The Team

The Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Manager will report to the Senior Manager for Central MEL within the Strategic Initiatives team. As a part of the Strategic Initiatives team, the Central MEL function supports CZI’s central program teams (Community Team: Housing Affordability, San Mateo County Partnerships, Economic Mobility & Inclusion; DEI Team: Racial Equity Grantmaking; Strategic Initiatives: Capacity Building Partners and Special Projects) in their MEL work, and coordinates the overarching framework and principles for how we adapt and learn as an organization, in close partnership with initiative MEL leads.

The Central MEL team works to ensure that our central programs practice data-driven decision making and rely on evaluation and learning activities to adapt and improve. The Central MEL team works across our central program teams to embed effective monitoring, evaluation, and learning throughout the programmatic lifecycle. The team also facilitates the strengthening of a culture around better-in-class MEL practices and organizational learning.

The MEL Manager will be responsible for engaging and collaborating with CZI’s Central program teams. The MEL Manager will provide technical support and thought partnership to guide teams through identifying, refining, and tracking progress towards impact, and surfacing and applying learning as part of ongoing adaptive management. Among several job responsibilities, the MEL manager will contribute to this work by supporting teams in the continuous collection and analysis of monitoring data, and assisting in the interpretation and presentation of learning for adaptive management and reporting. Using strong technical and methodological skills, the MEL Manager will also assist teams with conducting and supporting internal and external evaluations.

What You'll Do

• Build strong relationships with individual Central program teams and leadership to enable collaborative MEL work that is grounded in information needs of relevant stakeholders, and provide thought partnership that reflects industry best practices.
• Support the continuation and strengthening of a strong practice of better-in-class MEL across CZI’s Central program teams that is aligned with cross-organizational MEL principles and processes, including:
  • Working in close collaboration with program leads across Central program teams to refine and implement strategic frameworks (including theories of change, logic models, and MEL plans).
  • Ensure a clear link between data/information gathering and its connection to strategic frameworks and program adaptive management and decision making.
  • Design appropriate tools and processes related to quantitative and qualitative data collection, and assist teams in data analysis and reporting needs related to key program indicators.
  • Design and manage periodic internal and external evaluations on behalf of program teams.
  • Ensure that equitable evaluation approaches are effectively embedded into the development of theories of change, logic models, and monitoring, evaluation, and learning plans.
• Participate in a cross-org working group to shape and evolve CZI’s MEL practices, ensuring they are aligned with industry standards.
• Support the Central MEL Lead in cross-org MEL activities, including shaping cross-org frameworks, tools, and guidance that facilitate excellence in organizational MEL.

What You'll Bring

• At least 4-5 years of relevant work experience, including designing and implementing MEL frameworks and conducting or managing evaluations of social impact programs; 3+ years managing complex projects; 1-2 years working in philanthropy is preferred, but not required.
• Strong knowledge of program design, monitoring, evaluation, and learning concepts, methods, and practices. Ability to effectively and seamlessly apply technical skills to real world funding programs and challenges.
• Comfort, fluency, and creativity in designing and implementing information systems that facilitate program adaptive management, a strong knowledge of current industry-standard platforms and software (e.g. Airtable, Coda, Tableau, etc.) for data analysis/analytics and visualization, and ability and willingness to become proficient in new data tools and platforms as needed.
• Strong ability to collect, code and analyze program data and then apply and communicate findings and key insights to a wide range of audiences, and comfort and fluency in quantitative and qualitative data analysis tools that can be leveraged for evaluative processes (e.g. STATA, R, Qualtrics, etc.).
• Comfort designing and facilitating meetings and strategy sessions with client teams, and in working with colleagues from various levels and functions to help craft effective MEL tools and products.
• Excellent analytical skills, particularly in breaking down complex and ambiguous problems and identifying practical solutions.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills – the ability to develop strong, productive relationships quickly with a diverse group of people.
• Experience within philanthropy or grantmaking organizations is highly preferred, as well as demonstrable knowledge of and experience in embedding equity into MEL practices.

The Redwood City, CA base pay range for this role is [$135,000.00 - $169,000.00]. New hires are typically hired into the lower portion of the range, enabling employee growth in the range over time. Actual placement in range is based on job-related skills and experience, as evaluated throughout the interview process. Pay ranges outside Redwood City are adjusted based on cost of labor in each respective geographical market. Your recruiter can share more about the specific pay range for your location during the hiring process.

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