Reporting to:
Strategy, Evidence & Impact Director
No. Subordinates:
Direct Reports:3
Indirect Reports: NA
Sector:
Strategy, Evidence & Impact Sector
Main Job Purpose:
Lead the SF’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning teams so that the three functions operate as one coherent system, ensuring common standards, strong evidence quality, and systematic use of findings for program improvement, strategic decision-making, accountability, and organizational learning.
Overall Accountabilities and Responsibilities:
- Under the leadership of the SEI Director, manage the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) teams and set the integrated MEL direction, common principles and practices, evidence taxonomy, and annual priorities and consolidated work plan in alignment with the SEI sector strategy and SF’s organizational priorities.
- Lead the integration of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning so that routine performance evidence, evaluative evidence and organizational learning reinforce one another.
- Provide technical oversight and quality assurance for results frameworks, indicators, monitoring plans, evaluation designs, learning agenda and evidence products.
- Lead cross-program and cross-functional evidence synthesis for portfolio, executive and governance review, drawing on outputs already quality-assured by the relevant functional manager.
- Establish mechanisms that ensure evidence is discussed, understood and used by programmatic sectors, management and relevant governance forums.
- Monitor the performance, coherence and resourcing of the MEL system, identify gaps, duplication and bottlenecks and agree on corrective action with the relevant manager.
- Lead planning processes across Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning, including classification of indicators, baselines, studies, evidence products and follow-up responsibilities.
- Supervise and coach the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning managers and hold them accountable for final technical sign-off within their functions.
- Coordinate with the Strategy Manager so that validated MEL evidence informs strategic reviews, OKRs, portfolio choices and organizational priorities.
- Represent SF’s MEL approach with relevant research, development and evidence partners and promote credible, ethical and useful evidence practice.
- Develop and manage the MEL annual work plan and budget, monitor delivery and manage priorities and resources.
- Manage team performance, provide coaching and feedback, identify development needs and contribute to recruitment and succession planning.
- Uphold common standards for data responsibility, ethics, safeguarding and research integrity and ensure that the sector is upholding rigor and an adaptive, evidence-based approach to research.
- Represent the sector in external meetings, conferences and engagements with partner NGOs, government bodies and private-sector entities, and maintain effective relationships with key strategic stakeholders.
Position Relationship with Other Parties:
- Internal Relationships: All internal sectors
- External Relationships: Research and evidence partners, partner NGOs, universities, consultants, development partners, and relevant institutions.
Decision Making Authority:
Authorized to make technical and managerial decisions across Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning within the approved SEI strategy, policies, work plan, and delegated budget. Provides integrated MEL quality assurance and technical clearance for cross-functional MEL standards and consolidated outputs before escalation to the SEI Director. May resolve routine mandate disputes and recommend changes to priorities, methods, resourcing, and external support. May recommend changes to MEL priorities, resourcing, methodologies and external technical support. Financial or contractual commitments, material changes to approved program or organizational frameworks, and significant legal, safeguarding, ethical, data privacy, research integrity, or reputational matters must be escalated in accordance with SF procedures.
Required Education:
Master’s degree in Economics, Statistics, Development Studies, Public Policy, Public/Business Administration, Social Sciences, or a related field.
Required Experience:
12+ years of relevant experience, including demonstrated technical leadership, significant experience in high-level communication and presentation, advanced data proficiency, and substantial people and project management experience.
Required Technical Skills:
- Significant experience and technical expertise in MEL systems, Theories of Change, OKRs, and results frameworks.
- Strong command of MS Office and analytical, research, reporting, data collection, analysis, and visualization tools appropriate for data representation.
Required Languages:
- Arabic and English proficiency. Including report writing, strong research, and presentation skills.
Functional Competencies:
- MEL systems leadership
- Results-based management
- Theory of Change and results frameworks
- Evidence synthesis and utilization
- Data quality governance
- Evaluation and monitoring standards
- Learning integration
Sawiris Foundation Competency Framework:
- Advanced Planning and Organizing Skills:
Plans complex work and resources, anticipates risks and dependencies, aligns priorities across stakeholders, and guides others to deliver effectively.
- Advanced Communication & Networking Skills:
Communicates effectively in complex or sensitive situations, builds strategic relationships, and influences diverse stakeholders through clear and credible messages.
- Advanced Teamwork Skills:
Promotes cross-functional collaboration, resolves complex team challenges constructively, and strengthens collective ownership and performance.
- Advanced Adherence to Principles and Values Skills:
Models SF principles in complex situations, reinforces ethical and accountable practice, and guides others in resolving difficult values or compliance issues.
- Advanced Influencing Skills:
Influences complex stakeholder decisions, builds alignment across differing interests, and negotiates effectively to advance agreed organizational priorities.
- Advanced Engaged Leadership Skills:
Provides technical or people leadership, creates accountability for high-quality delivery, coaches others, and actively supports team capability and engagement.
- Advanced Visioning and Strategic Thinking Skills:
Translates organizational priorities and external trends into strategic options, anticipates longer-term implications, and helps shape functional or cross-sector direction.
- Advanced Decision-Making Skills:
Makes timely decisions in complex or ambiguous situations, balances evidence, risk, and stakeholder implications, and guides others on appropriate judgment and escalation
Work Environment:
This position is primarily office-based and includes field visits and external meetings as required by the role and in accordance with Sawiris Foundation policies.
