Research Manager / Senior Research Manager, Indonesia

Title: Research Manager / Senior Research Manager, Indonesia
(The successful candidate will be brought on at a level commensurate with their experience.)
Location and Work Authorization: Indonesia, Jakarta, with current and ongoing work authorization.
Position: Full-time
Posted On: 14 September 2026
Application Deadline: 5 October 2026, 6 pm WIB (Western Indonesia Time / Waktu Indonesia Barat) (applications will be reviewed as they are submitted)
About This Role:

Precision Development (PxD) is seeking a dynamic, creative, and self-motivated Research / Senior Research Manager for a mission-critical role supporting our flagship program in Indonesia. In this role, you will work closely with researchers, government partners, and cross-functional teams to design, test, and scale evidence-based, inclusive digital agricultural solutions for smallholder farmers. You will manage a portfolio of projects, anchoring your work in iterative learning while operating fluidly across service delivery and research functions - ensuring insights are embedded into program implementation, operational decision-making, and government-facing engagements.
In practice, this means leading research activities (formative research, rapid user testing, experiments) as well as supporting program refinement, operational troubleshooting, and strategic decision-making. You will also help build sustainable systems that improve agricultural services for farmers and institutionalize processes that ensure long-term service continuity. We're looking for a proactive self-starter with strong causal inference training, research management skills, excellent stakeholder engagement abilities, and a passion for applying rigorous methods and insights to improve program outcomes.
We're hiring for this role at either the Research Manager or Senior Research Manager level. The specific level will be determined based on the candidate's years of experience, demonstrated seniority, and scope of past responsibilities.
About PxD:

Precision Development (PxD) is a global non-profit with the mission to scale innovations that millions of smallholder farmers in low and middle-income countries can use to improve their lives. PxD's primary approach is delivering timely, evidence-based digital information to farmers via basic mobile phones.

So far, PxD has scaled digital agriculture services to more than 46 million farmers across Africa and Asia. PxD scales these digital information services through three models: i) direct service delivery to farmers; ii) improvement of partners' existing services; and iii) strategic government advisory.
Responsibilities:

Will evolve as the role develops; key initial areas below.

Research & Data:

• Work closely with internal and external stakeholders to develop learning objectives and manage implementation of research activities, ensuring rigor, adherence to policies/timelines/budgets, and appropriate stakeholder input.
• Oversee field activities, data management, analysis, and A/B testing.
  Interpret and contextualize external and internal evidence for PxD programs; guide teams on evidence-based approaches and technical rigor.
• Develop and ensure compliance with international research protocols and in-country research permissions.
• Document research activities, results, and rationale for decisions.

Program & Stakeholder Management:

• Collaborate with research and service delivery leadership to scope, design, pilot, and scale evidence-backed digital agriculture services, translating research insights into operational improvements.
• Manage relationships with government counterparts, implementing partners, and other external stakeholders.
• Operate flexibly across research, program management, and service delivery, contributing wherever needed to ensure program success.
• Contribute to funding proposals, project reports, and organizational strategic planning.

Mentorship & Communications:

• Provide close mentorship and guidance to Associate- and Manager-level staff.
• Contribute to internal and external communications (briefs, blogs, reports, presentations) to disseminate findings.
• Support PxD's institutional knowledge management and internal learning efforts.

What You'll Bring:
The ideal candidate will have:

• Degree in economics, agricultural economics, public policy, or a closely related field.
• Professional experience working on at least three large projects involving the design and management of rigorous research and/or evidence-based programs in Indonesia.
• Ability to draw inferences from data to identify pathways for program improvement.
• Adept at consuming large amounts of academic and scientific literature as well as other technical information, synthesizing key findings, and applying takeaways to program and research design
• Deep understanding of economics and randomized evaluations.
• Excellent knowledge of Stata, R, or similar software for data analysis.
• Experience in survey design using SurveyCTO/ODK or similar tools.
• Strong grasp of the research & program life cycle and ability to supervise all activities on the ground.
• Experience managing program and/or research staff.
• Experience managing partnerships with an implementing organization.
• Understanding and application of research ethics for human subjects in the social sciences.
• Strong writing and oral communication skills in English, with attention to detail and advanced writing and presentation skills.
• Willingness to travel to field sites.
• Working proficiency in Bahasa Indonesia.
• Right to live and work in Indonesia.

How to Apply:
To apply, please visit the PxD website and use the online application form to submit a CV, cover letter, and brief responses to the screening questions. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the application deadline of 5 October 2026, 6 pm WIB (Western Indonesia Time / Waktu Indonesia Barat), (applications will be reviewed as they are submitted)

PxD is committed to building an inclusive and diverse organisation. We evaluate candidates on merit alone, without regard to gender, gender identity, ethnicity, religion, disability, caste, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law. 

Personal data provided is used for recruitment purposes only.