Senior Director – Research, Evaluation, and Program Development
The Senior Director of Research, Evaluation, and Program Development is a strategic executive leader. This position serves as an inspiring thought partner, supporting YW programs to integrate research and evaluation into practice, and supporting the sector to benefit from the YW’s findings.
Department: Advancement Supervisor: Vice President of Advancement Compensation: $105,000 (with PhD) FLSA Status: Exempt, Full-Time Hours of Work: Monday – Friday; Typical Business Hours. Occasional evening or weekend work.
Kalamazoo 49007
Brief Description
The Senior Director of Research, Evaluation, and Program Development is a strategic executive leader. This position serves as an inspiring thought partner, supporting YW programs to integrate research and evaluation into practice, and supporting the sector to benefit from the YW’s findings.
Job Responsibilities
1. Centers anti-racism, feminism, and trauma-responsive leadership in all activities, including in leadership, partnership, and research.
2. Consults on research design and implementation, including development and direct facilitation of groups, interviews, and surveys when necessary
3. Collaboratively develops, manages, and forecasts departmental budget
4. Serves as the principal writer for research funding opportunities
5. Manages funded research projects in accordance with contractual requirements
6. Collaboratively creates and executes agency-wide research, evaluation, and program development protocols
7. Ensure all programs agency-wide are supported with a collaboratively created, rigorous, measurable logic model
8. Ensure all tools and interventions used agency-wide are vetted and either a) evidence-based or b) if no appropriate tool/intervention exists, have an actionable plan to develop the evidence-base
9. Maintain a comprehensive roster of the tools and interventions used across the agency, including confirmation (and citations) for whether the tools/interventions have been evaluated with like-populations to the communities served by YWCA Kalamazoo
10. Ensure research methods deployed are an effective, rigorous blend of qualitative and quantitative methods, and that the analysis and discussion around results uses best practices
11. Lead the organization’s research-to-practice strategy, including:
12. In partnership with the PIs and program teams, identifying what needs assessments, evaluations, and research studies would be strategic in furthering the agency’s mission
13. Identifying research/practice gaps, and ways the organization can bridge the research-practice divide internally and externally
14. The strategy for organizational studies to be shared publicly for maximum impact
15. Secure, facilitate, and monitor research partnerships, including developing the agency IRB process
16. Directs the development and issuance of data for monthly KPI reports, annual reports, advocacy reports, and funder data reports
17. Collaborates across departments to develop policy papers
18. Honors and uplifts the expertise held by others
19. Develops and provides senior oversight for research partnerships, including subaward management, contract performance review, and fiscal oversight
20. Demonstrates consistent visibility and on-site engagement across the agency, developing the critical relationships necessary for mutual information sharing and collaborative action
21. Intentionally builds partnership and relationship with personnel at all levels
22. Participates in public information sharing with partners, legislators, media, conferences, and other opportunities
23. Engages in weekly 1:1 supervision, committed to personal growth and coaching others in accordance with agency leadership requirements
24. Develop and support a team of specialists and principal investigators to:
• Identify relevant data trends in their pillars of service
• Effectively manage research subawards and partnerships
• Facilitate a collaborative and actionable discussion regarding what action may be needed based on data observations
• Develop and implement needs assessments, evaluations, and research studies within their target service pillar
• Support programs to translate findings into appropriate understanding of implications, collaboratively generated recommendations, and actionable steps
• Engage routinely and meaningfully in pillar operations to enhance relationship and understanding
• Produce sound, accessible research reports that further organizational and sector practice
• Conduct impact evaluations that inform the agency’s strategy to eliminate racism and empower women
• Ensure ethical practice in all aspects of research activities
• Share results in the public sphere
• Grow professionally as leaders, researchers, innovators, and collaborators
• Become leaders in bridging the research-practice divide
Education requirements, certifications, work experience
Masters in social work or related field required, including applied research, OR
PhD strongly preferred in social work, early childhood, public health or related field
• Experience bridging the research-practice divide through implementation science and practice
• 10+ years of developing and executing social service programs
• Personal or professional experience related to at least one of the agency’s service pillars
• Demonstrated experience in all of the following: designing and executing impact evaluations; strategic planning; personnel supervision and growth; conducting needs assessments; facilitating research partnerships; leading direct service teams
KEY SKILLS:
• Expertise in implementation science and practice
