Democracy Program Manager

The Company

Stears is a data & intelligence startup of 40+ people. We provide economic and industry data for decision-makers at global organisations investing and operating in Africa. Our mission is to be the world's most trusted provider of African data & insight. We make this possible by integrating all our intelligence (analysis, proprietary data, aggregated public data, licensed data, forecasts and reports) into a searchable intelligence platform for our corporate subscribers. More about Stears.

We also have a social impact mission and recently formed an Open Data team focused on making important datasets about Africa freely available to the public. The Open Data team publishes datasets that increase transparency into political systems and the management of public goods (infrastructure, publicly funded services, land, environment, etc). This role sits within that team.

The Role

Why it’s important: This role is focused on helping people understand the state of democracy across the continent, including tracking elections and their outcomes. Many of Africa’s young democracies are floundering and citizens are increasingly dissatisfied with democracy, opening the door to greater civil unrest and the return of more military regimes. Manipulation of elections and the inability of governments to deliver welfare and security have contributed to democracy's decline. There is a lack of transparency and comprehensive information on African elections and democratic processes. This role is focused on bridging those critical information gaps.

What it includes: You will be responsible for maintaining, improving, and expanding our African Elections Monitor as well as steering our strategy for providing high quality, impactful information about democracy across Africa. This includes project management, desk research, data collection, data analysis, presenting insights, and pitching your ideas to leadership.

Responsibilities: As a Democracy Program Manager at Stears, you are responsible for:

• Strategy:
  • Network and build strong relationships with CSOs, journalists, and other people who would benefit from our work. Learn about their projects and data needs to inform our strategy.
  • Identify and refine a strategy for our platform - what data should be improved or added? Pitch your ideas to leadership.
  • Identify which upcoming elections will be the most high-stakes and important to cover in-depth.
  • Identify and pursue potential partnership opportunities.
• Execution:

  • Maintain the platform and keep all the African Elections Monitor data up-to-date:

    • Stay abreast of the latest democracy and political risk news for all countries in Africa.
    • Actively follow prioritised elections. Collect and publish results data from government and media sources as quickly as possible.

  • Project management:

    • Scope data collection projects.
    • Create roadmaps with time estimates.
    • Identify additional staffing needs for short-term data collection efforts.

  • Create and curate new datasets:

    • Identify appropriate data sources and analysis methodologies. For example, if Stears wanted to create something similar to EIU’s Democracy Index for the African context, what metrics should we use and how should we aggregate and weight them?
    • Collect, clean, combine, and organise datasets. Assess and quantify data quality problems
    • Analyse datasets to derive insights. Create data visualisations to make insights easy to understand.

  • Provide regular briefings on political risk insights to the company to help support our commercial work.

Who you will work with: As the Democracy Program Manager, you will also be a member of the Open Data Team and report to the Head of Open Data.

We are looking for someone with:

• Fluency in both French and English

• At least 4 years of full-time work experience

• Passion for African democracy and knowledge of the election observation ecosystem

• A creative, self-starter attitude and the ability to scope and execute projects autonomously

• Experience managing datasets and databases

• Competence using Excel or Google Sheets for data analysis and data cleaning (eg. using pivot tables and formulas like VLOOKUP)

• Knowledge in statistics and mathematics

• Passion for data visualisation and making insights easy to understand

Perks

Meaningful perks matter to us. They make employees better and contribute to making Stears a great place to work. If you join us, you can be assured that you’ll enjoy a wide range of generous perks, rewards and office benefits including:

• Flexible working we are currently hybrid (you chose what days you are in the office)

• Help lay the platform foundations of our African expansion. We are currently fleshing out our expansion strategy and would love you to be a part of this growth while doing impactful work

• Be part of our new product offerings

• Unlimited access to Stears Intelligence Solutions

• The Stears Experience - These are the top reasons employees are having the best experience of their careers at Stears:

  • Deepen their analytical & critical thinking skills which apply beyond a specific domain
  • Gain a high level of autonomy and responsibility by taking on a senior role in our high trust startup environment and relatively flat organizational hierarchy
  • Do something meaningful by being part of a team making African data more widely available

• Access to an expert Intelligence & Analytics team - Stears Intelligence team includes some of the brightest knowledge experts in Nigeria covering a wide range of sectors, all with a passion for delivering the highest quality of intelligence and analytics on the African continent.

• Competitive salaries at junior, intermediate and senior levels

• Comprehensive Health Insurance coverage

• Paid time off - 25 days excluding public holidays and sick days (Prorated)

• Compassionate Leave

• Parental Leave

• Unlimited Sick Leave

• Special emphasis on learning and development

• Regular social activities, including annual off-site team bonding

• A well stocked fridge, lots of snacks and bean bags

• Stears branded merchandise and swag

Diversity

Stears is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and will consider all qualified applicants regardless of color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital or family status, disability, gender identity or expression, veteran status, actual or presumed belonging to an ethnic group, or any other legally protected status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.