Weiss Fund Program Manager

Department

Development Economics Center

About the Department

The Weiss Fund for Research in Development Economics supports innovative research projects that aim to improve the lives of people living in developing countries. The Fund also aims to attract talented researchers to the field of development economics and support them in producing creative, rigorous evidence to address complex challenges affecting less-developed countries. The Weiss Fund strives to create links to policy and implementation for the most relevant and promising research.

Since its launch in 2012, the Weiss Fund has supported over 200 projects led by 180 scholars at leading institutions. In 2019, the Fund began a global expansion with the donations of additional funds when Nobel laureates Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, and Michael Kremer committed the entirety of their $1 million prize money to the Weiss Fund. At that time, CRI also drastically increased its commitment, pledging $50 million to the Fund through 2035. To further broaden its impact, the Weiss Fund now offers funding opportunities to an expanded pool of eligible scholars at academic institutions around the world.

Job Summary

The job manages academic, research, clinical or administrative programs of the University.

The Weiss Fund for Research in Development Economics is seeking a full-time Weiss Fund Program Manager (WFPM) to manage the calls for proposals and grant awards, while leading research and communications projects to advance the aims of the Fund. The WFPM will work as part of a team to coordinate requests for proposals (RFPs) to fund development economics and implementation projects and disseminate results of Weiss Fund supported projects that have the potential to impact the lives of the poor at scale.

The WFPM will lead recruitment of new scholars, including by being the lead coordinator of the Kabir Banerjee predoctoral program. This will include significant outreach and creativity to recruit talented young scholars and to coordinate with the mentors at eligible institutions. The WFPM will also coordinate recruitment of researchers to apply for the Weiss Fund. For example, the Fund recently added a self nomination process for Junior Faculty that the WFPM will help advertise and administer.

Finally, the WFPM will lead policy and communications for the Weiss Fund, including highlighting successes on the website, conducting outreach on social media, advertising the Funds' opportunities, and leading the coordination of a high-level policy event in Washington DC.

The ideal candidate will have a strong interest in rigorous development economics research, be a self-starter who thrives working both independently, with minimal supervision, and as part of small teams, juggling multiple responsibilities concurrently.

Responsibilities

• Develop and refine processes and procedures for running the funding process, communication with grantees, tracking projects, and annual reporting to the donor(s).
  
• Help manage the proposal application, review, selection and award process.
  
• Support development of programmatic strategies and execute the vision of the Weiss Committee and funders.
  
• Support the process of expanding the Weiss Fund to support researchers based at a variety of institutions and in other countries, including in developing countries.
  
• Help manage other programs, including a pre-doctoral fellowship program, through which the Weiss Fund aims to identify promising students from low- and lower-middle income countries, and support them to complete a pre-doctoral fellowship with top researchers in development economics.
  
• Work closely with the Weiss Team to manage key relationships, including with the major funder(s), Weiss Committee members and other academics.
  
• Manage communications with and reporting to Fund donors, including developing and collecting appropriate outcome and impact metrics.
  
• Support organization of communication and dissemination of promising Weiss Fund research. Lead the organization of a high-level Weiss conference in DC, in fall 2024 or spring 2025.
  
• Build and maintain distribution lists to announce calls for proposals and other solicitations.
  
• Lead a communications strategy to highlight the successes of the Weiss Fund and to actively recruit more participation. This includes updating the Weiss Fund website and collating and amplifying success stories of Weiss-Funded research.
  
• Support matchmaking opportunities between researchers and policy implementers, and organization of academic and non-academic events.
  
• Help build a pipeline of researchers from low- and lower-middle income countries.
  
• Oversee the Kabir Banerjee Predoctoral Fellowship. This includes launching an aggressive recruitment campaign to recruit strong talent into the profession, especially from countries that are underrepresented in the profession.
  
• Manage the self-nomination process for Junior Faculty. This is a new portal that allows any junior faculty with a PhD in Economics to apply for Weiss Fund eligibility. The PM will help advertise this key opportunity.
  
• Brainstorm how to further build the pipeline of researchers from low- and lower-middle income countries.
  
• Has moderate/high levels of interactions with faculty, researchers and staff for committee work or information.
  
• Sets and communicates program priorities and performance standards and assesses operations using these criteria. Plans and conducts quality assurance reviews and recommends changes as appropriate.
  
• Performs other related work as needed.
  

Minimum Qualifications

Education:
Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

Work Experience:
Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 2-5 years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Certifications:

Preferred Qualifications

Education:

• Advanced degree (Master's or PhD) in economics, public policy, or a related field.
  

Experience:

• Experience with randomized control trials, and working in low- or lower-middle income countries.
  
• Experience working with a range of internal and external stakeholders, including academics, government officials, bilateral and multilateral funders, non-profit organizations, and/or businesses will be particularly valuable.
  

Preferred Competencies

• Ability to understand and convey development economics is important to the success of this position.
  
• Ability to understand complex development economics research and communicate academic research effectively to a variety of audiences.
  
• Creative problem solving, including thinking outside the box.
  
• Ability to interact with high-level stakeholders in research (e.g., academics) as well as in public policy (e.g., developing country governments, NGOs, foundations, multilateral aid agencies).
  
• Ability to work with researchers to maximize real-world impact of research.
  

Working Conditions

• Candidates must be willing to travel extensively and flexibly as needed for their respective responsibilities. This role will entail occasional domestic and possibly international travel.
  

Application Documents

• Resume (required)
  
• Cover letter (required)
  
• List of three professional references (required)
  

When applying, the document(s) MUST be uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.

Job Family

Administration & Management

Role Impact

Individual Contributor

FLSA Status

Exempt

Pay Frequency

Monthly

Scheduled Weekly Hours

37.5

Benefits Eligible

Yes

Drug Test Required

No

Health Screen Required

No

Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required

No

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