Vice President – Research Advisory & Practice
2 days left
Vice President – Research Advisory & Practice
2 days left
Job role insights
Date posted
August 26, 2026
Closing date
September 16, 2026
Location
Nairobi
Career level
Executive Level
Experience
10+ Years
Description
What does Busara do?
Busara implements research for organizations around the world, ranging from qualitative in-depth studies to lab experiments to large-scale randomized controlled trials. In addition, Busara’s advisory arm works with governments, non-profit organizations and private sector enterprises on improving their policies and products.
Through incorporating insights from behavioral economics, we help organizations understand decision-making and enable them and the people they serve to make better and more informed choices.
As Busara continues to grow, we are strengthening our practice areas, expanding our partnerships, and building the capabilities required to translate our expertise into greater and more sustainable impact.
Role Purpose Statement:
The Vice President, Practice is a senior executive responsible for leading Busara’s Practice areas and ensuring the delivery of high-quality, scalable, and financially sustainable impact.
Reporting directly to the CEO, the VP, Research, Advisory & Practice holds enterprise-level accountability for research, advisory & practice strategy, business development, delivery excellence, and leadership development across sectors, geographies, and portfolios. The role ensures that Busara’s Behavioral science expertise is consistently translated into effective programs, strong partnerships, and enduring institutional capabilities.
This is a leadership role that combines strategic vision with operational execution, requiring the ability to drive growth, oversee complex delivery portfolios, and build the systems and teams necessary for long-term success.
Who We’re Looking For
We are looking for a leader who has successfully operated at scale and can lead across strategy, business development, delivery, people, and organizational development.
You will be someone who is comfortable building where there is ambiguity, creating systems without creating unnecessary bureaucracy, and bringing different teams and portfolios together around a shared mission. You will combine strong commercial and operational judgment with intellectual curiosity, a deep understanding of behavioral science, and the ability to build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders.
Most importantly, we are looking for someone who can help Busara move from strong individual practices and portfolios toward an increasingly integrated, scalable, and sustainable organization.
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Key Accountabilities/Responsibilities
Strategy and Practice Leadership
- Define and lead Busara’s overall research, advisory & practice strategy across sectors and regions in alignment with Busara’s overall organizational strategy
Ensure coherence and integration across practices, geographies, and portfolios
Identify and develop new practice areas, service lines, and strategic opportunities in development and adjacent sectors.
Translate research, delivery experience, and learning into scalable tools, frameworks, and approaches to strengthen institutional adoption
Design and model the norms that ensure different portfolios operate as a unit towards a singular mission
Ensure the overall sustainability of every practice area, measured against revenue, margin, utilization, share of practice partnerships and overall contribution to Busara’s mission.
Commercial Leadership and Partnerships
Own revenue growth, margin performance, utilization, and renewal targets across practice areas
Oversee the full business development lifecycle, including pipeline management, forecasting, and conversion
Lead or support the development of major proposals, partnerships, and contracts
Build and maintain senior relationships with funders, governments, multilaterals, and implementing partners
Strengthen commercial discipline, including pricing, opportunity selection, and portfolio balance
Coach and support senior leaders in business development and account management
Allocate resources strategically across practices.
Delivery Excellence and Impact
Hold overall accountability for the quality, rigor, and impact of program delivery
Strengthen and enforce quality assurance systems across all projects and portfolios
Improve delivery reliability, including timelines, staffing models, and execution consistency
Monitor portfolio performance and address delivery risks proactively
Strengthen implementation capability across teams and geographies
Build and maintain knowledge management systems to support learning and reuse
Drive continuous improvement based on performance data and feedback
Leadership and Organizational Development
Lead, coach, and develop senior leaders across practices and portfolios
Build a strong leadership pipeline and succession plans for critical roles
Clarify roles, decision-making structures, and accountability across teams
Strengthen management capability, including performance management and delegation
Partner with the People function on recruitment, retention, and talent development
Partner with Director Voice on designing and co-creating impact strategies that are rooted in practice area relationships but can be supported with voice outputs
Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous learning
Knowledge, Skills, and Experience
Experience
12–15+ years of experience in global development, consulting, research, or advisory environments with at least 5 years at the senior executive level
Proven track record of leading strategy, business development, and delivery at scale
Experience managing complex, multi-country portfolios or programs
Demonstrated success in building partnerships with funders, governments, or multilaterals
Experience leading and developing senior teams
Deep familiarity with applied behavioral science, psychology, economics, or a related discipline.
Experience working across Africa and South Asia strongly preferred; lived or worked
Skills and Capabilities
Strategic thinking with operational discipline – able to hold the long arc and the near-term simultaneously.
Deep commercial acumen, including revenue growth, margins, and pipeline management
Entrepreneurial builder – comfortable creating structure where none exists, and evolving it as the organization grows.
People leadership – a coach and talent developer who builds diverse, high-trust teams.
Behavioral science fluency – able to translate rigorous methods into practical, client-facing solutions.
External presence – credible, warm, and articulate in front of the most senior stakeholders.
Cross-functional influence – able to lead with authority across People, Finance, Comms, and Project Operations.
Future-oriented: able to engage with new technologies and support implementation of our AI strategy.
What Success Looks Like
Sustained revenue growth and improved financial performance across practice areas.
High-quality, consistent delivery across practice areas, portfolios and geographies.
Strong pipeline and conversion of strategic opportunities.
Clear and scalable practice areas with increased reuse of tools and approaches.
Strengthened leadership bench and organizational capability.
Enhanced reputation and influence of Busara in the global majority development ecosystem.
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As applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, we encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible.
Data Privacy Statement
As part of Busara’s recruitment process, personal information provided by an applicant through various means will be collected and stored. This includes but is not limited to the information which the candidate provides to Busara in their application and profile, any data from role assessments, interviews information including video interviews and data provided to us by your referees. This data will be used to evaluate the application, communicate with the candidate, and where a candidate has selected this option, for future recruitment opportunities. All this information will be treated as part of each job application record and only retained for the required record retention period.
By choosing to apply for this position at Busara, you are giving Busara your consent to process your personal data as described above. We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring that your personal information is secure.
