Position: Director of Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation

Organization: Upaya Social Ventures

Location: Bangalore Urban

Roles and Responsibilities:

·    General Responsibilities

- The Director will manage and provide guidance to team members in the Bangalore office, with a goal of informing organizational strategy through accurate and timely data collection, analysis, reporting, and sharing feedback to promote organizational learning

- The incumbent will evaluate the effectiveness of Upaya’s major activities, working with the CEO to assess the implications for the strategic choices

- The incumbent will also work closely with the India Country Director to assess the performance of investees (“partner companies”) and the short- and long-term impacts on their jobholders

- The Director will be responsible for supporting the following: key indicators that best capture the financial and social performance of Upaya’s portfolio, tools to gather the needed information in a regular and effective manner, a framework for real-time analysis, and templates for visualization and external reporting, for both internal and external audiences

- He/She will represent Upaya’s program outcomes and impact evaluation to a diverse audience, including donors, industry affiliates, academic institutions, and others, and will uphold Upaya’s reputation as being a data-driven, impact-first organization

·    Impact Management: Monitoring and Reporting

- Define key enterprise-level indicators that capture the financial health of partner companies

- Review field-level data, check for exceptions, ensure proper attribution to partner performance

- Establish a framework for analysis of raw data; train team and oversee analytics activity to assess jobholder impact

- Oversee the updating of Upaya’s public dashboards on a regular basis

- Participate in industry working groups (IRIS+, Impact Matters, IMP, Feedback Labs, AEA, SoPact, etc.) to help shape and ensure Upaya’s adherence to industry standards

- Research and test technical solutions to optimize Upaya’s end-to-end impact assessment capabilities

- Work with team on data interpretation and tailoring communication for a variety of external stakeholders including partners, funders, and industry

- Supervise Senior Data Associates on data collection, analysis, reporting, and integration of entire MLE framework.

·    Evaluation & Learning

- Establish a system for fair and systematic evaluation of Upaya’s major workstreams, working in close partnership with all program heads

- All data collected by the MLE team serves the goal of continuous improvement at Upaya.

- The Director will be responsible for interpreting those data and creating realistic, actionable adjustments to their program approach. Creating a formalized process for this kind of learning will be a new initiative spearheaded by the Director and supported by the entire team

·    Thought Leadership

- Act as a spokesperson at relevant conferences, industry gatherings and working groups to represent Upaya’s expertise in MLE and their program outcomes

- Partner with Marketing Manager to publish regular articles that showcase the findings

- Support CEO in reporting financial and social metrics to Upaya’s Board

- Represent Upaya’s impact metrics in donor reporting and in relevant grant applications

- Research potential partnership opportunities with other organizations to further the scope of Upaya’s IM work (academic institutions, technology providers, others)

·    Other Responsibilities

- Serve as an active member of the management team, recommending refinements to Upaya’s strategy, based on objective assessments of the organization’s financial and social performance, and observed industry trends

- Serve as a resource for Seattle-based Director of Philanthropy, and contribute to institutional outreach when necessary

- Devote 2-3 hours per week to expand Upaya’s supporter network

Must Haves:                                                                                                         

·    The incumbent should come with over 10 years of work experience with the majority in a monitoring, learning, and evaluation role

·    He/She should have demonstrated experience with quantitative and qualitative research methods in the areas of economic development and social enterprise, including survey design, data collection, focus group discussions, and statistical analysis

·    Passion for and understanding of impact assessment, impact investing, and working on poverty alleviation

·    Strong research and analytical skills, with an understanding of database structures and management

·    Required proficiency in Tableau, at the Desktop Specialist or Tableau Certified level. Competence in MS Office is also required with a high level of proficiency in MS Excel. Experience with Google Sheets and Salesforce also required

·    Experience with managing, interpreting, and analyzing large datasets

·    He/she should be able to apply best practices in data visualization to communicate findings to a diverse set of stakeholders

·    Strong personal network in the area of MLE / impact management and ability to lift best practices from this network to inform Upaya’s own methodology

·    Experience in financial modeling and financial statement analysis a plus

·    Comfortable with travel to partner locations, especially far-away places like north-eastern states of India and impoverished communities

·    Strong social awareness to build consensus in a culture of continuous improvement without engendering defensiveness

·    Strong work ethic, attention to detail and steadfast commitment to Upaya’s values.

Preferable:

·    MBA Preferred.

·    Knowledge of financial management strongly preferred

·    Substantial experience in a leadership role, having built, inspired and managed cross-functional teams leading them to succeed