Description:

The Head Research & Insights will serve as the intellectual anchor for LCPLs product and solutions function driving the research vision, strategy, and ecosystem intelligence that powers every major initiative.

This role demands a leader who can bridge policy, practice, and product, shaping LCPLs research agenda to support business development, solution design, and program delivery.

The person will institutionalize research as a capability not a support by creating frameworks, processes, and outputs that continuously inform decision-making, impact design, and credibility building.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Research Leadership:

- Define LCPLs overarching research and evidence strategy aligned with organizational priorities and government partnerships.

- Build a cross-domain research roadmap covering education, skilling, livelihoods, tech-in-governance, and social inclusion.

- Establish thought leadership and position LCPL as a credible voice in national and state-level public policy conversations.

Research Design & Methodology:

- Develop standardized research frameworks for primary, secondary, and mixed-method studies.

- Lead needs assessments, baseline and endline studies, and impact evaluations for ongoing programs.

- Ensure methodological rigor and ethical standards across all research activities.

- Oversee the creation of sampling frameworks, toolkits, and field protocols.

Knowledge & Evidence Systems:

- Build and manage LCPLs internal knowledge architecture: repositories, dashboards, and evidence libraries.

- Partner with Product and Tech teams to embed real-time data and learning feedback loops within program delivery systems.

- Curate knowledge products (whitepapers, policy notes, sector reports, research briefs) for internal and external dissemination.

- Create taxonomies and templates for evidence capture at every stage of project lifecycle.

Intelligence & Insights:

- Conduct continuous secondary research across government schemes, tenders, budgets, and global best practices.

- Produce monthly and quarterly intelligence reports highlighting trends, benchmarks, and emerging opportunities.

- Support Business Development (BD) and Product teams with data-driven insights for bid proposals, DPRs, and concept notes.

- Track competitor research, innovations, and technology interventions relevant to LCPLs focus areas.

Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement:

- Engage with government departments, research bodies, multilateral agencies, and think tanks for partnerships and joint studies.

- Represent LCPL at high-level policy discussions, panels, and national forums.

- Co-develop evaluation frameworks and evidence systems with client ministries and donor partners.

Team Building & Capability Development:

- Build and lead a multidisciplinary research team analysts, sector specialists, data scientists, and documentation experts.

- Create pathways for capacity development through training, mentorship, and collaboration.

- Drive a research culture that prizes intellectual honesty, precision, and curiosity.

Quality Assurance & Publication:

- Oversee quality standards for all reports, studies, and knowledge products.

- Ensure research outputs are publication-ready and aligned with LCPLs editorial and brand guidelines.

- Review data accuracy, citation integrity, and narrative quality.

- Drive dissemination of LCPLs research through journals, conferences, and media channels.