(Senior) Director, Global MLE Function

Evidence Action

6d•Hybrid

About The Position

Evidence Action is seeking a senior leader to own the strategic growth and transformation dimensions of its Monitoring, Learning, and Evaluation (MLE) function. This role sits at the intersection of technical rigor, organizational leadership, and external credibility. The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in program evaluation and evidence systems, strategic instincts to frame and solve complex organizational problems, a growth-oriented mindset to embrace ambiguity and transformation, and the interpersonal sophistication to lead through change in a matrixed global organization. This position reports to one of our Executive Vice Presidents, Programs and works closely with our Global Leadership Team (GLT) and a Director on the team. Evidence Action was built on the belief that data should drive every decision, from how programs are designed and delivered, to how resources are allocated and scaled. Our MLE function has built a strong monitoring and evaluation function across our global program portfolio, generating the evidence that underpins both program delivery and organizational decision-making. The recent Dispensers for Safe Water (DSW) monitoring issues revealed the need to strengthen this foundation across our complex global portfolio - particularly when navigating the trade-offs between rigor, cost, and speed. As we continue to iterate and our ambitions grow to scale proven programs, we are investing in senior MLE leadership to match that scale. We have identified strategic priorities that require dedicated, experienced leadership to drive them forward: including an MLE function review, AI opportunity spotting, and strengthened board engagement on evidence and learning.

Requirements

10+ years of progressive experience in monitoring, evaluation, and learning in a global development context, including experience working within an organization that both directly implements programs and provides technical assistance to governments, with 5+ years, ideally in a senior leadership role within a matrixed organization.
PhD or a comparable mix of advanced training and high-end technical experience in a relevant field (economics, statistics, public health, social science, or related)
Expertise in program evaluation design and methodology; including impact evaluations, process evaluations, and mixed-methods approaches with real-world experience managing large-scale evaluations from design through dissemination
Demonstrates a track record of developing Directors or senior leaders and strengthening leadership bench capacity. Can provide strategic direction to senior technical leads, set performance benchmarks, while empowering their domain ownership.
Brings strong existing networks with MLE/ leadership members of peer and partner organizations (philanthropies, evidence led implementation organizations in our regions, governments).
Trade offs between academic vs implementation, we will go with implementation experience, coming from an evidence first space (IDi, IPA, Nudge, Give Directly, PATH, CHAI, etc).
Embraces ambiguity to make transformational changes we need. They are an Engine 2 thinker – they focus on innovating for tomorrow’s needs, exploring new markets, and taking bold risks while communicating trade offs.
Can switch communication styles between external and internal MLE specialists, donors, board, and non-technical audiences to have effective conversions and drive decisions.

Nice To Haves

In field experience is highly desirable.
Publications, conference presentations, or other external thought leadership are secondary positive signals.

Responsibilities

Lead organizational MLE strategy
Own and drive Evidence Action's approach to evaluation for early stage programs, including design and oversight of major evaluations for pilots and quality assurance of evaluation methodology and findings. As programs transition to scale, ensure early stage MLE findings inform at-scale MLE, in coordination with the Director.
Provide strategic oversight of at-scale program MLE through management of the Director, ensuring alignment between at-scale program MLE and the broader MLE function strategy.
Lead the MLE Review process, driving organizational learning from findings and ensuring recommendations inform function-wide improvements, including function-level quality assurance standards.
Develop and maintain centralized MLE systems for sharing, tracking, and applying evidence internally and externally, including at the regional level.
Lead the development of Evidence Action's learning agenda, identifying the highest-value learning questions across the program portfolio and ensuring findings inform program design and organizational decision-making.
Provide strategic MLE oversight for new program development and accelerator processes, ensuring MLE is embedded from the earliest stages and assess how best to resource and structure this work within the MLE Function.
Identify and address cross-program MLE blind spots and systemic risks, translating complex challenges into clear diagnoses and actionable recommendations for senior leadership.
Champion the strategic use of data, technology, and AI to strengthen MLE and organizational decision-making.
Serve as the primary senior point of contact for regional MLE leaders on function-wide coordination, ways of working, and structural challenges, working to strengthen the overall MLE function across global and regional teams.
Serve as a senior thought leader and external champion for Evidence Action’s MLE Function with donors, board members, government partners, and peer organizations.
Oversee the approach to external reviewers, vendors, and consultants across the MLE Function, critically evaluating their recommendations while maintaining strong, constructive relationships, and working in close coordination with the MLE leaders on external partnerships they are responsible for.
Partner closely with Cost-Effectiveness and other internal evidence functions to ensure coherence across Evidence Action's evidence approach.
Lead board and donor level communications on MLE progress, methodology, and organizational learning.
Provide direction and leadership to the MLE team, including direct management of a Director, who leads at-scale program MLE and team management.
Set strategic direction and priorities for the team and help foster a high-performing team culture.
Develop team members' capabilities and build a platform for ongoing professional growth.
Oversee the Global MLE budget, maintaining visibility across global and regional MLE teams and making resourcing recommendations aligned to organizational priorities.
Collaborate with program and organizational leadership to plan resources, recruit for strategic bandwidth within the MLE team, and develop a sustainable resourcing model and long-term structural vision for the MLE Function.