The department of Community Development is hiring for the role of Social Research Division Manager to join their monitoring and impact team.
The right candidate will lead the management and development of social research studies in Abu Dhabi in line with the social sector strategy and ensure the provision of reliable research that contributes to strategic decision-making and the development of social impact through cooperation with local and international entities.
Key Responsibilities:
Minimum Requirements:
- Bilingual Arabic and English are required due to operation needs
- Masters degree in quantitative studies, research, statistics, economics, mathematics (PHD is a big plus)
- 12 full time years of experience in research, quantitative analysis and advanced statistics
- Peer reviewed publication related to the social sector
- Project and team management
1. Strategic Research Leadership
- Define and lead the entity's research vision, priorities, and annual roadmap aligned with national and sectoral strategies.
- Ensure research outputs contribute to policy development, foresight, and social innovation.
- Oversee flagship studies and thematic research programs addressing critical social challenges.
2. Academic and Institutional Collaboration
- Build and sustain partnerships with universities, think tanks, and global research institutions.
- Develop and manage collaboration agreements (MoUs, NDAs, data-sharing protocols) with international organizations such as OECD, UN agencies, and the World Bank.
3. Innovative Funding and Sustainability
- Develop and implement innovative funding strategies to sustain and expand research initiatives.
- Explore opportunities to establish named research chairs, joint research funds, and academic partnerships for long-term financial sustainability.
- Lead proposal development for external funding opportunities (EU Horizon, UNDP, World Bank, etc.).
- Introduce performance-based funding and partnership models that reward impactful and policy-relevant research.
5. Research Governance and Quality
- Establish research governance frameworks, ethical standards, and peer review systems.
- Ensure scientific rigor, transparency, and reproducibility across all studies.
- Supervise publication pipelines, including policy briefs, working papers, and journal articles.
