Regional Senior Research Officer for East and Southeast Africa, based in Kampala (Link For Exte

We are currently looking for a Senior Research Officer to join our Research Quality Assurance Unit in Kampala, Uganda (IMPACT’s Multi-country hub for East & Southeast Africa).

Division: HQ Programs, Communications and Research

Reporting to: Manager of HQ Research Quality Assurance Unit

Location: Kampala, Uganda

Duration: 9 months (with potential for extension)

Start date: September 2026.

The Programmes, Communications and Research (PCR) teams at IMPACT HQ were established to ensure the organisation continues to deliver high-impact, high-quality, research programmes through user-centered design, implementation of core quality standards, country implementation support, and amplifying impact through effective communications and advocacy. This is supported by robust internal systems for data, GIS and MEAL.

Within this set‑up, the Research Quality Assurance (RQA) Unit acts as a “guardian” of research quality, ethics, and compliance within IMPACT. This means:

• Ensuring that all IMPACT teams (global and country) have the knowledge, tools and capacities for the consistent production of rigorous, credible, and responsible evidence across different contexts; and
• Continuously strengthening research methods, tools, processes through a learning-based approach.

Through these functions, the RQA Unit will contribute towards achieving Objective 2 - Pioneering Research Excellence - within IMPACT’s 2030 Strategic Framework. To help achieve this, the Regional Senior Research Officer (SRO) will play a key role in ensuring research implementation is meeting or exceeding IMPACT’s quality standards, providing country teams with technical guidance, peer review, and learning support across different stages of the research implementation cycle.

The Regional SRO will be based in Kampala, Uganda and will be focusing their support for country operations within this regional portfolio. This will require occasional travel to the countries in the region, to work directly with specific teams, as and when requested.

• Act as the HQ RQA Unit focal point for the East and Southeast African region and provide day-to-day support and advice to country teams on different stages of research implementation, while ensuring proper documentation of all key outputs
• Support the transition to more streamlined and decentralised quality assurance processes at the country level, including the development of reviewer tools and training, and any other required capacity strengthening or learning support
• [In collaboration with Global Programme teams] Provide technical guidance and support for research planning and methodology design, primarily for quantitative research
• [In collaboration with Global Programme teams] Provide peer review support for research design, quantitative data processing and analysis, and narrative information products
• Flag and discuss relevant risks with Unit Manager in a timely manner
• Provide other research implementation support as needed, including temporary in-country deployments (“surge support”) to country teams – this could represent up to 25% of the total working time under this contract.

• Support with the development, maintenance of relevant learning solutions (e.g. guidance notes, online courses, quarterly webinars, tailored training sessions) to ensure uptake and application of the Research Toolkit across all teams, primarily within the East and Southeast African region
• [In collaboration with MEAL team] Contribute to the regular review and consolidation of research-related lessons learned and best practices, including in the implementation of regular ‘Quality Monitoring’ exercises to identify, address key gaps vis‑à‑vis IMPACT’s Research Quality Framework
• Identify and integrate required improvements to research processes and guidelines
• [On an ad-hoc, by need basis only] Support research implementation in other regions / countries as directed by Unit Manager and based on the team’s workflow and/ or organisational priorities.

It is important to note that this delocalized position is considered a pilot therefore the exact scope…