Creative Associates seeks a Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, Learning, and Adapting (MERLA) Director for the anticipated USAID Ethiopia Learning in Emergencies activity, which aims to improve holistic foundational skills learning for children aged 7-14+ affected by crisis in Ethiopia through methods including subnational capabilities to plan and implement education in emergencies service delivery, improving quality components to improve learning, increasing community and parental engagement in education recovery, and integrating mental health and psychological support in education service delivery in conflict affected areas. The MERLA Director will lead overall design, monitoring, and implementation of the project’s AMELP. S/he will conduct impact assessments, baseline studies, surveys and need assessments to identify necessary changes and future project opportunities. The MERLA Director will lead MERLA activities and provide expert guidance to the Project’s Chief of Party (COP) and Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP) to inform decision-making processes and adaptive management.  

• Lead overall design, monitoring, and implementation of the project’s AMELP 
• Makes operational decisions and manages the various components of the program dealing with MERLA;  
• Manages data collection, analysis and reporting on performance indicators by project team members and project counterparts;  
• Develops the Project Management Plan setting out specific quantifiable performance indicators and targets for overall objectives and activities and establishing monitoring systems to measure project progress;  
• Develop quarterly, technical, and financial reports; and  
• Utilizes critical inputs, feedback, and assessments from evaluation partners to inform changes in program approaches and scale-up related to USAID’s CLA approach.  

• Minimum of a master's degree in social sciences, economics, international development, evaluation research, statistics, or a related field;  
• At least 7 years of experience in designing, managing and implementing results-based MERLA activities; experience on education projects preferred; 
• Experience on donor-funded projects required, USAID experience preferred; 
• Experience analyzing quantitative and qualitative data;  
• Experience working with an international development organization and knowledge of reporting procedures, best practices, guidelines and tools for monitoring and evaluation, especially impact evaluation;  
• Demonstrated experience in applying CLA principles in complex development programs; and 
• Professional proficiency in English required