The Transparency International Secretariat is seeking a Research Specialist to support TI's strategic priority to protect the integrity of politics, with a particular focus on political finance. TI works to strengthen the resilience of integrity systems against abuse by high-level officials and undue influence by corrupt interests, including through stronger anti-corruption measures in political funding and public decision-making, and by supporting accountability for infringements.
The role supports the generation of rigorous, comparable and policy-relevant evidence to inform TI's advocacy on political finance integrity. Among TI's political finance projects, the Clean Money in Elections project (since 2023) combines international advocacy on political finance standards with domestic advocacy for stronger rules, monitoring and enforcement in target countries across Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Over the next two years the Research Specialist will lead and coordinate defined research activities, including gap analyses of international election and anti-corruption monitoring methodologies, comparative assessments of national political finance frameworks and practice, and monitoring of campaign expenditure, abuse of public resources, transparency gaps and weaknesses in oversight and enforcement. The role also supports development and use of digital tools for campaign finance monitoring, contributes to policy briefs, guidance and documentation of good practices, and helps translate research findings into evidence-based recommendations for policymakers, TI national chapters and international monitoring mechanisms. The post works closely with the Policy & Advocacy, Global Movement and Communications teams, reporting to the Head of Research and Knowledge.
Requirements: university degree or equivalent in a relevant social science field (political science, sociology, economics, public administration) with a strong academic emphasis on research; at least 5 years of relevant professional experience, preferably with an international think tank, NGO or intergovernmental organisation working on anti-corruption, democracy support, electoral integrity or political finance; strong knowledge of anti-corruption, political integrity and political finance; practical experience in research design, comparative analysis and the development of research tools, indicators and methodologies; multi-country or international research experience (experience on Africa an advantage); strong project coordination, writing and communication skills; professional proficiency in English and French required.
Contract: full time (40 hours/week), fixed term of 24 months, estimated start 1 October 2026.
Salary band PF2, EUR 42,000-59,000 gross per year.
Location: TI Secretariat, Berlin, hybrid, with some international travel.
Benefits include relocation package and work permit sponsorship if eligible, German language class contribution, 30 days annual leave, remote-hybrid working within Germany and work-from-abroad options.
Closing date: 2026-09-22
HOW TO APPLY:
Interested candidates are invited to submit a CV and cover letter in English, merged into one PDF file, via the TI website by clicking on the vacant position and the button 'Apply Online'.
Closing date for applications is Tuesday 22.09.2026 13:30 CET.
Only applications duly completed and received through the online recruitment system will be considered.
Transparency International does not charge any fees at any stage of its recruitment and selection process.
https://jobdb.softgarden.de/jobdb/public/jobposting/applyonline/click?jp=67119005