Research Operations Manager

Your tasks

Portfolio Timeline & Resourcing Management

• Maintain a consolidated view of active studies/projects across Product Research and Implementation and ImpactResearch, tracking timelines, dependencies, and team capacity.
• Coordinate sprint-aligned planning for Product Research and fieldwork-driven scheduling (data collection windows, enumerator/partner logistics) for Impact and Implementation Research, with understanding of varying team cadences.
• Flag resourcing conflicts or at-risk timelines to the Head of Department early, with proposed options.
• Accountable for portfolio-level delivery visibility.

Budget & Stakeholder Management

• Manage budget planning, tracking, and reporting for all research streams.
• Own vendor and partner-contract coordination (survey/usability tools, enumerator rosters, external data-sharing agreements), in partnership with Operations/Finance as needed.
• Accountable for budget accuracy and timely vendor management across the research portfolio.
• Accountable for donor reporting needs and timelines- owns the reporting processes and outputs in collaboration with Comms and Finance.

Process, Tooling, Administration & Compliance

• Build and maintain shared research operations infrastructure: intake processes, reporting templates, documentation standards, and tooling that serve both streams.
• Support administrative coordination for fieldwork logistics (facility/partner scheduling, ethics/IRB submission tracking) and for product-side research administration (participant recruitment scheduling, tooling access)
• Ensure legal and ethical compliance - manage data sharing and storage, in full compliance with all legal requirements.
• Accountable for research operations being repeatable and well-documented.

Cross-Functional Coordination & Reporting

• Serve as the operational point of contact between Research and other departments (Product, Tech, Data, Finance/Ops) on scheduling, budget, and process.
• Prepare routine portfolio-level status reporting for the Head of Department and Technical Leadership, flagging risks and challenges early.
• Accountable for keeping both streams' stakeholders informed and coordinated.
• Accountable for timely internal communication of research insights organization–wide, improving the visibility of research learnings.
• Support the development of external research communications, championing external visibility.

Portfolio Timeline & Resourcing Management

• Maintain a consolidated view of active studies/projects across Product Research and Implementation and ImpactResearch, tracking timelines, dependencies, and team capacity.
• Coordinate sprint-aligned planning for Product Research and fieldwork-driven scheduling (data collection windows, enumerator/partner logistics) for Impact and Implementation Research, with understanding of varying team cadences.
• Flag resourcing conflicts or at-risk timelines to the Head of Department early, with proposed options.
• Accountable for portfolio-level delivery visibility.

Budget & Stakeholder Management

• Manage budget planning, tracking, and reporting for all research streams.
• Own vendor and partner-contract coordination (survey/usability tools, enumerator rosters, external data-sharing agreements), in partnership with Operations/Finance as needed.
• Accountable for budget accuracy and timely vendor management across the research portfolio.
• Accountable for donor reporting needs and timelines- owns the reporting processes and outputs in collaboration with Comms and Finance.

Process, Tooling, Administration & Compliance

• Build and maintain shared research operations infrastructure: intake processes, reporting templates, documentation standards, and tooling that serve both streams.
• Support administrative coordination for fieldwork logistics (facility/partner scheduling, ethics/IRB submission tracking) and for product-side research administration (participant recruitment scheduling, tooling access)
• Ensure legal and ethical compliance - manage data sharing and storage, in full compliance with all legal requirements.
• Accountable for research operations being repeatable and well-documented.

Cross-Functional Coordination & Reporting

• Serve as the operational point of contact between Research and other departments (Product, Tech, Data, Finance/Ops) on scheduling, budget, and process.
• Prepare routine portfolio-level status reporting for the Head of Department and Technical Leadership, flagging risks and challenges early.
• Accountable for keeping both streams' stakeholders informed and coordinated.
• Accountable for timely internal communication of research insights organization–wide, improving the visibility of research learnings.
• Support the development of external research communications, championing external visibility.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree required in a relevant field (for example public health, social sciences, business or management)
• 5+ years in program/project management, research operations, or operations management; direct research operations experience.

Skills and Competencies

• Functional understanding of research methods and requirements, including study design, data quality, and interpretation and reporting
• Demonstrated experience managing budgets, vendors, and timelines across multiple concurrent workstreams
• Comfort operating across two different delivery cadences (fast-cycle/product-style and longer fieldwork/donor-driven cycles)
• Strong organizational and cross-functional communication skills; experience building or maintaining shared operational processes/tooling

Desirable

• Experience managing donor-funded projects and reporting, preferably within global health, maternal and newborn health, or digital health.
• Experience with research ethics and regulatory processes in Kenya (for example IRB and NACOSTI submissions) and with data protection requirements.
• Project Management certification.

• Bachelor's degree required in a relevant field (for example public health, social sciences, business or management)
• 5+ years in program/project management, research operations, or operations management; direct research operations experience.

Skills and Competencies

• Functional understanding of research methods and requirements, including study design, data quality, and interpretation and reporting
• Demonstrated experience managing budgets, vendors, and timelines across multiple concurrent workstreams
• Comfort operating across two different delivery cadences (fast-cycle/product-style and longer fieldwork/donor-driven cycles)
• Strong organizational and cross-functional communication skills; experience building or maintaining shared operational processes/tooling

Desirable

• Experience managing donor-funded projects and reporting, preferably within global health, maternal and newborn health, or digital health.
• Experience with research ethics and regulatory processes in Kenya (for example IRB and NACOSTI submissions) and with data protection requirements.
• Project Management certification.