Executive Vice President, Evidence

Evidence Action•Washington, DC

2d•$210,000 - $230,000

About The Position

The Executive Vice President (EVP), Evidence will lead the strategic growth and transformation of Evidence Action’s Monitoring, Learning, and Evaluation (MLE) teams, Cost-Effectiveness function, and epidemiology capability. Reporting directly to the CEO and serving on the Global Leadership Team, the EVP will shape organizational strategy and ensure evidence informs program design, delivery, resource allocation, and scale decisions. The role combines two mandates: leading evidence generation and use throughout the program lifecycle in close collaboration with program teams, while independently assessing evidence quality and raising concerns when necessary. The EVP will integrate MLE, cost-effectiveness modeling, and epidemiology into a coherent evidence function; strengthen the systems, standards, and teams behind the function; and provide evidence-based recommendations on program iteration, scale-up, and wind-down. The position is location-flexible, with possible bases including Washington, DC, elsewhere in the United States, or a country where Evidence Action has an office. Field presence is essential, with approximately 20–30% travel, much of it to program sites, and more travel expected in the first year. For US-based roles, the pay range is $210,000–$230,000.

Requirements

A PhD in economics, epidemiology, biostatistics, or a related quantitative field, or equivalent experience.
A strong record in impact evaluation using randomized and quasi-experimental methods, survey measurement and data quality, and cost-effectiveness or decision modeling.
Ability to critically assess cost-effectiveness models, evaluations, and monitoring reports, identify what drives their conclusions and where they are weak, and determine what further evidence is needed.
Willingness and ability to identify problems, surface uncomfortable findings to senior leadership, and recommend changes when evidence calls for them.
Experience leading technical teams and maintaining quality assurance in low- and middle-income country contexts, with a grounding in operational rigor.
Experience with program implementation or large field evaluations or surveys in low- and middle-income countries, and understanding of how programs and data collection operate on the ground.
Ability to lead teams and organizational change, delegate across a broad scope, and build trust across teams and cultures.
Ability to travel approximately 20–30%, with field presence and program-site travel; more travel is expected during the first year.

Nice To Haves

Experience with GiveWell-style cost-effectiveness analysis, including sensitivity and uncertainty analysis.
Experience designing monitoring systems with independent verification, such as back-checks and re-surveys.
Experience running experiments at scale, ideally in partnership with governments.
Experience leading teams of PhD-level analysts.

Responsibilities

Oversee the technical and strategic work of MLE, cost-effectiveness modeling, and epidemiology teams, integrating their work into a coherent evidence function.
Set a cross-program evidence strategy with the Global Leadership Team and program leads, identifying priority questions and appropriate methods.
Make evidence more visible and actionable across the organization, improve cost-effectiveness tools, and shorten feedback loops between realized costs and impact and projected impact.
Champion evidence generation across the program lifecycle and ensure lessons inform program design and scaling decisions.
Institutionalize monitoring and learning, including A/B testing, to support continued program improvement.
Determine where Evidence Action should generate evidence itself and where other partners are better placed to do so.
Personally review the analysis behind major decisions, including the origins, dependencies, and limitations of key figures.
Establish and enforce minimum standards for handling weak evidence, uncertainty, and assumptions in impact modeling.
Design systems for consistent evidence review across the portfolio, including program stage gates and structured reviews at key decision points.
Own data quality assurance independently from evidence generation by setting methodological standards, commissioning re-surveys and integrity checks, and surfacing issues transparently.
Provide evidence-based recommendations on program scale-up, iteration, and wind-down in partnership with program and regional leaders.
Build internal technical management capacity and lead a multidisciplinary function through consolidation and change.
Identify opportunities for AI and modern data tools to strengthen evidence generation and decision-making at scale.
Represent Evidence Action externally with donors, the board, and technical partners on evidence principles, methods, and evaluation arrangements.
Champion transparent learning, including sharing what does not work with internal and relevant external stakeholders.