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Senior Associate - Governance

Busara· Research, Advisory and Practice – Advisory
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Hybrid (Nairobi)Full-timePosted 4w ago

About the role

Senior Associate supports both advisory and research arms by leading execution of Busara projects, serving as primary project manager and technical lead for external Busara projects, coordinating with clients, partners, and internal teams to deliver high-quality research and advisory outputs.

Responsibilities

  • Design high-quality qualitative, quantitative and experimental research, considering sampling, instruments, research integrity and ethics, analysis and interventions across projects.
  • Incorporate behavioral science into research projects.
  • Lead the design and iteration of prototypes.
  • Execute core project responsibilities with creativity, rigor, relevance, detail, and timeliness.
  • Maintain understanding of engagement goals and push project teams to realign around them.
  • Manage medium to large-scale projects end-to-end with minimal supervision.
  • Engage leadership and align on substantive components of the project.
  • Lead or support Associates and Analysts to fulfill engagement requirements.
  • Develop and manage project plans, budgets, work plans, and task schedules.
  • Manage resources, financials, and adhere to the project plan throughout the full project lifecycle.
  • Monitor, track, and control outcomes to resolve issues and dependencies.
  • Manage project kick-off, onboarding, and off-boarding for knowledge management.
  • Responsible for project timelines, deliverables, reports, and staffing.
  • Participate in field work as required.
  • Monitor and review project team performance.
  • Manage higher-level conversations and partnerships with clients and partners.
  • Plan, manage and execute external and internal engagements from start to finish with minimal supervisory engagement.
  • Serve as point of contact for clients and partners; proactively manage stakeholder needs.
  • Identify opportunities to deepen engagement with clients and partners.
  • Present at conferences, networking events, and client meetings.
  • Ensure engagement of team members; drive Busara culture and values; oversee well-being.
  • Contribute to skills-building for project teams and other teams as required.
  • Manage performance and mentor Associates, Analysts, and Project team members.
  • Champion projects teams and liaise with leadership for actionable requests.
  • Maintain team morale and organizational alignment.
  • Coordinate hiring and onboarding of Analysts, Interns, and new Associates.
  • Coordinate across teams to ensure healthy work relationships; mediate/escalate issues as needed.
  • Communicate across organizational teams to maintain a healthy organization.
  • Contribute to design, execution, and dissemination of Busara internal research projects and initiatives.
  • Perform any other duty as assigned by Engagement Director or equivalent.

Qualifications

  • A Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Social Sciences, Public Policy, or related fields.
  • Strong qualitative, quantitative, research, and data analytic skills.
  • Proficient project management skills.
  • Minimum of 5 years’ work experience in the global south, with at least 3 years in project and team management in a related field.
  • Strong academic behavioral science background.
  • Extensive experience managing large-scale projects in developing countries.
  • Demonstrated ability to manage high-level relationships with partner organizations.
  • Excellent management and organizational skills.
  • Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and a team player.
  • Fluency and excellent communication and writing skills with a mastery of English.
  • Ability to execute projects while sustaining a global focus and vision for institutional planning and decision making.
  • Ability, interest, and willingness to travel to all project locations as assigned which may include in-country, regional, and international locations in the Global South.

Skills

Required:Qualitative researchQuantitative researchProject managementBehavioral scienceStakeholder managementCommunication (English)
Last updated Oct 21, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Busara

Changing the world, one behavior at a time

Busara is an independent entity committed to applied research with partners seeking to use behavioral science to address specific problems. Since 2015, the organization has been working to bring research on poverty alleviation closer to the people it seeks to serve, translating knowledge into better practice through behavioral science tools and methods.

behavioral scienceapplied researchpoverty alleviationGlobal South
Company profileWebsite

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