Application deadline: None, position will be posted until filled.

NOTE: This role requires relevant experience developing major competitive research funding applications and working effectively with university researchers and research administration systems.

Are you frustrated with what’s happening in the world? Do you feel powerless to drive real change? Are you ready to do something about it? Join Jumpstart

Jumpstart Refugee Talent is establishing Refugee Lens Investing Canada (RLI Canada), a national research and market-development initiative focused on building the evidence, partnerships and community needed to advance refugee lens investing in Canada. We are seeking an experienced research and partnership professional to lead and pioneer the next stage of RLI Canada’s development.

Jumpstart Refugee Talent is a global refugee-led charitable organization with offices in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Bogota, and Beirut. We are dedicated to unlocking the potential of refugee talent by fostering economic inclusion through employment, entrepreneurship, and labor mobility pathways. Since 2016, we have empowered thousands of refugees to contribute meaningfully to their communities while building thriving, resilient careers.

About the Role

This is a hands-on institution-building role. The successful candidate will build university research partnerships, develop major research funding opportunities, secure external funding partners, help establish RLI Canada’s governance and operating model, and lead the development of a national Refugee Lens Investing Community of Practice.

A central priority is competitive academic research funding.



The successful candidate must understand how major university-led research applications are developed and have direct experience working with researchers and university research offices on successful applications to SSHRC, CIHR, NSERC or comparable competitive research funding programs.

The successful candidate will not be expected to conduct the academic research. They will be expected to know how to bring together the researchers, universities, partners, funding and institutional processes required to make major cooperative research happen.

RLI Canada, Jumpstart Refugee Talent and the Refugee Impact Fund

RLI Canada is being developed as a semi-autonomous initiative within Jumpstart Refugee Talent and will work closely with both Jumpstart’s economic inclusion programs and the Refugee Impact Fund .

The three have distinct but complementary roles:

- Jumpstart Refugee Talent provides the charitable home, organizational infrastructure and deep connection to refugees, employers and Canada’s refugee-serving ecosystem.
- RLI Canada builds the research, evidence, academic partnerships, knowledge infrastructure and Community of Practice needed to advance refugee lens investing in Canada.
- The Refugee Impact Fund applies refugee lens investing in practice by mobilizing capital for refugee-led businesses,



employers expanding refugee hiring and ecosystem partners supporting refugee economic inclusion.

The successful candidate will help create productive collaboration across these initiatives while maintaining appropriate boundaries between charitable programming, independent academic research and investment activities.

Key Responsibilities

University Partnerships and Research Funding

- Build relationships with Canadian universities, faculty researchers, research institutes and university Research Services, Research Development and Research Partnerships offices.
- Identify and engage potential principal investigators and research teams.
- Work with partners to develop a Canadian research agenda for refugee lens investing and refugee economic inclusion.
- Identify and pursue SSHRC, Tri-Agency and other significant research funding opportunities.
- Work with university partners to develop competitive research applications, including partnership structures, budgets, work plans, knowledge mobilization and institutional requirements.
- Coordinate external cash and in-kind partner contributions where required or strategically valuable.
- Build a strong multi-year research funding pipeline.

Institutional Partnerships and Funding

- Build relationships with foundations, financial institutions, investment funds, corporations, governments and other potential partners.
- Secure core and project funding for RLI Canada and its activities.
- Connect institutional funding partners with university-led research opportunities where appropriate.
- Develop a sustainable funding m

📌 Manager, Research and Partnerships (Canada)
🏢 Jumpstart Refugee
📍 Canada