ALX Africa

Role Description Are you a rigorous impact leader who can build trusted evidence systems at scale? Do you know how to combine world-class evaluation methods with the speed and pragmatism of a high-growth organization? Are you equally comfortable discussing RCTs, sampling, confidence intervals, and causal inference as you are working with product, data, fundraising, and executive teams to turn evidence into better decisions, stronger donor confidence, and more powerful learner outcomes? Do you want to help build one of the most trusted, scalable impact engines in education and workforce development? ALX and the broader African Leadership Group (ALG) are entering a new phase of growth. We have demonstrated the ability to scale rapidly, reach learners across the continent, and generate meaningful early outcomes. We are looking for a Head of Impact to build the rigorous, scalable, externally credible impact engine that will support ALG’s next chapter. This role will lead the evolution of our Impact function from a reporting and monitoring function into a world-class evidence, learning, validation, and impact intelligence capability. The mandate is ambitious: to make ALG one of the most trusted organizations in education and workforce development for impact quality, transparency, data integrity, and external validation. This leader will own the systems, methods, partnerships, collateral, and team needed to make our impact claims audit-ready, donor-ready, decision-ready, and, where appropriate, publication-ready. They will help the organization move beyond short-term placement statistics toward a deeper understanding of income lift, economic mobility, career progression, promotions, entrepreneurship, household uplift, family support, resilience, and long-term opportunity. The right candidate will bring deep expertise in rigorous impact methodology, including RCTs, quasi-experimental methods, longitudinal studies, sampling, survey design, and causal inference, while also being able to operate in ALG’s fast-moving, entrepreneurial environment. This is not a slow academic research role, nor is it a traditional M&E compliance role. It is a senior builder role for someone who can bring rigor without rigidity, structure without bureaucracy, and external credibility without slowing down innovation. Qualifications - 10+ years of relevant experience in impact evaluation, applied research, economics, workforce development, education outcomes, labor market analytics, social impact strategy, data science, or a related field. - Deep expertise in rigorous impact methodology, including RCTs, quasi-experimental methods, causal inference, longitudinal studies, tracer studies, sampling, survey design, mixed-methods research, and evaluation design. - Experience designing, managing, commissioning, or partnering on external evaluations with academic researchers, research organizations, foundations, multilaterals, or independent evaluators. - Strong understanding of education-to-employment, workforce development, economic mobility, youth employment, entrepreneurship, income lift, household outcomes, or labor market transitions. - Strong data fluency, including comfort working with dashboards, data pipelines, data warehouses, CRM systems, survey platforms, product analytics, and data quality processes. - Ability to translate complex research and methodology into clear, credible materials for donors, boards, executives, governments, employers, and public audiences. - Experience working cross-functionally with product, data, engineering, operations, learning, fundraising, communications, and senior leadership teams. - Strong written communication skills, with the ability to produce methodology notes, donor briefs, board materials, impact reports, white papers, and thought leadership. - Excellent judgment on evidence quality, including when to use gold-standard evaluation methods, when to use faster pragmatic approaches, and how to communicate uncertainty or limitations. - Proven ability to lead teams, build systems, manage ambiguity, and operate effectively in fast-moving, entrepreneurial environments. - Strong ethical grounding around data privacy, consent, responsible AI, equity, transparency, and the risks of overclaiming impact. - A bias toward action, paired with the discipline to build systems that are credible, auditable, and trusted. Requirements - Experience at or with organizations such as J-PAL, IDInsight, Opportunity Insights, Jobs for the Future, Burning Glass / Lightcast, One Acre Fund, GiveDirectly, 60 Decibels, IPA, MDRC, Mathematica, World Bank, major foundations, or high-growth social enterprises. - Advanced degree in economics, public policy, statistics, education, data science, development studies, social science, or another quantitative or evaluation-focused field. - Experience in Africa or other emerging markets, especially in education, skilling, workforce development, entrepreneurship, youth employment, or economic mobility. - Experience building or scaling an impact, MERL, research, data, evidence, or learning function inside a growing organization. - Experience supporting major fundraising, donor diligence, institutional reporting, or evidence-building for large philanthropic, bilateral, multilateral, or government funders. - Experience with labor market data, employer-reported outcomes, wage data, financial transaction data, LinkedIn or other digital trace data, and/or longitudinal learner tracking. - Familiarity with AI-enabled data systems, product analytics, data governance, technology-enabled monitoring and evaluation, or impact intelligence platforms. - Experience publishing or contributing to externally credible research, white papers, field-building reports, policy briefs, or public-facing thought leadership. - Experience translating evaluation findings into program design, learner support interventions, product improvements, or strategic decisions. - Familiarity with workforce credentials, skills-based hiring, digital skilling, AI-era labor market shifts, or education-to-employment pathways. Benefits - Opportunity to lead a high-impact team in a fast-growing organization. - Engagement in meaningful work that contributes to the development of future leaders. - Collaborative and innovative work environment. - Professional development opportunities. Person Specification/Attributes - Courage: Willingness to speak up, challenge the status quo, and embrace new challenges. - Humility: Openness to learning, seeking help when needed, and a focus on serving others. - Adventure: A passion for setting ambitious goals, tackling difficult tasks, and finding joy in the journey. - Initiative: Proactive problem-solving, a sense of ownership, and a willingness to go above and beyond. - Resilience: The ability to bounce back from setbacks, persevere through challenges, and emerge stronger. This role requires strong self-management, proactive communication, and the ability to collaborate effectively in a distributed, cross-functional environment. The successful candidate should be comfortable working across teams and time zones, using digital collaboration tools, and maintaining momentum in a remote-first setting. Disclaimer: ALX Africa does not charge fees or request payments at any stage of hiring. Be cautious of anyone claiming otherwise. Report suspicious activity to hiring@alxafrica.com