Senior Research Manager
Based in Ghana, Kenya, or the United States
(to begin as soon as possible, preferably no later than November 2024)
1. About Aquaya
The Aquaya Institute (‘Aquaya’) is a nonprofit research and consulting organization dedicated to advancing global health through universal access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). We deliver critical insights, data, and tools to support informed policy, program, and financing decisions. This knowledge helps to secure safe water and sanitation for vulnerable populations, improving human health and well-being.
Aquaya’s portfolio spans public health, economics, technology development, and social entrepreneurship in over 20 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. We have published or contributed to over 40 peer-reviewed research articles and produced numerous other reports and publications.
Aquaya maintains offices in Nairobi, Kenya and Accra, Ghana. Staff members are also in the US, France, Uganda, and Ethiopia. Many of our projects are carried out in collaboration with academic research groups and expert consultants.
2. About the position
We are recruiting for a Senior Research Manager to lead ongoing research programs. This full-time position is based either in Ghana, or Kenya, or the United States and requires the ability to travel across Africa. The Senior Research Manager will be responsible for managing research program activities, including, but not limited to:
Research Management:
Program/Project Management:
Oversee execution of contracts/MoUs with partners, sub-grantees, and contractors.
Organize and tactfully lead partner meetings and manage partner communication.
Prepare summary presentations to report to funders.
The Senior Research Manager will support a variety of research projects Aquaya is working on, such as:
EnWASH
USAID/Ghana is executing a 5-year activity called Exchanging Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (EnWASH), being implemented by Global Communities. The program's overall goal is to increase the use of sustainable, equitable, quality district-wide WASH services in communities and health center facilities (HCF) and increase the adoption of sustainable district-wide WASH practices in households, communities, and HCF.
Aquaya is tasked with leading all research and evaluation throughout the study and across the various partners.
Water Quality Assurance Fund
Aquaya launched a Water Quality Assurance Fund (‘Assurance Fund’) in 2020 to encourage a central laboratory in Ghana to provide water quality testing to nearby rural water systems. The Assurance Fund primarily guarantees the laboratory will be paid, even if water systems receiving testing services default on their payments. The Assurance Fund mitigates the risk of non-payment and encourages the laboratory to expand its services beyond urban areas. The Assurance Fund thus provides a mechanism for addressing the ongoing barriers to water testing (financial, logistical, technical) in low-resource settings that are often ignored by traditional capacity-building efforts (such as the one-time provision of testing kits to water systems).
Aquaya has received funding to expand the Assurance Fund to:
URBAN WASH
Urban Resilience by Building partnerships and Applying New evidence in WASH (URBAN WASH) will generate evidence for more impactful, sustainable, equitable, and climate-resilient WASH and water resource management (WRM) policy and programming in urban and peri-urban areas. URBAN WASH will also support high-impact WASH and WRM interventions through collaboration with researchers, the private sector, civil society groups, government bodies, and multilateral institutions.
The program will conduct research on three primary topics:
3. Criteria for the position
The following qualifications are necessary for this position:
We are also looking for the following skills and attributes:
4. Compensation and Benefits
This is a full-time position with an initial 3-month probationary period. Aquaya offers competitive salaries that are commensurate with experience. Benefits include medical insurance and enrolment in a pension plan.
5. To apply
Please submit your resume via e-mail to jobs@aquaya.org and a thoughtful cover letter. Once your resume is received, there will be an additional screening survey and activity. This position will be open until filled.
Please explain why you are interested in Aquaya’s mission and activities in your cover letter. Please also tell us why your skills, background, and accomplishments make you the ideal candidate for this position, specifically highlighting your experience. Please note that we will only consider applications with a cover letter. In your e-mail subject line, please specify “Senior Research Manager 2024”. No phone calls, please.
Aquaya provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.
This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.
Senior Research Manager
Based in Ghana, Kenya, or the United States
(to begin as soon as possible, preferably no later than November 2024)
1. About Aquaya
The Aquaya Institute (‘Aquaya’) is a nonprofit research and consulting organization dedicated to advancing global health through universal access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). We deliver critical insights, data, and tools to support informed policy, program, and financing decisions. This knowledge helps to secure safe water and sanitation for vulnerable populations, improving human health and well-being.
Aquaya’s portfolio spans public health, economics, technology development, and social entrepreneurship in over 20 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. We have published or contributed to over 40 peer-reviewed research articles and produced numerous other reports and publications.
Aquaya maintains offices in Nairobi, Kenya and Accra, Ghana. Staff members are also in the US, France…
Fluency in English required.
Fluency in English required.
Please submit your resume via e-mail to jobs@aquaya.org and a thoughtful cover letter. Once your resume is received, there will be an additional screening survey and activity. This position will be open until filled.
Please explain why you are interested in Aquaya’s mission and activities in your cover letter. Please also tell us why your skills, background, and accomplishments make you the ideal candidate for this position, specifically highlighting your experience. Please note that we will only consider applications with a cover letter. In your e-mail subject line, please specify “Senior Research Manager 2024”. No phone calls, please.
Please submit your resume via e-mail to jobs@aquaya.org and a thoughtful cover letter. Once your resume is received, there will be an additional screening survey and activity. This…