Deputy Director, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning

Southern Poverty Law Center•Atlanta, GA

13d•Hybrid

About The Position

The SPLC is seeking a Deputy Director, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning who is passionate about social justice! The Deputy Director, MEAL manages MEAL support throughout the program/project life cycle with a particular focus on program design, monitoring and strengthening SPLC's community accountability efforts.

Requirements

Minimum seven (7) years of monitoring, evaluation, accountability & learning experience
At least five (5) years of directly managing staff
Minimum of bachelor's degree in political science, sociology, measurement & evaluation, social work, education, public policy or related fields

Nice To Haves

Strategic, analytical, and systems-oriented — Connects MEAL practices to organizational strategy and impact, using data and evidence to inform decision-making and strengthen effectiveness.
Equity- and community-centered — Centers community voice, lived experience, and accountability while recognizing how power and systemic inequities shape evaluation, learning, and outcomes.
Collaborative and influential leader — Builds trust across teams, communicates effectively with diverse stakeholders, and influences organizational decision-making without relying solely on positional authority.
Curious, rigorous, and courageous — Asks difficult questions, challenges assumptions, surfaces uncomfortable findings, and approaches complex issues with intellectual rigor and sound judgment.
Learning and improvement-oriented — Builds a culture of reflection, experimentation, shared learning, and continuous improvement while helping teams translate insights into meaningful action.
Adaptable, results-oriented capacity builder — Navigates ambiguity and the evolving nature of social justice work while strengthening staff and organizational capacity to use data, evidence, and learning to achieve meaningful, equitable, and sustainable impact.

Responsibilities

Lead the development and implementation of a MEAL strategy and approach that is responsive to social justice work and values and builds an organization that regularly uses data for learning, improvement and measuring impact.
Provide guidance and review for MEAL products to ensure technical soundness as well as clarity and accessibility for non-MEAL audiences.
Manage MEAL team collaboration with other departments to design MEAL frameworks and capture data that informs decision-making and measures the impact of work.
Manage collaboration across different departments to support the implementation of community-based accountability practices and tools and to implement in the organization's programs, projects, initiatives, and activities.
Conduct in-person and remote training on MEAL related topics, and travels as needed.
Facilitate project brainstorming, design, strategy and planning sessions, and provides technical assistance on MEAL throughout all stages of the project life cycle to programs and teams across the organization.
Support evaluations and research around the impact of SPLC's work.
Manage a team of MEAL staff members by hiring, training, mentoring, coaching, assigning duties, setting and monitoring performance and development goals, and conducting performance reviews.
Perform other duties as required or assigned which are reasonably within the scope of the duties in this job classification.