Senior Manager Planning, Learning and Evaluation (Remote)

Title: Senior Manager, Planning, Learning and Evaluation  

Department: Office of Social Impact  

Reporting to: Associate Director of Planning, Learning & Evaluation

Salary: CAD 80K - 90K

Location: Remote ( Candidates based in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Nova Scotia or willing to relocate)

Travel: Once a quarter or as needed for team, conferences or learning related events

The Opportunity

At WES, we believe that strategic learning and evaluation can be a powerful tool for social impact. 

We’re looking for a Senior Manager to lead our Planning & Evaluation work in Canada, working alongside partners and colleagues engaged in grantmaking, impact investing, research, policy advocacy and programming. You’ll join a small team of technical specialists who support remote teams to tackle the hard questions about collective impact and systems and be intentional about how we can collectively contribute to change.  

This is a role for people who are committed to principles like philanthropic power-sharing, trust-building and social accountability – and who bring ideas and practical tools to help us advance our day-to-day practice. As a specialist working with colleagues and partners across Canada (and beyond), you can expect work that is wide-ranging and evolves as we learn and apply those lessons to our practice.  

If you know your way around a logic model, get excited about strategic learning and are interested in evaluation for social and economic inclusion in Canada – this could be a good opportunity for you. The posting closes on 21st May, 2023 and applications will be assessed on a rolling basis. 

Description:  

WES is looking for a Sr. Manager, Planning, Learning and Evaluation. The Sr. Manager, Planning, Learning and Evaluation leads the implementation of WES’s planning, learning and evaluation practice in Canada, supporting teams to incorporate strong planning/design and learning practice into our Canadian policy, program, philanthropy, and partnership work. This role offers a unique opportunity to partner with colleagues across the U.S. and Canada to shape a nascent global planning, learning, and evaluation function.  

The Sr. Manager works with and across WES Social Impact and core teams in Canada. This role reports to the Associate Director of Planning, Learning & Evaluation (Office of Social Impact) but embedded within Social Impact teams in Canada. This is a highly matrixed role working across teams. In addition to strong technical skills and knowledge in planning and evaluation, it requires strong relationship and collaboration skills to work with a range of internal stakeholders.  

The Sr. Manager is a technical specialist and process lead, responsible for planning, monitoring, strategic learning, and evaluation with Social Impact teams at WES Canada including Global Talent Bridge; Strategy Policy and Research; Managing Director’s office, and the Mariam Assefa Fund. The role is also expected to be responsible for managing consultants and vendors and for managing high-profile evaluation processes with external and internal stakeholders. 

Duties included but not limited to:  

Manage Planning and Evaluation Processes in Canada 

• Lead the implementation of the WES’s Planning, Learning and Evaluation practice in Canada.  Work in collaboration with PLE colleagues across WES to ensure alignment across Divisional and country strategies. Manage and implement annual and quarterly planning and evaluation processes as required by WES internal processes and to meet Executive and Board needs. 
• Collaborate with Social Impact directors and managers in the development and maintenance of annual work plans, strategic plans, and reporting. 
• Project manage all elements of planning and evaluation cycle in collaboration with directors and leads of key program and policy initiatives, finding opportunities to use evaluation for both learning and accountability/reporting. 
• Ensure ongoing management, development and/or enhancement of existing/new frameworks and tools e.g. logic models, evaluation framework, planning and data collection, and reporting tools. 
• Contribute to the development of a monitoring, learning, and evaluation approach for WES’ philanthropic efforts in Canada with the potential to support implementation. 
• Work closely with leads, data collection teams, and other internal stakeholders to ensure effective implementation. 
   

Management of Project or Program-Specific Evaluations 

• Working with WES teams, develop and project manage evaluation plans.  
• Provide technical assistance or support to evaluations.  
• Recruit external consultants to conduct evaluations. 
• Collaborate and manage engagement with program evaluation consultants, as needed.   

Team Support & Accompaniment – Analysis, sense-making, learning 

• This role is a technical lead embedded with Social Impact teams in Canada. The Sr. Manager is expected to consult, collaborate with and support WES Canada Social Impact teams in implementing planning and evaluation activities, including:  
• Plan, implement and co-facilitate analysis/sense-making and collaborative learning activities, which draw on evaluative data and help identify lessons to incorporate into our future practice.  
• Confer with key stakeholders (external and internal) to update, modify and adjust key metrics over time. 
• Support teams to ensure strong logic/evidence is incorporated into program design. 
• Support teams to budget and plan for learning and evaluation.   

Data Management and Systems Planning  

• Work in close collaboration with internal partners to establish and maintain systems for data collection, management and use. Such partners include leads on: Data/Reporting, Knowledge Management and Communications. 
• Seek out opportunities to use creative and practical means for analysis and reporting, to maximize understanding and use of data. 
• Inform and advise data strategy for processes linked to planning and evaluation.  
• Collaborate with Knowledge Management colleagues in Canada and in Social Impact Division central team; inform/advise on knowledge management practices for processes linked to planning and evaluation.   

Management, Operations and Leadership  

• Manage and track expenses related to planning and evaluation in Canada.  
• Coordinate with WES teams in Canada (e.g., Social Impact teams, Managing Directors Office, Communications, Marketing, IT) as well as external consultants, as needed.  
• Supervision of interns and vendors/suppliers. 

Other duties and responsibilities may be assigned as required. 

Requirements: 

Education and Experience  

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field in fields such as research and evaluation or equivalent experience/training. (Master’s degree or equivalent preferred). 
• Expertise and experience in both theory and practice of evaluation.  
• 5 years of relevant experience in planning and evaluation in social impact settings; in-house evaluator experience an asset. 
• Experience managing and evaluating a broad set of inter-related programs/initiatives contributing to a single social impact framework.  

• Knowledge and experience in both program and systems change planning and evaluation praxis.  
• Strong grounding in research ethics and an understanding of the role that research/evaluation can play in contributing to and addressing inequities.  
• Experience supporting collaborative design and evaluation – including developing logic models, evaluation frameworks and plans. 
• Experience in data planning, collection, and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data in the social sciences or related fields and supporting others to make use of the data in a social impact environment. 

Competencies 

• Competency profile substantively similar to the Canadian Evaluation Society Credentialed Evaluator designation. 
• Strong project management skills and capacity to manage multiple tasks, projects and deadlines simultaneously. 
• Ability to implement a planning and evaluation practice in a complex in-house environment supporting multiple teams. 
• Strong political acuity and ability to navigate internal relationships and complex organizational structures. 

• Ability to work collaboratively with and support other team members and partners to advance shared goals and projects; comfortable working in a context of collaborative and shared leadership.   
• Significant experience in group facilitation, including supporting teams to analyze or make sense of data. 
• Knowledge and skill in evaluative data collection, analysis, reporting/visualization methods and tools, and application/sense-making in a social impact environment. 
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.  
• Able to convey complex or detailed information in simple accessible formats, including visualizations. 

• Experience using and promoting the use among others of digital tools for collaboration and impact, including MS Office (including SharePoint, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams), survey software (SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics), collaboration tools (Jamboard, Miro, Loom), Salesforce, Marketo, Tableau, Cision. 
• Ability to navigate challenging or uncertain situations to meet goals and objectives.  
• Ability to work on a diverse team and with a diverse range of partners. 

Assets 

• Experience and subject matter expertise in workforce development and/or the economic inclusion of immigrants. 
• Detailed knowledge of data analysis software.  

Working Conditions: 

Location & Work Environment  

We are a remote-first work environment, and we have a team that is distributed throughout Canada and the U.S. This position is open to candidates from British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, or Nova Scotia. Employees who are based near our Toronto Office enjoy the option and flexibility of working in the office or at home. WES’ Toronto office has a shared, open office environment with break-out and meeting rooms and light to moderate noise. 

AODA Statement:  

WES values diversity in all its forms and recruits qualified individuals at all occupational levels that reflect the diversity of our clients and our community. We strive to foster a workplace in which all individuals maximize their potential, regardless of their differences. We are committed to providing accommodations for person with disabilities. If you require an accommodation to complete this application, we will work with you to meet your needs.  Please contact Human Resources. Accommodation may be provided at all stages of the hiring process. 

For more information about WES, please visit our website at www.WES.org