(Senior) Director, Global MEL, Job in Kenya

Evidence Action is hiring a (Senior) Director, Global Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning to lead global MEL strategy, strengthen monitoring and evaluation systems. The role is based in Nairobi and Expertise in program evaluation design is required.

The Role

Evidence Action was built on the belief that data should drive every important decision, from how programs are selected, designed, and delivered, to how resources are allocated and programs are scaled. We are constantly striving to strengthen our monitoring, learning, and evaluation (MLE) strategy across our global program portfolio, generating the evidence that underpins program delivery at scale, piloting and launching new programs, and significant exit decisions affecting millions of people we serve. For us, MLE is more than an audit function; it is the foundation upon which we learn, adapt, and grow. The recent monitoring issues on our revealed the need to strengthen this foundation across our complex global portfolio.
As we continue to iterate and our ambitions grow to scale proven programs and develop new ones, we are investing in senior MLE leadership to drive and deliver organizational direction on data-led decision-making, and actively balance the rigor, cost and speed trade-offs across the portfolio. In addition to delivering a high-quality end-to-end MLE strategy at the core, we have identified additional priorities for this role including an MLE protocol review across each of our existing programs, AI opportunity spotting, and strengthened organization-wide engagement on evidence and learning.
As the (Senior) Director, Global Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning, you will also lead the continued evolution of our MLE approach, ensuring our systems, structures, and external presence reflect the scale of what we are building. We are seeking a senior leader to hold an exceptionally high bar across the entire team, ranging from design, implementation and data collection, and analysis, to dissemination. In this role, you will be held directly accountable for technical rigor on MLE and will contribute heavily to strengthening organizational leadership and external credibility in this area. You bring deep expertise in quantitative-heavy program evaluation and evidence systems, strategic instincts to identify problems early, curiosity to ask relevant questions to understand context, impatient optimism to arrive at possible solutions under time and resource limitations, and the interpersonal sophistication to create alignment in a matrixed global organization.

Key Responsibilities

Lead Organizational MLE Strategy

Lead from the front Evidence Action’s evaluation for early-stage programs, strengthening rigor and consistency as we assess and select innovations. This includes evaluating existing evidence in partnership with program teams, stress-testing hypotheses, assessing credible pathways to impact at scale, and developing stage-appropriate evaluation plans.
Quantitatively model the expected outcomes of potential new programs, right-sized to project scope/cost and time constraints. This will require using microeconomic tools and concepts to predict actions of individuals and governments, and to determine how to value different types of benefits, as well as good judgment to assess real potential for impact at scale.
As programs transition to scale, ensure consistent iteration and rigorous application of agreed protocols throughout the program lifecycle, in coordination with the Director.
Build a strong understanding of challenges and opportunities across the existing at-scale portfolio and work closely with the Director to re-design protocols, structures, and data collection processes grounded in operational realities.
Lead cross-portfolio MLE review as a near-term organizational priority in face of DSW findings, including direct management of external consultants. The review will surface gaps in MLE practice and standards, which you will translate into lasting improvements across the team.
Lead organization-wide data-driven decision making, identifying the highest-value questions across the program portfolio and ensuring that MLE findings inform program design and organizational decision-making.
Work with in-field project and MLE leads to ensure that MLE collects actionable information they need and that MLE findings reach on-the-ground program decision-makers.
Actively engage across the matrix to ensure MLE is embedded from the earliest stages of program lifecycle and assess how best to resource and structure this work within the MLE team.
Role model the strategic use of data, technology, and AI to strengthen MLE quality and efficiency, and organizational decision-making.
Manage from the trenches with the regional MLE leaders on implementation challenges and structural issues, working to strengthen the overall MLE team across global and regional teams.

Lead and Develop the Global MLE Teams

Provide senior functional leadership and technical supervision to the MLE team, including direct management of a Director, who leads at-scale program MLE and team management.
Set a high and consistent performance bar for the team and foster an active feedback team culture.
Develop team members’ capabilities and contribute to their professional growth by providing thought partnership and mentorship on diagnosing and solving complex problems.
Oversee the Global MLE budget, maintaining visibility across global and regional MLE teams and making resourcing decisions aligned to organizational priorities.
Plan resources, recruit for strategic bandwidth within the MLE team, and develop a sustainable resourcing model and long-term structural vision for MLE teams while securing organizational buy-in and funding to enable this.

Provide Senior External and Organizational Leadership

Serve as a senior thought leader, inviting and addressing external feedback for Evidence Action’s MLE strategy from donors, board members, government partners, and peer organizations.
Lead the engagement with external reviewers, vendors, and consultants for the ongoing MLE review, critically evaluating their recommendations while maintaining strong, constructive relationships, and working in close coordination with the MLE leaders on external partnerships they are responsible for.
Partner closely with Cost-Effectiveness and other internal evidence functions to validate key assumptions, model outcomes, and rigorously and consistently apply data-driven decisions across our programs.
Lead board and donor level communications on MLE progress, methodology, and organizational learning.

Qualifications

10+ years of progressive experience in monitoring, learning, and evaluation including considerable hands-on experience of leading a rigorous quantitative function enabling data-driven decision-making in the global health/ development context.
Experience should also include ability to work with technical and program implementation teams to negotiate data-led decisions on direct program implementation and technical assistance to governments, with 5+ years, ideally in a senior leadership role within a matrixed organization. In-field experience is highly desirable.
PhD or a comparable mix of advanced training and high-end technical experience in a relevant field (economics, statistics, public health, or other quantitatively focused disciplines).
Technical experience: Expertise in program evaluation design and analysis; including statistically rigorous impact evaluations, process evaluations, and mixed-methods approaches with real-world experience managing large-scale quantitative evaluations from design through dissemination.
People Leadership: Demonstrates a track record of implementing effective team structures, developing Directors or senior leaders and strengthening leadership bench capacity. Successfully provided strategic direction to senior technical leads, set performance benchmarks, while empowering their domain ownership.
Thought Leadership: Brings established networks across the MLE and leadership communities of peer and partner organizations, including philanthropies, evidence-driven implementation organizations in our regions, and government stakeholders. Has a track record of external thought leadership through publications, conference presentations, or similar platforms.
Action Oriented: Demonstrates a clear orientation toward implementation over theory in being able to make tough choices from a range of possible options. Experience of leading from the front at evidence-driven organizations, across global health or development, is highly desirable.
Transformation and Ambiguity: Embraces ambiguity to make transformational changes we need. They are an Engine 2 thinker; focused on solving today’s challenges, innovating for tomorrow’s needs, exploring new markets, and taking bold risks while communicating tradeoffs.
Technical Communication: Can switch communication styles between external and internal MLE specialists, donors, board, and non-technical audiences to have effective conversions and drive decisions.