Director of Research (AI/Data Science)

Location: New York, NY HQ, USA; travel up to 25% of the time

Compensation: $165,000–$185,000 in the USA; £80,502–£91,872 in the UK

Company

hirify.global is an international humanitarian NGO that develops and scales evidence-based solutions for people affected by conflict and disaster.

What you will do

• Set strategic direction for research agendas across humanitarian outcome areas and oversee selected research teams.
• Lead flagship cross-sectoral projects, serve as principal investigator, and generate evidence for scale.
• Chair the Institutional Review Board and maintain high ethical standards across research activities.
• Drive the adoption of AI and data science tools across research design, data collection, analysis, and dissemination.
• Strengthen systems for data quality, storage, version control, reproducibility, and responsible research communications.
• Build partnerships, represent research externally, raise funds, and oversee budgets for research teams and projects.

Requirements

• Ph.D. in a field related to development and humanitarian intervention, such as economics, epidemiology, or political science.
• 10+ years of research experience, including substantial work in humanitarian or development contexts.
• Extensive experience designing research and managing teams in low-resource environments.
• Fluency in applying empirical evidence and AI- and data-science-enabled methods to improve research and program results.
• Experience developing research strategies, securing funding from public and private donors, and working in large international organizations.
• Strong publication record, professional research networks, leadership skills, and excellent public speaking and writing abilities.

Nice to have

• Proficiency in French, Arabic, or Spanish.

Culture & Benefits

• Work across a geographically dispersed, multidisciplinary humanitarian research community.
• Support professional development, belonging, research excellence, and communities of practice.
• Collaborate with technical, communications, advocacy, fundraising, country, and regional teams.
• Travel internationally for research, partnerships, and stakeholder engagement, up to 25% of the time.
• Follow professional standards centered on integrity, service, equality, accountability, safeguarding, and ethical conduct.