IMPACT AND RESEARCH MANAGER

ROLE PROFILE

Title Impact & Research Manager

Functional Area Programmes

Reports to Head of Programmes and Strategy

Location Amman, Jordan

Travel required As Required

Effective Date ASAP

Grade Level 16

The organization

Plan International is an independent child rights and humanitarian organisation committed to children living a life free of poverty, violence and injustice. Plan actively unite children, communities and other people who share our mission to make positive lasting changes in children’s and young people’s lives. Plan support children to gain the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to claim their rights to a fulfilling life, today and in the future. Plan place a specific focus on girls and women, who are most often left behind. Plan have been building powerful partnerships for children for more than 80 years and are now active in more than 70 countries. Plan International Jordan is established in 2016 and has programmes in governorates in the centre, north and south regions as well as host communities and Azraq camp

ROLE PURPOSE

The Impact and Research Manager provides strategic and technical leadership across all Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) functions at Plan International Jordan. The post holder ensures that evidence generation, impact measurement, and learning systematically inform programme quality, resource allocation, and organisational decision-making.

The role has three interconnected areas of strategic focus:

• Research leadership: designing and managing rigorous research initiatives that generate credible evidence to inform programming and advocacy work.
• Impact measurement: developing and implementing robust frameworks to assess the depth, breadth, and sustainability of programme results at beneficiary and systems levels.
• Country strategy monitoring: ensuring systematic, real-time tracking of progress against country strategy objectives and enabling timely course corrections.

Dimensions of the Role

• Reports to the Head of Programme and Strategy (HoPS) and is a member of the broader Programme team.
• Directly supervises MERL team
• Works closely with the Programmes Managers, Project Managers, Head of Operations and Finance

Accountabilities

1. Programme Design and Monitoring

• The post holder leads the design of high-quality Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) frameworks for all development and humanitarian projects, ensuring MERL considerations — including data requirements, evaluation design, and research opportunities — are built into proposals from inception. This includes:
• Developing comprehensive project M&E frameworks (indicator matrix, indicator tracker, MERL activity plan, and Theory of Change) and ensuring alignment between project-level frameworks and the country strategy.
• Leading participatory, gender-transformative, and inclusive data collection approaches — including qualitative and quantitative tools — with appropriate data quality assurance (DQA) processes at all stages.
• Promoting effective use of the MERL database (PMERL) and global M&E IT systems for data collection, storage, analysis, reporting, and aggregation across all levels.

2. Country Strategy Monitoring

• The post holder is responsible for translating the country strategy into a live, measurable system that enables adaptive management by senior leadership. This includes:
• Designing and maintaining the Country Strategy MERL Framework, including a strategic results dashboard and scorecard that provides the CMT with a consolidated, real-time view of strategic performance on a quarterly basis.
• Establishing and maintaining a country-level Theory of Change, ensuring all project theories of change are aligned with and contribute to country strategy outcomes.
• Coordinating the annual country strategy review process — aggregating project-level results, analysing contribution to strategic objectives, and producing a strategic progress report.
• Monitoring the operating context to identify shifts that may affect the feasibility or relevance of country strategy objectives, and presenting findings quarterly to the E-CMT.
• Ensuring all strategy monitoring data is disaggregated by sex, age, disability, and geographic location to track equity and inclusion in strategic outcomes.

3. Programme Impact Measurement

• The post holder leads Plan Jordan's approach to understanding and communicating the depth and sustainability of programme change. This includes:
• Developing and leading Plan Jordan's Programme Impact Measurement Framework, establishing standardised methodologies for assessing short-term, intermediate, and long-term impact across all thematic areas (protection, education, livelihoods, and others).
• Designing and implementing participatory impact assessment methodologies — such as Outcome Harvesting and Most Significant Change (MSC) — to capture unanticipated and transformative change at community and systems levels.
• Building and maintaining a programme-wide results database that enables cross-project analysis of reach and depth of change, and producing an annual consolidated impact report for the Country Director, donors, and Plan International's regional hub.
• Leading impact communication: developing evidence briefs, dashboards, and visual summaries that make impact data accessible to non-technical audiences including communities, partners, and donors.

4. Research and Evidence Generation

• The post holder leads Plan Jordan's research function, ensuring evidence generation is rigorous, ethical, and actionable. This includes:
• Developing an annual research plan aligned with the country strategy, organisational learning priorities, and evidence gaps identified by programme teams.
• Designing and managing primary research studies — including mixed-methods designs, randomised control trials (RCTs), and quasi-experimental approaches — to generate credible evidence on programme effectiveness and contextual drivers of change.
• Overseeing all research ethics processes, including Institutional Review Board (IRB) requirements, to ensure research involving children and vulnerable populations meets Plan International's ethical standards and Do No Harm principles.
• Leading the planning, design, and coordination of baseline, midline, and endline studies — including Terms of Reference development, data collection and analysis, enumerator training, and report quality review.
• Leading participatory action research (PAR) initiatives that involve children, adolescents, and communities as co-researchers; and maintaining a research repository that makes outputs systematically accessible across teams.
• Building external research partnerships with academic institutions and peer organisations; and translating findings into policy briefs, advocacy papers, and evidence summaries for government counterparts, donors, and international forums.

5. Knowledge Management and Learning

• The post holder fosters a culture of evidence-based decision-making and continuous learning across Plan Jordan. This includes:
• Embedding systematic reflection processes with staff and relevant stakeholders — including quarterly learning sessions with programme managers and the E-CMT — to use data to challenge assumptions and drive course corrections.
• Overseeing the development and implementation of feedback and accountability mechanisms for development and humanitarian projects; and ensuring optimal use of the PMERL system in programme planning and management.
• Leading the production of a quarterly MERL bulletin summarising emerging evidence, lessons learned, and research updates from Plan Jordan and the broader sector.
• Developing documentation guidelines to capture case studies and best practices, and facilitating knowledge sharing across teams.

6. Safeguarding, Compliance, and Other Duties

• The Impact and Research Manager is a member of the Safeguarding Committee, which is responsible for ensuring the Safeguarding Policy is adopted, mainstreamed into office operations and programmes, and that staff and partner capacities are built accordingly. The post holder ensures that:
• Plan International's global policies for Safeguarding of Children and Programme Participants and Gender Equality and Inclusion (GEI) are fully embedded in their area of responsibility, in line with relevant implementation standards.
• All staff and associates understand their responsibilities under these policies in addition to Plan International's Code of Conduct and data privacy standards, and that concerns are reported and managed through the appropriate procedures.

Child protection, gender equality and inclusion

• Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children, Young People and Programmes Participants and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Plan

Key relationships

Internal:

• Head of Programme and Strategy (HoPS) — direct line manager
• Head of Resources Mobilisation — proposal development and donor engagement
• National Offices, Regional Hub and Global Hub Monitoring, Evaluation, Research Learning (MERL) technical networks

External:

• Implementing partners, local organisations and CBOs
• UN agencies, INGOs and national NGOs
• Donors — technical focal points and programme officers for assigned grants

Technical expertise, skills and knowledge

Essential

• Bachelor's degree (BA) in Statistics, Research Methods, Strategic Planning, Development, Social Studies, or a related field; a postgraduate degree in research, monitoring and evaluation, or a related discipline is strongly preferred.
• 5 - 7 years of relevant working experience in MERL, with at least 2 years in a management or senior technical role within an international non-governmental organisation (INGO) or similar institution.
• Demonstrated experience leading primary research studies — including mixed-methods, RCT, and quasi-experimental designs — and managing country-level or programme-level impact measurement systems.
• Experience leading or contributing to country strategy MERL framework development, with a track record of translating strategic objectives into measurable indicators and monitoring systems.
• Knowledge of data management, quality control, validation processes, data privacy standards, and research ethics frameworks including IRB processes.

Desirable

• Strong strategic thinking, analytical, and problem-solving skills; ability to work effectively in a multidisciplinary and multicultural environment.
• Proficiency in statistical and research software (e.g., SPSS, STATA) and data visualisation tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau) to produce strategic dashboards and impact reports for senior management and donors.
• Ability to analyse, synthesise, and translate complex research findings into accessible evidence briefs, policy papers, and visual summaries for diverse audiences.
• Strong team-building, facilitation, and influencing skills; able to champion evidence-based decision-making across departments and proactively identify opportunities to use research and impact data for policy influence.
• Intellectual curiosity and comfort with ambiguity; able to navigate iterative learning in dynamic humanitarian and development contexts.

Plan International’s Values in Practice

We are open and accountable

• Promotes a culture of openness and transparency, including with sponsors and donors.
• Holds self and others accountable to achieve the highest standards of integrity.
• Consistent and fair in the treatment of people.
• Open about mistakes and keen to learn from them.
• Accountable for ensuring we are a safe organisation for all children, girls & young people

We strive for lasting impact

• Articulates a clear purpose for staff and sets high expectations.
• Creates a climate of continuous improvement, open to challenge and new ideas.
• Focuses resources to drive change and maximise long-term impact, responsive to changed priorities or crises.
• Evidence-based and evaluates effectiveness.

We work well together

• Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.
• Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.
• Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.
• Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.

We are inclusive and empowering

• We empower our staff to give their best and develop their potential
• We respect all people, appreciate differences and challenge equality in our programs and our workplace
• We support children, girls and young people to increase their confidence and to change their own lives.

Physical Environment

Typically office-based with regular in-country travel and occasional international travel.

Level of contact with children

Low contact: No contact or very low frequency of interaction

ROLE PROFILE

Type of Role: Fixed Term Contract

Contract Duration: Six Months, renewable subject to the availability of funds and satisfactory performance.

Reports to: Head of Programmes and Strategy

Location: Amman, Jordan

Grade: Level 16

Closing Date: 19 July 2026

Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply. Plan International operates an equal opportunities policy and actively encourages diversity, welcoming applications from all areas of the international community.

Early application is encouraged as we will review applications throughout the advertising period and reserve the right to close the advert early.

Internal candidates will be given priority consideration.

Please note that only applications and CVs written in English will be accepted.

A range of pre-employment checks will be undertaken in conformity with Plan International's Child Safeguarding Policy.