Policy Associate

•

•

•

•

•

## Policy Associate - J-PAL Global

Organization:
J-PAL Global

Location:

• United States of America

Start Date (Earliest):
2 February 2026

Length of Commitment:

Three years or more

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of over 390 affiliated professors at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.

**The Policy & Communications Group** plays a key role in translating research by J-PAL affiliates into actionable poverty alleviation policies around the world. Staff connect the dots between economics and policy and are passionate about working with organizations to form partnerships for evidence-informed development policy. 

J-PAL encourages diversity, equity, and inclusion in our work, and we value the diverse perspectives our staff bring to their roles and to the broader J-PAL community. We encourage people from all backgrounds, especially those underrepresented in the field of economics, to apply to this role. In your cover letter, you are welcome to share how your background and lived experiences have influenced your desire to work at J-PAL (this is entirely optional, just an opportunity for us to get to know you a bit better).

**Position overview**

J-PAL is recruiting **Policy Associates **to contribute to this mission of promoting evidence-informed policy. The position will be based in **Cambridge, MA**, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with **two in-person work days per week**. There are currently openings on the Agriculture sector, Health sector, and AI for Social Good pillar, and potentially other sectors as well.

For more information about working on J-PAL's Policy and Communications team and applying to this role, please watch this webinar recorded on December 11, 2025.

**Visa sponsorship is not available for this position**. Only applications following all instructions at the bottom of this page will be considered.

**Responsibilities**

*Your work provides the foundation and direction for J-PAL’s growing policy efforts. As a Policy Associate, your primary tasks will involve communication, analysis, and specialization.*

• **Evidence Communication and Dissemination (35%): **Write publications that “translate” economic research into lessons for policymakers around the world. Associates will write, publish, and disseminate evaluation summaries. Associates will have the opportunity to support senior staff to create materials for policy outreach, including publications, presentations, grant proposals, donor reporting, policy memos, blogs, social media content and newsletters, and website content among other sector-specific work. Associates also have the opportunity to help organize events and further their communication skills by presenting at conferences and participating in meetings with policymakers and partner organizations.
• **Sector Specialization and Initiative Project Management (40%):** Develop in-depth knowledge of one or more of J-PAL’s sectors (Agriculture, Crime, Violence, & Conflict, Education, Environment, Energy, & Climate Change, Finance, Firms, Gender, Health, Labor Markets, Social Protection, and Political Economy & Governance) or pillars (AI for Social Good, Cost-Effectiveness and Welfare Analysis and provide evidence support to policymakers. Policy associates may also have the opportunity to support and manage the administration of a sector-specific, ongoing competitive research fund by hosting specific rounds of funding, processing grant proposals, coordinating with researchers, and supporting partnership development between implementing groups and research affiliates to spark new research projects. There are currently openings on the Agriculture, Health, and AI for Social Good sector or pillar teams. Please indicate in the Google application form below if you are interested in these or other sectors, which may have openings as well. 
• **Other (25%): ******Have the opportunity to support J-PAL’s overall mission in a number of ways. These can include performing internal tasks such as knowledge management, supporting recruitment and hiring, internal training and onboarding, supporting work on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and undertaking professional development opportunities. Associates may also serve as liaisons between J-PAL Global and one of J-PAL’s regional offices covering Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia and and Southeast Asia, support our work with corporate impact partners, or assist with other broad J-PAL projects.  
**Qualifications & skills**

*Your technical expertise, strong communication and organizational skills, passion for translating research into action, and interest in international development make you an ideal candidate for Policy Associate.*

• **Education: **You hold at least a bachelor’s degree (master’s preferred) with significant training in economics, including intermediate-level economics and econometrics. Do you have a demonstrated academic interest in international development and public policy and/or international experience? Even better.
• **Experience: **You have a minimum of two years of relevant full- or part-time work experience. Full-time work experience includes a relevant job or a master’s degree. Part-time experience includes related internships in research and/or policy work. You may be a recent or soon-to-be graduate with related internships, or you may have previous experience in research and/or development work.
• **Skills: **You are comfortable with intermediate-level economics and econometrics, especially randomized evaluation methodology, as well as working in or learning computer applications, including Google Suite, and Salesforce. English language fluency is required. Knowledge of Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, French, Portuguese, Spanish, or other languages spoken in our regions of work are a plus.
• **Experience with AI:** Your experience applying AI, beyond basic generative AI usage, to improve workflows is valuable. You have the ability to determine where and how AI tool use is responsible and ethical in own work. Having working knowledge of a coding language sufficient to be able to describe a project to an LLM, execute the generated code, and iteratively de-bug with the AI tool’s help is a plus.
• **Communication:** You are detail-oriented and have advanced writing skills. You understand how to communicate policy lessons from technical academic research in ways that policymakers and practitioners understand. You are precise, clear, and creative.
• **Organization: **You are a strategic thinker. You can handle multiple projects at once, meet deadlines, and effectively manage your time.
• **Cultural competencies: **You are comfortable and adept at working in a diverse and multicultural work environment, with colleagues, partners and policymakers from around the world. You display sensitivity, adaptability, and inclusivity in your engagement with people from diverse backgrounds including age, ability, culture, gender, nationality, race and ethnicity, religion, sexuality, socioeconomic status, and other identities. We appreciate candidates who have familiarity with concepts and frameworks such as racial equity or gender analyses.
• **Attitude: **You love learning. You are passionate about international development policy and the rigorous research that informs it. You are agile, adaptable, self-motivated, hardworking, and collaborative.
**Professional development**

*The Policy & Communications Group invests in your professional development. As a Policy Associate, you will learn, engage, travel, and grow.*

• **Learn:** J-PAL supports a culture of learning with opportunities to attend weekly MIT-Harvard Deve...

•

•

•

•

•

## Policy Associate - J-PAL Global

Organization:
J-PAL Global

Location:

• United States of America

Start Date (Earliest):
2 February 2026

Length of Commitment:

Three years or more

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of over 390 affiliated professors at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.

**The Policy & Communications Group** plays a key role in translating research by J-PAL affiliates into actionable poverty alleviation policies around the world. Staff connect the dots between economics and policy and are passionate about working with organizations to form partnerships for evidence-informed development policy. 

J-PAL encourages diversity, equity, and inclusion in our work, and we value the diverse perspectives our staff bring to their roles and to the broader J-PAL community. We encourage people from all backgrounds, especially those underrepresented in the field of economics, to apply to this role. In your cover letter, you are welcome to share how your background and lived experiences have influenced your desire to work at J-PAL (this is entirely optional, just an opportunity for us to get to know you a bit better).

**Position overview**

J-PAL is recruiting **Policy Associates **to contribute to this mission of promoting evidence-informed policy. The position will be based in **Cambridge, MA**, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with **two in-person work days per week**. There are currently openings on the Agriculture sector, Health sector, and AI for Social Good pillar, and potentially other sectors as well.

For more information about working on J-PAL's Policy and Communications team and applying to this role, please watch this webinar recorded on December 11, 2025.

**Visa sponsorship is not available for this position**. Only applications following all instructions at the bottom of this page will be considered.

**Responsibilities**

*Your work provides the foundation and direction for J-PAL’s growing policy efforts. As a Policy Associate, your primary tasks will involve communication, analysis, and specialization.*

• **Evidence Communication and Dissemination (35%): **Write publications that “translate” economic research into lessons for policymakers around the world. Associates will write, publish, and disseminate evaluation summaries. Associates will have the opportunity to support senior staff to create materials for policy outreach, including publications, presentations, grant proposals, donor reporting, policy memos, blogs, social media content and newsletters, and website content among other sector-specific work. Associates also have the opportunity to help organize events and further their communication skills by presenting at conferences and participating in meetings with policymakers and partner organizations.
• **Sector Specialization and Initiative Project Management (40%):** Develop in-depth knowledge of one or more of J-PAL’s sectors (Agriculture, Crime, Violence, & Conflict, Education, Environment, Energy, & Climate Change, Finance, Firms, Gender, Health, Labor Markets, Social Protection, and Political Economy & Governance) or pillars (AI for Social Good, Cost-Effectiveness and Welfare Analysis and provide evidence support to policymakers. Policy associates may also have the opportunity to support and manage the administration of a sector-specific, ongoing competitive research fund by hosting specific rounds of funding, processing grant proposals, coordinating with researchers, and supporting partnership development between implementing groups and research affiliates to spark new research projects. There are currently openings on the Agriculture, Health, and AI for Social Good sector or pillar teams. Please indicate in the Google application form below if you are interested in these or other sectors, which may have openings as well. 
• **Other (25%): ******Have the opportunity to support J-PAL’s overall mission in a number of ways. These can include performing internal tasks such as knowledge management, supporting recruitment and hiring, internal training and onboarding, supporting work on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and undertaking professional development opportunities. Associates may also serve as liaisons between J-PAL Global and one of J-PAL’s regional offices covering Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia and and Southeast Asia, support our work with corporate impact partners, or assist with other broad J-PAL projects.  
**Qualifications & skills**

*Your technical expertise, strong communication and organizational skills, passion for translating research into action, and interest in international development make you an ideal candidate for Policy Associate.*

• **Education: **You hold at least a bachelor’s degree (master’s preferred) with significant training in economics, including intermediate-level economics and econometrics. Do you have a demonstrated academic interest in international development and public policy and/or international experience? Even better.
• **Experience: **You have a minimum of two years of relevant full- or part-time work experience. Full-time work experience includes a relevant job or a master’s degree. Part-time experience includes related internships in research and/or policy work. You may be a recent or soon-to-be graduate with related internships, or you may have previous experience in research and/or development work.
• **Skills: **You are comfortable with intermediate-level economics and econometrics, especially randomized evaluation methodology, as well as working in or learning computer applications, including Google Suite, and Salesforce. English language fluency is required. Knowledge of Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, French, Portuguese, Spanish, or other languages spoken in our regions of work are a plus.
• **Experience with AI:** Your experience applying AI, beyond basic generative AI usage, to improve workflows is valuable. You have the ability to determine where and how AI tool use is responsible and ethical in own work. Having working knowledge of a coding language sufficient to be able to describe a project to an LLM, execute the generated code, and iteratively de-bug with the AI tool’s help is a plus.
• **Communication:** You are detail-oriented and have advanced writing skills. You understand how to communicate policy lessons from technical academic research in ways that policymakers and practitioners understand. You are precise, clear, and creative.
• **Organization: **You are a strategic thinker. You can handle multiple projects at once, meet deadlines, and effectively manage your time.
• **Cultural competencies: **You are comfortable and adept at working in a diverse and multicultural work environment, with colleagues, partners and policymakers from around the world. You display sensitivity, adaptability, and inclusivity in your engagement with people from diverse backgrounds including age, ability, culture, gender, nationality, race and ethnicity, religion, sexuality, socioeconomic status, and other identities. We appreciate candidates who have familiarity with concepts and frameworks such as racial equity or gender analyses.
• **Attitude: **You love learning. You are passionate about international development policy and the rigorous research that informs it. You are agile, adaptable, self-motivated, hardworking, and collaborative.
**Professional development**

*The Policy & Communications Group invests in your professional development. As a Policy Associate, you will learn, engage, travel, and grow.*

• **Learn:** J-PAL supports a culture of learning with opportunities to attend weekly MIT-Harvard Deve...