Senior Education & MERL Manager

Based at
:
Derry-Londonderry (working from home will be considered)

Responsible to
:
Head of MEL & Education

Contract
:
Full Time, Permanent

Children in Crossfire is a registered charity in Ireland that facilitates International Development and Global Citizenship Education (GCE) activities. Our vision is a compassionate world where every child can reach his or her potential. We work in partnership with local organisations in Tanzania and Ethiopia to improve the lives of the most disadvantaged young children, with a particular focus on Early Childhood Education (ECE).

In Ireland, we work through GCE to engage the public in issues of global justice, and increased investment in ECE.

The Senior Education and MERL Manager operates the MEL engine room for Children in Crossfire’s education portfolio. This head office role is responsible for ensuring that Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) is effectively rolled out across country programmes. The postholder will champion a strong organisational learning culture, ensuring that evidence is consistently applied to guide programme improvements and strategic choices.

The organisation’s core focus is on early childhood education and early primary learning; the role therefore requires substantial experience in international education programming. The postholder will ensure that MERL systems, evidence, and insights are grounded in sector realities and meaningfully strengthen the quality, relevance, and impact of Children in Crossfire’s education work in Low- and Middle-Income Country (LMIC) contexts.

• Support building and maintaining MERL systems and data quality on behalf of head office and across all country programmes;
• Lead analytics & visualization, and support in translating evidence to narrative;
• Lead partner data tracking and MEL capacity building to support grant management;
• Work closely with the wider Children in Crossfire team providing support as required.

This role is considered to present a medium rating of safeguarding risk
. The role will be primarily office-based, with limited field work in schools and communities or direct interaction with children and vulnerable adults.

All applicants are required to complete a Children in Crossfire Application Form
.

The closing date for applications is 12noon on 9 th March 2026
.