiences,
maintaining a consistent voice across GxD’s outputs.

3.  Communications
& Narrative Building

•     Support GxD’s website content, social media content, decks,
and one-pagers that carry GxD’s research into wider circulation.

•     Support preparation for convenings and speaking
engagements including briefing materials, decks, and talking points.

•     Contribute to GxD’s DOI and publication-visibility
infrastructure

4.  Cross-Project
& Cross-Team Coordination

•     Work across GxD’s Evidence Generation & MLE and
Ecosystem Engagement & Thought Leadership work streams, coordinating with
the relevant team members.

•     Support proposal development, particularly the research
design, methodology, and framing sections of pitches to funders.

•     Proactively flag opportunities to package ongoing
research into external-facing content.

Requirements

Essential

•     Master’s degree in Development Studies, Public Policy,
Economics, Gender Studies, Communications, or a closely related field, with 3+
years of relevant experience; OR Bachelor’s degree with at least 5 years of
experience combining applied research and writing/communications roles.

•     Demonstrated ability to lead research and evaluation
delivery, with strong skills in writing and communications. This is a
research-first but hybrid role: the majority of the workload is research and
evaluation, complemented by strong writing and communications.

•     Strong working knowledge of quantitative and
qualitative research methods, including instrument design, primary data
collection, and statistical analysis (Stata, R, or Excel).

•     Excellent written English, with a portfolio of
published or publishable writing (reports, briefs, blogs, or articles) that
demonstrates the ability to translate technical findings for varied audiences.

•     Experience supporting institutional communications such
as website content, newsletters, social media, or donor-facing materials.

•     Comfortable managing multiple concurrent projects and
workstreams, with strong self-organisation and follow-through.

Strongly Desired

•     Prior experience in a research, evaluation, or think
tank environment, ideally with exposure to gender, digital inclusion, or
AI-related themes.

•     Experience with content or website platforms and
familiarity with visibility/DOI infrastructure.

•     Ability to convert evidence into digestible formats, with demonstrated experience of working with a variety of communication formats (decks, website, campaign material, podcosts etc).

•     A strong researcher, with fluent narrative-building
skills as a complement.

•     Strong sense of ownership with ability to take a
partial draft or a rough dataset and shape it into something publishable.

•     Comfortable operating in a lean, fast-moving team with
a varied portfolio of projects.

•     Collaborative instinct and works well across research,
communications, and stakeholder-facing colleagues without needing rigid
handoffs.

•     Keen interest in gender, digital systems, and AI’s
social implications.