Senior Research and Conflict Data Lead

HumAngle Media Limited is seeking an experienced Senior Research and Conflict Data Lead to lead and grow the research, conflict-data and commercial advisory capabilities of HumAngle's flagship research and advisory wing.

This is a senior leadership role for a researcher who combines rigorous methodology, strong analytical and data capabilities, sound field judgement and a sophisticated understanding of conflict and security environments.

The successful candidate will have responsibility for the intellectual quality and methodological integrity of the unit's research, while also helping build it into a credible and commercially sustainable research and advisory practice. The role therefore combines research leadership with team development, client engagement, proposal development and the delivery of commissioned research and advisory assignments.

The Lead will be expected to build, manage and grow a lean, high-performing commercial research and advisory team, calibrated to available resources, client demand and the strategic priorities of the organisation. This includes developing the team's capabilities, identifying appropriate opportunities, contributing to revenue growth and ensuring that commercial considerations do not compromise research independence, methodological standards, ethics or HumAngle's editorial integrity.

HumAngle's regional presence provides access to conflict-affected communities, local knowledge networks, researchers, intermediaries and individuals with direct or proximate knowledge of armed groups and locations where conventional research access can be constrained. The successful candidate will be responsible for converting information derived from these networks, together with open, institutional and other credible sources, into structured, verifiable and analytically defensible research.

The research portfolio may include armed groups, terrorism and violent extremism, conflict economies, civilian protection, humanitarian crises, financing and logistics networks, cross-border dynamics, political violence and the changing character of insecurity across Nigeria, the Lake Chad Basin and the Sahel.

The successful candidate will be expected to:

Research and Analytical Leadership

• Design and lead original research on armed groups, political violence, terrorism, violent extremism, conflict economies, civilian protection and regional security.
• Establish and continuously improve HumAngle's research methodologies, including approaches to field interviews, source assessment, verification, triangulation, confidence scoring and evidentiary standards.
• Lead research involving conflict-affected communities, field networks, subject-matter experts and knowledgeable regional interlocutors.
• Apply quantitative, qualitative, geospatial, network-analysis and mixed-methods approaches where appropriate to the research question and available evidence.
• Produce and supervise major research reports, analytical briefs, datasets, maps, policy products, commissioned studies and data-driven investigations.
• Clearly distinguish verified findings, assessed judgements, analytical hypotheses and unresolved information gaps in research outputs.
• Maintain high standards of intellectual independence and challenge assumptions, including internally, where available evidence does not support them.

Conflict Data and Methodology

• Lead the development and maintenance of HumAngle's conflict-data architecture, including actor, event, geographic, relationship and other relevant datasets.
• Establish appropriate standards for data collection, classification, documentation, provenance, validation, version control and quality assurance.
• Develop systems for assessing source reliability, information credibility and confidence in analytical conclusions.
• Ensure that datasets and analytical products are sufficiently documented to support internal review, replication where appropriate, and defensible external use.
• Identify appropriate applications of statistical analysis, GIS, network analysis, OSINT and other research technologies.

Commercial Research and Advisory Leadership

• Lead the development and growth of the flagship HumAngle research and advisory wing as a lean, commercially disciplined and intellectually independent practice.
• Build and manage a small multidisciplinary team of researchers, analysts, data specialists and research assistants, expanding the team where justified by programme requirements, secured revenue and organisational priorities.
• Develop credible research and advisory offerings for institutional clients, including international organisations, foundations, development partners, research institutions, responsible private-sector organisations and other appropriate counterparties.
• Contribute to business development by identifying suitable opportunities, shaping research concepts, preparing technical proposals, developing scopes of work and supporting competitive bids.
• Work with relevant HumAngle leadership and functions on project costing, staffing, delivery planning and client management.
• Develop multi-year research programmes and recurring analytical products capable of attracting institutional funding or commercial commissions.
• Maintain constructive relationships with clients and partners while protecting the independence of HumAngle's research findings and analytical conclusions.
• Ensure that commissioned work is accepted and delivered in accordance with HumAngle's ethical, legal, safeguarding, security and conflict-of-interest requirements.
• Support the development of a sustainable pipeline of research and advisory engagements without compromising the organisation's public-interest mission or editorial independence.

Team Leadership and Institutional Development

• Recruit, supervise, mentor and develop researchers and research assistants within approved organisational structures and budgets.
• Establish clear research workflows, review processes, performance expectations and quality-control mechanisms.
• Build internal capacity in research design, conflict data, verification, analytical writing, quantitative methods and other relevant competencies.
• Foster a research culture in which evidence is interrogated, uncertainty is acknowledged and analytical conclusions remain open to challenge.
• Develop partnerships with universities, think tanks, international organisations, research institutions and relevant technical specialists.
• Represent HumAngle's research and advisory work before technical, policy, academic, client and international audiences.

Research Ethics, Security and Quality Assurance

• Establish and enforce appropriate research ethics, informed-consent, source-protection, safeguarding, information-security and data-protection standards.
• Exercise sound judgement regarding sensitive sources, vulnerable participants and information that could create security, legal or reputational risks.
• Ensure that research activities comply with applicable law, contractual obligations, organisational policies and relevant professional and ethical standards.
• Maintain appropriate separation between source access and evidentiary conclusions. Access to a source or community must never, by itself, be treated as proof of a claim.
• Escalate material methodological, ethical, safeguarding, security, legal or conflict-of-interest concerns through appropriate organisational channels.

Candidates should possess a master's degree or higher in Conflict and Security Studies, Political Science, International Relations, Economics, Data Science, Geography, Sociology, Peace and Conflict Studies or another relevant research-intensive discipline.

A PhD is an advantage but is not required where a candidate demonstrates an exceptional record of applied research and analytical leadership.

Candidates should ordinarily have at least five years of relevant professional experience, with substantial exposure to one or more of the following:

• conflict and security research;
• political violence and terrorism research;
• conflict or event data;
• humanitarian research;
• organised crime or illicit economies;
• field-based research in fragile or conflict-affected environments;
• quantitative or mixed-methods research;
• geospatial or network analysis; or
• research consultancy and advisory services.

Strong knowledge of Nigerian and West African security dynamics is essential. Demonstrated experience relating to the Lake Chad Basin or Sahel will be a significant advantage.

Experience managing research teams, delivering commissioned research, developing proposals or managing institutional clients will be particularly valuable given the leadership and commercial responsibilities of the position.

HumAngle is particularly interested in candidates who demonstrate strength across several of the following areas:

• research design and mixed-methods research;
• structured conflict and security datasets;
• field interviewing and human-source research;
• source verification and triangulation;
• statistical and quantitative analysis;
• GIS and geospatial analysis;
• social-network analysis;
• OSINT and digital verification;
• database design, data governance and data management;
• Excel, SQL, Python or R;
• QGIS or ArcGIS;
• KoboToolbox or comparable research platforms;
• high-quality analytical and policy writing;
• research proposal and methodology development; and
• management of commissioned or client-facing research.

Candidates are not expected to demonstrate mastery of every technical tool listed. Methodological judgement, analytical rigour, intellectual curiosity and a demonstrated ability to acquire new technical skills will carry significant weight.

Professional fluency in English is required. French and relevant regional languages, including Hausa, Kanuri, Fulfulde and Arabic, are significant advantages.

HumAngle is looking for more than a strong academic researcher or security analyst.

The successful candidate must be comfortable working with incomplete, sensitive and sometimes contradictory information. They must know how to interrogate assumptions, identify evidentiary gaps and distinguish established facts from assessments, hypotheses and unresolved claims.

They must demonstrate intellectual independence, discretion and sound judgement when handling sensitive research, sources and client engagements.

The Lead must be prepared to challenge prevailing assumptions, including those held by colleagues or senior leadership, where the available evidence does not support them.

They must also be capable of operating at the intersection of rigorous research and commercial delivery. This means understanding client requirements and deadlines without allowing those pressures to predetermine findings or weaken methodological standards.

Access is not evidence. Client expectations are not conclusions. HumAngle's research must be capable of being verified, contextualised, scrutinised and defended.

The successful candidate will help build a distinctive African research and advisory capability integrating:

Field Access + Conflict Data + Verification + Network Analysis + Regional Expertise

During the initial 12-month contract period, the Lead will be expected to:

• establish and document core research methodologies and evidentiary standards;
• develop the foundational architecture for HumAngle's conflict-data systems;
• recruit, organise and develop a lean core research and advisory team within approved resources;
• establish effective research, review, quality-assurance and project-delivery processes;
• launch substantive research workstreams on priority conflict and security questions;
• produce original analytical and data products capable of meeting rigorous external scrutiny;
• develop research and advisory offerings suitable for institutional commissioning;
• contribute materially to a pipeline of credible proposals, partnerships and funded or commercial research engagements; and
• establish the foundations for the responsible growth of the research and advisory practice.

The longer-term objective is to develop a rigorous body of longitudinal knowledge on armed groups, conflict economies, civilian impact, financing and logistics, territorial change and regional security dynamics, while establishing HumAngle as a trusted African provider of high-quality conflict research, data and advisory services.

Applicants should submit:

• a detailed curriculum vitae;
• a concise cover letter explaining their suitability for the role;
• two relevant research or analytical writing samples; and
• examples of relevant data, quantitative, geospatial or methodological work, where available.

Shortlisted candidates should expect a competitive assessment process. Depending on the requirements of the role, this may include exercises in data analysis, source verification, analytical writing, research methodology and/or research design, followed by technical and leadership interviews.

Any appointment will be subject to HumAngle's applicable recruitment procedures, satisfactory reference and background checks where required, agreement on contractual terms and any other conditions specified in the final offer of employment.

HumAngle is particularly interested in candidates who combine international research standards with substantive knowledge of African conflict environments and the intellectual discipline required to produce evidence that can withstand scrutiny.

HumAngle Media Limited reserves the right to modify the scope, responsibilities and reporting arrangements of the role in response to reasonable organisational or project requirements, subject to applicable law and the terms of the successful candidate's employment contract.