Assistant Manager – Research

You will be part of the largest skills development fund in Pakistan. PSDF’s purpose is to shape the future and well-being of our poor and vulnerable youth by giving them access to skills training of the highest standard so they can find sustainable employment and income-generating opportunities in Pakistan and beyond.

The impact we have created

PSDF started its operations in the 4 poorest districts of Punjab. Since 2016, the geographical remit has expanded to the entire 36 districts of Punjab and other districts of Sindh, Balochistan & KPK. PSDF has trained almost 600,000 underprivileged youth across Punjab. These graduates have been trained in approximately 250+ demand-driven and market-relevant trades across 8 sectors.

Diversified and challenging team

At PSDF, our team constantly works in a fast-paced and challenging environment and needs someone who can match and deliver at our pace. We are looking for a passionate and talented individual who can actively pursue and drive the agenda of PSDF and is always ready to take up new challenges.

The objective of this position is to lead the design and delivery of PSDF’s research, evaluation and knowledge agenda, generating credible evidence on labour market demand, programme outcomes and impact. This position will commission and manage baselines, tracer studies and impact evaluations, produce demand-side analysis to inform programme design and PC-1 development, and translate findings into knowledge products and policy-relevant recommendations for management, government and development partners.

The position will also supply the evidence base underpinning PSDF’s proposals, donor engagement and thought leadership in skills development in Punjab.

• Prepare and implement the assigned functional operating plan and annual research agenda to support departmental and organizational targets.
• Design and manage evaluations of PSDF programmes – baselines, mid-programme and tracer studies, and impact evaluations – covering evaluation design, sampling strategy, survey instruments, quality assurance protocols and analysis plans.
• Develop Terms of Reference for research assignments and manage the procurement, onboarding and technical oversight of consultants, research firms and academic partners, including review of inception reports, tools, fieldwork reports and final deliverables.
• Establish credible baselines for all newly launched programmes, ensuring tools, sampling frames and data readiness are in place at or before class initiation to enable outcome and impact measurement.
• Provide evidence inputs to programme design – labour market and demand analysis, sector prioritization and beneficiary segmentation – to support PC-1s, concept notes, scheme design and presentations to management and government forums.
• Produce high-quality knowledge products – case studies, research and policy briefs, sector studies and blogs – and coordinate with Marketing & Communications on review, design and dissemination.
• Maintain and analyse PSDF’s research and outcome datasets, including tracer, baseline and MIS data, and develop dashboards that make findings usable for management decision-making.
• Contribute research inputs, evidence and analysis to proposals, concept notes, donor engagement and reporting obligations to development partners.
• Coordinate with M&E, Programme and Procurement teams on data collection planning, enumerator training, field logistics and data quality assurance, and ensure 100% adherence to research, procurement and audit SOPs.
• Ensure ethical research practice across all studies – informed consent, data privacy and safeguarding – with particular care where research involves women, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups.
• Organize and represent the research function at dissemination events, validation workshops and technical working groups; supervise and mentor assigned research staff.
• Assist in any other activities, duties and responsibilities assigned to him/her from time to time.

Qualification & Experience:

• Master’s degree in Economics, Development Studies, Public Policy, Statistics, Social Sciences or a related discipline, or BS (Foreign University) or equivalent, from an HEC recognized institution.
• Formal training or certification in monitoring and evaluation, impact evaluation or applied statistics will be preferred.
• Minimum 5 years of relevant experience in applied research, evaluation or policy analysis in the development sector, including experience of managing a team and of managing externally contracted studies end to end. Demonstrated experience in designing and managing surveys – sampling, instrument design, enumerator training, fieldwork oversight and data quality assurance – and in tracer studies, baselines or impact evaluations.
• Working knowledge of Pakistan’s TVET and labour market landscape and of national data sources (LFS, PSLM, PBS, NAVTTC/TEVTA MIS). Familiarity with results frameworks, logframes and donor-funded research requirements. Experience of developing Terms of Reference and managing the procurement of research consultants and firms will be preferred.

Required Skills:

• Strong quantitative and qualitative research skills, including sampling, questionnaire and discussion guide design, significance testing and basic regression analysis.
• Proficiency in at least one statistical package (Stata, R, SPSS or Python) and advanced Excel; data visualization and dashboarding (Power BI or Tableau) preferred.
• Working knowledge of digital data collection platforms (KoBo Toolbox, SurveyCTO or ODK).
• Excellent report writing, with the ability to translate technical findings into concise, policy-relevant recommendations for non-technical audiences.
• Strong presentation skills in English and Urdu.
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent studies to deadline and to hold external consultants and firms to quality and timeline commitments.
• Sound judgement on research ethics, data privacy and safeguarding; gender and inclusion sensitivity in research design and reporting.
• Cultural and organizational sensitivity. Team player.
• Demonstrated ability to accept, lead and create change. Self-starter, action oriented and proactive.
• Strong analytical, problem solving and decision making ability.

PSDF has a lot more to offer than a market competitive salary and perks. As a PSDF employee you will get:

• Professional development and career growth opportunities with the largest skills development fund in Pakistan.
• Experience a dynamic innovation-driven environment committed to empowering youth through employment and entrepreneurship.
• Opportunity to lead and execute groundbreaking approaches to skills development for Pakistan’s youth.