Head of Evidence and Evaluation

The Opportunity: As Kheyti's founding Head of Evidence and Evaluation, you will build the evidence function from scratch — defining what we measure and generating the evidence that guides how we learn, improve, and scale. This is a founder's role within an established organization. You will have the mandate and resources to put the systems and team in place, and you will be a strategic partner to leadership as Kheyti moves from proving the model to making climate-smart agriculture part of India's public agricultural system.

Job Type: Full time Location: Hyderabad / Remote Level: Senior Leadership (Head)

Key Responsibilities: Evidence Strategy: Assess what Kheyti measures today, what it needs to know, and where the gaps are. Shape the evidence strategy — theories of change, impact pathways, learning agendas, and outcome indicators across farmer income, resilience, and adoption. Own the evidence budget and decide where to invest it. Data Infrastructure: Consolidate organizational data into a reliable repository. Standardize collection tools, quality assurance, and validation. Partner with Product and Technology to embed measurement into digital products and workflows. Evidence Generation: Design sampling and survey protocols. Lead internal studies. Commission and manage external evaluations with research partners, holding them to standard. Develop approaches ranging from monitoring and cost-effectiveness analysis to counterfactual and quasi-experimental designs, matching rigor to the decision at stake. Learning and Insights: Translate evidence into insights that shape program, product, and organizational decisions. Produce learning briefs and board materials. Evidence for Policy: Generate the evidence state governments and central ministries need to adopt and fund the model. Represent that evidence in policy and technical discussions. Team and Partnerships: Grow and mentor a high-performing Evidence and Evaluation team. Develop relationships across India's research, evaluation, and funder ecosystem.

Ideal Candidate: You are an evidence leader who has established a function before, not inherited one. You are equally at ease with field teams, research design, and senior stakeholders, and you pair deep technical expertise with the judgment to know which questions are worth answering rigorously.

Must-Haves: 10+ years in monitoring, evaluation, or applied research, with a track record of setting up evidence and learning systems where none existed. You have been the most senior evidence person in an organization and have owned the funder and board conversation directly. Sound judgment about when a full evaluation is warranted and when strong monitoring or a cost-effectiveness analysis is the better investment. Significant experience in the Indian development sector, ideally in agriculture, livelihoods, rural development, or climate adaptation. Strong quantitative and qualitative research skills — survey design, sampling, field research, and statistical analysis. Experience with government and public systems, and the ability to translate findings into clear, actionable insights for policymakers and funders. Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Nice-to-Haves: A track record of taking evidence into government programs or policy at scale. Strong networks within India's research and evaluation ecosystem, including organizations such as J-PAL, IDinsight, universities, and similar institutions.