Regional Research and Learning Coordinator, PlayMatters

Location: In-person; open to candidates located in and authorized to work in the United States, United Kingdom, or Uganda. The position may be based in an IRC country program or IRC office, with 25% travel required.

Compensation: US pay rate of $70,000–$88,000 per year; UK pay rate of £41,767–£49,599 per year. Offers are calibrated according to work location, experience, skills, labor market, internal equity, and budget.

Company

hirify.global is an international humanitarian NGO providing health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and protection support to people affected by conflict and disaster.

What you will do

• Coordinate IRC-led qualitative and quantitative PlayMatters research studies, including study design, tool adaptation, pretesting, programming, data collection preparation, quality assurance, and analysis.
• Work with Airbel, country teams, national partners, the consortium, and the external evaluator to align research designs, implementation timelines, budgets, logistics, and evidence dissemination.
• Support research activities across Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Uganda, including preparation for randomized controlled trials and path-to-scale planning.
• Lead the PlayMatters Learning Agenda and establish practical learning processes, products, workshops, presentations, reports, and academic papers.
• Coordinate research governance structures and strengthen connections between research and MEAL workstreams.
• Support the collection, storage, analysis, use, and dissemination of evidence and learning across the consortium.

Requirements

• Degree in Education, Psychology, International Development, International Relations, Peace and Conflict Studies, Policy Studies, or a related social science discipline.
• At least three years of experience working in education in low-resource environments.
• Training and experience in both quantitative and qualitative education research, including at least one year supporting mixed-methods studies.
• At least one year of experience researching education in emergencies and supporting measurement and learning systems in complex programs.
• Strong written and oral English, with significant professional writing experience.
• Must be located in and have the right to work in the United States, United Kingdom, or Uganda; employment is through a local contract and local salary scale.

Nice to have

• Experience coordinating research across institutional partners, research organizations, academic institutions, or external evaluators.
• Peer-reviewed publication experience.
• Experience with Dedoose, NVivo, SPSS, Stata, or similar analysis tools.
• Experience working in East Africa or knowledge of another regional language.

Culture & Benefits

• Standard office working environment with approximately 25% travel.
• Work within a consortium involving IRC, Plan International, War Child Alliance, national partners, and the LEGO Foundation.
• Contribute to education programming focused on learning through play, systems strengthening, resilience, and evidence-based adaptation.
• Work across regional and country-based teams in a humanitarian and education context.