WRC Director of Global Research and Impact

WOMEN'S REFUGEE COMMISSION

Director of Global Research and Impact

Globally Based Position
Prioritizing candidates based in any of the following cities: Nairobi, Bogotá, Amman, Beirut, Warsaw, Mexico City, Lima, Kyiv, Cairo, and Panama City.

BACKGROUND

The Women's Refugee Commission (WRC) works to improve the lives and defend the rights of refugee and internally displaced women, children, and young people. As a research organization that also advocates and amplifies solutions, WRC is dedicated to securing systemic changes in policy and practice that ensure uprooted women, children, and young people can fully exercise their rights to protection, services, and self-sufficiency. 

Thirty-six years ago, WRC’s founders traveled to refugee camps and found that the humanitarian systems designed to serve the women living there were not listening to them or meeting their basic needs. Since then, WRC has fought for women refugees, their families, and the most vulnerable among displaced populations. We have driven policy change at the UN, within the US government, and beyond, improving responses to gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive health needs. 

WRC continues to innovate to meet women’s needs, often filling gaps in the humanitarian sector by incubating new ideas, frameworks, and networks. We host the Global Refugee Youth Network and support its work with youth-led organizations worldwide as it moves toward independence. WRC also hosts and serves as the Secretariat of the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights, which, since its founding, has contributed to 18 nationality law reforms that either partially or comprehensively address gender discrimination, advancing the nationality rights of over 175 million women and girls. In these capacities, we are also a grantor to frontline organizations that are leading change in humanitarian contexts. 

At a time when funding for research is eroding, we continue our legacy of generating evidence that mobilizes more effective humanitarian responses for women. With partners, WRC launched the Self-Reliance Index, which has been used by 88 partners in 39 countries. In 2027, we will launch our inaugural flagship report, The State of Displacement of Women and Girls, with support from a global advisory panel of governments, funders, policy experts, and refugee women leaders. 

WRC’s work in the United States focuses on the rights of migrant women and their children and is a major driver of policy change and public sentiment. This program has been covered by the press more than 100 times in 2026 alone, and it helped end family separation during the first Trump administration. Continued research and advocacy expose the ways that the US government does not follow its own policies regarding family reunification and the treatment of pregnant and postpartum women in detention.

WRC’s influence is built through rigorous research, strategic advocacy, partnerships, and thought leadership that shape how the humanitarian sector responds to the needs of displaced populations. Our Director of Global Research and Impact will play a vital, leading role in our global work.

DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL RESEARCH AND IMPACT 

Since our founding, WRC has been dedicated to centering refugee women. We work with a wide range of global partners, including displaced women who often lead and author our research. WRC has historically been based in New York and Washington, DC. With this role, we are building out our global team. 

To stay closely connected to the communities we work with, this role will be based in a country with high levels of displacement. We seek applicants who are based in a range of countries. We are prioritizing candidates who are based in the following cities: Nairobi, Bogotá, Amman, Beirut, Warsaw, Mexico City, Lima, Kyiv, Cairo, and Panama City., such as Kenya, Colombia, Ukraine, and Lebanon. In addition, we will soon launch a search for a second global research staff position, which will also be based outside the United States. Applicants must be based in time zones UTC−8 through UTC+3.

This new role builds on years of research and advocacy experience and reflects our commitment to growing a global team based near the people we serve. Despite the challenges of measuring impact in a research and advocacy environment, WRC is committed to work that drives real-world change. Our Director of Global Research and Impact will work with our entire team toward our goal of positive, measurable change for women refugees, their families, and the most vulnerable in humanitarian contexts. 

Along with the entire staff at WRC, the Director of Global Research and Impact will center and promote the experiences of women refugee leaders both by working closely with women refugee researchers and authors to contribute to our work, and by working with our communications and advocacy teams to promote women leaders on the frontlines through storytelling and networking support. As part of this effort, the Director of Global Research and Impact will mentor our Humanitarian Futures Fellows and support the release of their research. The Director will also help ensure that women refugee researchers’ expertise is centered as we design future research strategy and projects. 

SALARY AND BENEFITS

Salary and benefits for this role will be competitive and commensurate with experience. WRC sets global salaries by considering New York and Washington, DC job markets alongside the job market in the place of residence of candidates. This provides for a progressive, globally competitive salary scale that also accounts for differing costs of living. The following are sample salary ranges for this position by country, though candidates may be located in other countries as well. 

Kenya, Lebanon:  85,000 - 104,000 USD per annum

Ukraine, Colombia: 78,000 - 96,000 USD per annum

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Director of Global Research and Impact is a strategic and technical leadership role responsible for guiding WRC's research agenda, strengthening the organization's ability to define and demonstrate its impact, and serving as a global convener and representative of WRC's research and evidence base. The role combines rigorous technical implementation and oversight of research and evaluation with organizational leadership, building WRC's profile as a trusted, evidence-driven voice in the humanitarian sector and creating spaces for cross-sector dialogue and collaboration. This position engages closely with WRC management in New York and WRC colleagues in Geneva and DC while representing WRC's research and impact agenda with donors, partners, and humanitarian actors worldwide.

SCOPE OF WORK

The Director of Global Research and Impact provides overall strategic direction to WRC's research function, ensuring that research and evaluation efforts are rigorous, ethical, and directly advance WRC's organizational priorities and advocacy aims. The Director will serve as principal investigator on several key studies, manage the research team, play a leading role in organizational efforts to define and measure WRC's impact, and serve as a visible global leader and convener.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES

Research and Evaluation Leadership

• Provide strategic direction on the development and implementation of research and evaluation initiatives that advance WRC's priorities across its core programmatic areas, including gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive health, and protection. 
• Lead proposal development for research with the development technical team, including in areas of strategic interest, such as refugee self-reliance, use of technology, and priority geographies.
• Provide support and opportunities for co-learning to a geographically dispersed team of research staff, consulting experts, and Humanitarian Futures Fellows, fostering a collaborative and high-performing research culture.
• Lead capacity-development initiatives across WRC, strengthening staff proficiency in research methods, evaluation design, and research ethics.
• Champion participatory and peer-research approaches alongside rigorous conventional methods, ensuring findings reach affected communities in plain, accessible language.
• Establish clear protocols for community data ownership and fair compensation for enumerators and peer researchers.

Research Implementation

• Serve as principal investigator for research projects related to WRC's programmatic areas.
• Ensure all WRC research adheres to donor requirements, ethical standards, and implementation protocols.
• Document and disseminate research findings through participant, project, and donor reports, as well as external speaking engagements and conference panels.
• Identify and advocate for evidence-based program models in humanitarian settings, driving greater attention to high-quality data and evidence generation across the sector.
• Lead the finalization and rollout of WRC's flagship conceptual and indicator framework on the rights and well-being of women and girls in displacement.
• Lead and guide the WRC Humanitarian Futures Fellowship program, providing opportunities for co-learning to support their research, advocacy, and professional development.
   

Defining and Demonstrating Organizational Impact

• Play a leading role in WRC's efforts to define, track, and communicate its organizational impact, developing frameworks and metrics that capture the influence of WRC's research and advocacy on policy and practice.
• Translate research findings into clear impact narratives for refugee communities, especially those who participated in the research, as well as for donors, board members, and external stakeholders.
• Work with the Programs, Communications, and Development teams to ensure research and impact evidence is effectively packaged and positioned to influence key audiences.

Global Representation and Convening

• Serve as a senior global representative of WRC, building and maintaining relationships with donors, UN agencies, research institutions, and humanitarian actors worldwide.
• Play a leadership role in convening researchers, practitioners, and policymakers around shared evidence and advocacy priorities, including through roundtables, working groups, and conferences.
• Represent WRC's research and impact agenda in high-level forums and with senior leadership across the humanitarian and development sectors.
• Cultivate strong relationships across WRC departments and represent the research function with senior leadership and the HQ management team in New York.

Organizational Systems and Ethics

• Ensure women refugee leaders and experts shape research design, priorities, and WRC's advocacy and communications.
• Strengthen and continuously improve WRC's research systems, including standards for data collection, cleaning, coding, analysis, and dissemination.
• Support the adoption of appropriate data and analytic tools to improve the speed, quality, and rigor of evidence generation.
• Strengthen systems for data storage, sharing, version control, and reproducibility.

Fundraising and Financial Management

• Partner with the development team to raise funds for WRC's research agenda and systems. 
• Oversee budgets and the financial health of research initiatives and projects, proactively identifying and addressing gaps or concerns.
• Contribute to efforts to appropriately and effectively host advocacy delegations to displacement contexts.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

Education: Ph.D. preferred in development, humanitarian intervention, public health, or a related social science (e.g., economics, epidemiology, political science, gender studies). Candidates with a master’s degree and equivalent research leadership experience will also be considered.

Work Experience: 10+ years of research experience, with significant experience in humanitarian or development contexts, ideally with a focus on displacement, gender, protection, or related fields.

DEMONSTRATED SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES

• Extensive experience designing research and managing research teams in low-resource and humanitarian settings.
• Fluency in translating empirical evidence into actionable guidance for advocacy and policy audiences.
• Demonstrated success in contributing to business development and fundraising for research projects with public and private donors.
• Experience developing and driving research and impact strategies across a complex organization.
• Strong record of publication and authorship or co-authorship in peer-reviewed journals.
• An established professional network within humanitarian and development research and policy communities.
• Strong leadership and management competencies, with the ability to align diverse teams around a shared vision and to communicate effectively with senior leadership, technical peers, and advocacy and communications colleagues.
• Demonstrated ability to represent an organization externally and convene diverse stakeholders around shared priorities.
• Excellent public speaking, writing, and interpersonal communication skills.

Location and Language Skills: Fluency in English is required; proficiency in French, Arabic, or Spanish is a plus. We are prioritizing candidates who are based in any of the following cities: Nairobi, Bogotá, Amman, Beirut, Warsaw, Mexico City, Lima, Kyiv, Cairo, and Panama City.

CULTURAL COMPETENCIES

• Collaborative and coaching mindset
• Embrace of ethics and integrity in all settings, and with a specific understanding of appropriate ways of working with vulnerable populations 
• Continual learner with interest in investing in personal growth and growth of others, and ability to give and receive feedback
• Orientation towards a growth environment, with interest to contribute to a team that embraces new ways of working to drive impact and with capacity to be nimble, responsive, and to pivot as needed.
• Self-starter with ability to work remotely while building strong relationships with a global team

WORKING ENVIRONMENT 

WRC is prioritizing applicants based in countries with significant populations of refugee or displaced women.

• The role requires close coordination with management and technical teams in New York, Washington, DC, and Geneva, and may require flexible hours across time zones.
• The role requires travel up to 25% of the time, including for global convenings, donor engagement, and field-based research oversight. Access to a major airport is required.
• Candidates must have work authorization in their country of residence. WRC hires staff outside the United States through an Employer of Record, which gives employees the same statutory protections and benefits they would have with a local employer.

WRC welcomes applicants from all backgrounds and nationalities. 

HOW TO APPLY

To apply, please submit a resume and cover letter through this portal. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and the position will remain open until filled. A first round of applications will be viewed on October 23rd. We encourage early submission.