Senior Associate, Survey Designer

POSITION: Senior Associate, Survey Designer

LOCATION: We will only consider candidates legally authorized to work in Côte d'Ivoire. WORKPLACE TYPE: Flexible hybrid working environment CLOSING DATE: 02 October 2026 JOB LEVEL: 14

Please note: this is a confidential recruitment initiative. Further information about the initiative will be shared with shortlisted candidates following execution of an NDA.

Project: An industry-led initiative implementing programs dedicated to farmers and communities at scale with the objective of strengthening the resilience of the cocoa supply chain in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.

Role of RA: Supporting the launch of the operations in Côte d'Ivoire by establishing and managing a team to ensure effective delivery, coordination, and monitoring of all activities on the field including agronomy services.

POSITION SUMMARY: The Rainforest Alliance leads global monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) initiatives to support effective program implementation, continuous improvement, and data-driven decision-making across multiple countries and partnerships. These efforts depend on well-designed survey instruments, reliable digital data collection systems, and field teams equipped to apply them consistently.

We are looking for a Senior Associate, Survey Designer. You will lead the design, digital programming, and quality assurance of survey instruments. These instruments are used for programme monitoring, baseline and endline studies, and farmer-level data collection. You will translate research questions into field-ready questionnaires, build and maintain them, and support the field teams that deploy them in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.

You will report to the Senior Manager, Performance, Verification & Impact.

WHAT YOU WILL DO:

Survey Design and Research Methodology

Translate research questions, indicators, and MEL frameworks into survey instruments, selecting appropriate question types, response scales, and respondent-selection approaches; Draft, review, and version questionnaires, ensuring question wording is unambiguous, non-leading, and appropriate to the literacy and cultural context of respondents; Design skip logic, constraints, calculations, and roster or repeat structures so that each respondent receives only the relevant question path; Manage translation and back-translation of instruments into local languages, and validate translated versions on-device before deployment; Plan and run cognitive testing, pre-tests, and pilots, and document the revisions arising from them; Define and document indicator-to-question mapping, codebooks, and data dictionaries so that outputs are analysis-ready; Advise programme teams on instrument length, respondent burden, and the trade-offs between data ambition and field feasibility.

Survey Programming and Platform Administration

Build and maintain survey forms in XLSForm, applying relevance, constraint, calculation, and repeat expressions, external choice lists, and multi-language label columns across the survey, choices, and settings worksheets; Configure, deploy, and version surveys in the foundation platform or in any other appropriate data collection tool, including deployment to Android devices for offline collection, GPS and farm-mapping questions, and real-time cloud synchronisation; Administer the data collection environment: enumerator and user accounts, roles and permissions, device provisioning, form refresh and update cycles, and pre-loaded reference data such as farmer registries; Configure data exports and dashboards so that analysis and reporting teams receive consistently structured data;

Data Quality Assurance and Troubleshooting

Build quality controls into instruments at the design stage: validation rules, logical consistency checks, mandatory fields, GPS capture, and timestamp or duration capture where appropriate; Monitor incoming data during collection, running high-frequency checks for outliers, missing values, duplicates, straight-lining, and implausible enumerator productivity; Investigate and resolve data issues with field teams, issuing correction instructions and recording resolutions in an issues log; Maintain back-checks, spot checks, and field audits, and report quality indicators to the MEL and programme teams;

Training and Field Support of Data Agents

Develop enumerator manuals, question-by-question guidance, and quick-reference troubleshooting guides in the working languages of the field teams; Plan and deliver training for data agents and supervisors on survey content, interview technique, respondent consent, device handling, and use of the survey application; Run practice and certification exercises during training and confirm that agents meet a minimum standard before deployment; Provide day-to-day remote and in-person support during data collection, acting as first-line help desk for survey and application issues; Support supervisors with team monitoring routines, including review of daily submissions and feedback to individual agents;

WHAT YOU BRING:

Degree in a relevant field (e.g. statistics, economics, social sciences, agriculture, data science, or related); 3–5 years of experience designing and programming surveys for household, farmer, or programme monitoring data collection; Demonstrated experience authoring XLSForm instruments and deploying them through ODK-based platforms (e.g. ODK, KoboToolbox, SurveyCTO); Experience in survey research methodology: questionnaire design, sampling, question wording, measurement, and pre-testing; Resolve digital data collection problems in offline and low-connectivity field conditions; Practical experience designing and running data quality assurance routines, including high-frequency checks, back-checks, and data cleaning; Experience training and supporting enumerators or field data agents, including development of training and reference materials; Working knowledge of tools for data checks and reporting (e.g. Excel, Stata, R, Python, or Power BI); Professional proficiency in French and English; Ability to travel 30% per year, including regular travel to field sites in cocoa-growing regions.

BENEFITS OF WORKING AT THE RAINFOREST ALLIANCE:

Be a part of a global organization with an impactful mission and a collaborative, respectful, and accountable culture. Enjoy opportunities for professional growth and career development. Benefit from remote working flexibility and flexible hybrid working environment. A favourable time‑off policy. Prioritize your wellbeing. We have numerous ways to promote work-life balance.

Apply now and let's grow together. We look forward to hearing from you and exploring how your skills can help us advance our mission.

If you have any questions about the job vacancy, please contact the HR department: [email removed - click apply for more details] The Rainforest Alliance encourages diversity and inclusion across the global organization. With this commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, ages, disability and any other protected group.