Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning, VisionFund International

VisionFund is the financial services arm of World Vision, serving vulnerable clients through loans, savings, market access and insurance. In partnership with World Vision, we enable families to grow their livelihoods in hard to reach, rural locations in 28 countries so that caregivers can create secure futures for their children. We believe in brighter futures for children; empowering families to create incomes and jobs; unlocking economic potential for communities to thrive. Join VisionFund and World Vision as we seek to end intergenerational poverty for the world’s most vulnerable children and families.

Learn more about us: visionfund.org

Overview 

VisionFund takes a distinct approach to inclusive financial services, providing impact-first financial products with layered training and delivery through the World Vision partnership, in order to improve outcomes for children in the poorest households. The credibility of our ability to improve household and child well-being rests on the quality of our evidence, which this role directly drives.

The Director, MERL leads the design and delivery of VisionFund’s measurement, evaluation, research and learning function: the monitoring architecture across the network, the client voice instruments that tell us what clients actually experience, the external research partnerships that test our assumptions independently, the internal impact evaluations using quasi-experimental or experimental designs that establish whether VisionFund is causing the changes it claims, the capability of impact staff across the MFI network. These activities underpin the standard of evidence behind every impact claim VisionFund makes (e.g., to a donor, an investor or a board).

The role also carries responsibility for enhancing fundraising capabilities. VisionFund is expanding its institutional and climate-finance fundraising at a point when donors are applying sharply increased scrutiny to measurement design. The postholder leads MERL design for fundraising proposals from qualification onward and builds the joint measurement capability with World Vision that multi-entity bids increasingly require.

This is a new post, created as part of a repositioning of the department’s evidence function. The postholder will help shape the function within the existing establishment.

Key Responsibilities

Monitoring & Evaluation, Client Voice and Measurement Standards

• Own the design and delivery of VisionFund’s network monitoring & evaluation approach, including indicator architecture, data collection protocols, quality assurance and reporting cadence.

• Lead the design, implementation and interpretation of client voice surveys across the network — instrument design, sampling strategy and analytical method — working with the Client Insights function, which holds data pipelines, dashboards and analytics delivery.

• Design the technical standards and methods for impact measurement across the network, for approval by the Global Director, Impact & Engagement, and provide assurance on whether those standards are met in substance.

Measurement for Funding

• Lead MERL design for institutional, philanthropic and blended-finance funding proposals, engaging from opportunity qualification: results frameworks, indicator selection, evaluation design and fully costed MERL budgets.

• Advise on go/no-go decisions where measurement obligations cannot credibly be delivered.

• Build joint measurement capability with World Vision support and field offices.

• Ensure measurement commitments made at proposal stage are resourced and tracked through implementation.

Research, evidence and theory of change

• Own and maintain VisionFund’s theory of change and test it against emerging evidence.

• Set and manage the organisational research agenda, prioritising questions where better evidence would change a decision.

• Manage VisionFund’s flagship academic research partnership as technical counterpart to external research teams; commission and quality-assure third-party research.

• Build the evidence base supporting child-level results and the defensibility of child-focused impact claims.

• Contribute technically to sector method development — publication, technical working groups, peer review — within the external positioning strategy set by the Department Head.

Impact staff capacity building

• Design and deliver the capability-building approach for impact measurement staff across the MFI network: technical curriculum, coaching, method guidance and tooling support, extended to network staff in regions covered by the counterpart directorate.
• Manage the measurement consequences of network changes, including closing out reporting obligations for exiting entities and maintaining the integrity of network aggregates across periods.

Team Leadership and Departmental Contribution

• Lead the MERL team, including performance management, capability development and succession.

• Foster a Christ-centred, high-performing culture.

• Establish the routines through which evidence reaches and changes decisions.

• Contribute to departmental and organisational strategy as a member of the Impact & Engagement senior leadership team.

Knowledge, Skills and Capabilities

Required Professional Experience and Qualifications

• Graduate-level degree in Economics, Development Economics, Statistics, Public Policy, Evaluation, or a related quantitative discipline, or demonstrably equivalent applied expertise
• Minimum 10 years of relevant professional experience, including at least 5 years in a senior leadership role leading MERL, evaluation, research, or impact functions within a multinational NGO, development finance institution, inclusive finance organization, or similarly complex global organization.
• Demonstrated experience leading the design and implementation of measurement frameworks, evaluation methodologies, and impact-monitoring systems across multi-country or decentralized organizations.
• Minimum 5 years of experience designing and overseeing MERL components of institutional donor, foundation, climate-finance, or other externally funded proposals, including results frameworks, indicator selection, evaluation design, and budget development.
• Demonstrated experience serving as a technical counterpart to academic institutions, research organizations, consultants, or external evaluators, including commissioning, quality assurance, interpretation, and application of research findings.
• Proven experience strengthening technical capability and performance of geographically dispersed teams through coaching, training, curriculum development, and technical guidance.
• Experience influencing and maintaining quality standards across teams and stakeholders that are not under direct line management.
• Demonstrated experience leading organizational change, establishing, redesigning, or significantly strengthening a MERL, research, or evidence function.
• Evidence of external technical contribution through publications, conference presentations, participation in technical working groups, peer review, or other recognized sector contributions.
• Proven experience leading and developing diverse professional teams, including performance management, talent development, succession planning, and fostering high-performance cultures.
• Fluent in English. Working French or Spanish desirable.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Experience of inclusive finance, microfinance or financial services measurement.

• Working familiarity with social performance and client protection frameworks sufficient to interface effectively with the function, which sits in the counterpart directorate.

• Familiarity with climate adaptation results frameworks and the measurement requirements of major climate and adaptation funds, including their theory-of-change and paradigm-shift expectations.

• Experience designing MEL for adaptation or resilience programming where attribution is structurally difficult.

• Experience with World Vision International or another large, federated INGO.

Travel and/or Work Environment Requirement

Home based role with 20% travel

For positions filled in the United States, the typical salary range for this role is $102,000 to $140,000 USD. Ranges are based on various factors, including the labor market, job type, job level, internal equity and budget. Exact salary offers will be determined by factors such as the candidate's skills, qualifications, experience and geographic location.

Applicant Types Accepted:

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organisation with a mission centred on following Jesus Christ in service to the world´s most vulnerable children. Therefore, in all locations to the fullest extent legally permissible, the successful applicant will affirm our core documents, observe conduct compatible with Christian principles, serve at a high level of professional ethics and strive to act in accordance with cultural sensitivities. Furthermore, regular attendance with team and office devotions, chapel and prayer gatherings are expected in line with policies in the World Vision host location and its departments.