Associate Director

Job Title: Associate Director, Data Hub

Reports to:Senior Director, Data Hub

Role Type: Full-Time (100%)

Salary: $105,000 - $110,000

Location: Boston, MA / East Coast preferred

POSITION SUMMARY

The Associate Director, Data Hub will work closely with other team members, our clients, consultants and partners to meet the impact and sustainability goals of the department. Reporting to the Senior Director of Data Hub, the Associate Directorwill be responsible for leading and ensuring the success of the analytic side of all client engagements, which requires effective project, staff, and client management. A productive, creative, and practitioner-centric leader, the Associate Director will also contribute to Project Evident’s growth and the culture of belonging and accountability by engaging and contributing across the organization to advance performance, learning, growth and impact. The Associate Director will represent the organization externally and successfully manage complex analytical projects, teams, and clients to improve systems, processes, policies, and outcomes in a consulting environment, including traveling to select conferences over the course of the year.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES

Project & Client Relationship Management (35%)

• Serve as lead and/or primary analytic relationship manager for client engagements with state and local education agencies, nonprofits, and funders.
• Manage client kick-off and close-out process for analytics, to ensure that all data privacy and exchange protocols are adhered and that client business rules are clearly documented.
• Build, manage, and sustain strong relationships with our clients, technical assistance partners, funders, and staff both in the Data Hub and across the organization, to ensure effective and efficient delivery of engagements.
• Lead and manage critical aspects of engagements including: creating and managing analytic project plans; developing content, and deliverables; leveraging staff and consultant  expertise, existing tools and frameworks to ensure effective content; and providing actionable feedback to project team members and clients.

• Ensure that client-ready content and deliverables are clear and actionable, are aligned with existing protocols, are well documented and are improved as needed.  

• Ensure high-quality analytic content for in-person and virtual meetings/working sessions, training sessions, and /or workshops including.
• Collaborate with colleagues to develop new analytic approaches for meeting client needs in line with sustainability and impact objectives.

Data &  Analytics Management (35%)

• Design and implement different types of analyses from descriptive statistics to program evaluation and visualize the information for both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Identify coding challenges and resolve or elevate them with the data team and support other data analysts identify and resolve challenges as needed.
• Manage team data management structure, including privacy control for projects and maintaining a library of robust and well-documented scripts to automate common tasks.
• Develop work plans for analytic tasks, which could include assigning specific tasks/analyses to other analysts
• Perform complex analytic tasks with minimal supervision.
• Internally, manage Project Evident’s data policies, security, and protocols. 
• Internally, for relevant data and reports (e.g., management team reports, OKRs, and impact dashboard), lead data collection, analysis, visualization and processes.
• Internally, lead the development and process for internal organizational and departmental continuous improvement that are bolstered by relevant management reports as well as more detailed analyses in certain domains as needed.

Staff Management (20%)

• Co-develop plans and help set, meet, and adjust allocations and performance targets for the data team and participate in continuous improvement efforts to strengthen practice and support learning; sharing with other team members to ensure learnings are incorporated for future plans.
• Supervise staff to appropriately assemble, clean, manage, and analyze large longitudinal data sets derived from multiple sources.
• Provide guidance and serve as quality control of staff work from data cleaning, to coding, and analytics, including identifying coding challenges and resolving or elevating the issues as appropriate.
• Train and help grow team members on core data analytic tasks and more complicated analytic tasks.  
• Attract, develop, coach, supervise and retain high-performance team members, give and receive actionable and productive feedback, empower others to elevate their level of responsibility, span of control, and performance.  
• Embody Project Evident’s values and performance behaviors to help build and strengthen a culture of belonging and accountability. 
• Contribute to strategy development and implementation for Project Evident overall.
• Play an active role as a contributing member of the management team. 

Business Development (10%)

• Engage in business development and secure funding in support of the Data Hub.

EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE

Minimum Requirements:

• Master's degree required; Ph.D. degree preferred
• 5+ years of experience in project and/or program management, effective collaboration, results-based operations, performance management in consulting, nonprofit, education, or philanthropic environment.   Relevant coursework can compensate for years of experience
• Demonstrated expertise in education/social sector data analytics.  
• Demonstrated success with client management
• Experience with mixed-methods design, including both quantitative and qualitative analyses.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES

We are also looking for candidates who have demonstrated experience: 

• Managing large-scale, complex, analytical projects that utilize multiple data sources, including, but not limited to, education and social program administration data.
• Ability to train staff and conduct quality control on staff work using tools such as SPSS, SAS, Stata, Python, and R.
• Ability to train staff and conduct quality control on staff work using STATA.
• Managing clients and client projects, including working effectively with multiple stakeholders who may have evolving priorities.
• Managing projects, processes, and teams, and proven ability to work under tight timelines, accurately assess problems, and develop solutions.
• Creating and effectively executing work plans, processes, and documentation that help to streamline and codify existing practices.
• Developing/designing curriculum/workshop content and providing successful training sessions, coaching, and implementation support.
• Working both independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced environment on multiple projects; ability to effectively prioritize time and tasks 
• Translating data and evidence into action and sharing information in an understandable, actionable manner with external stakeholders, which requires an understanding of evidence-based practices.
• Engaging and effective manager of people, processes, and resources. 

Candidates should also have:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills, with a proven ability to write and copyedit clear, concise narratives and presentations.
• Extremely high standards for accuracy and impeccable attention to detail.
• The ability to interface with diverse staff and partners in various domains.
• The ability to respond adeptly to rapidly changing priorities and be comfortable in an entrepreneurial environment with fast deadlines.
• Experience with and high degree of proficiency using common cloud-based productivity tools, e.g., Google Docs, Office 365, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Slack.
• Knowledge of current key trends and relevant field developments to inform decisions, methods, and other needs to ensure excellent content and reporting.

Candidates should be:

• A problem solver and active listener who seeks clarification, asks questions, and surfaces solutions. 
• A self-starter able to independently research and consolidate information, including technical documentation and policy.
• Committed to a high-performance culture; participate in giving and receiving feedback; and believe in continuous self-improvement.

• Python, R
• Data science/machine learning
• PyTorch, scikit-learn, TensorFlow

SHARED COMMITMENTS

We seek candidates who share the following and are fully committed to Project Evident’s theory of change and aligned with our Next Generation of Evidence principles.

• Belonging and Accountability. We value and respect one another while holding each other accountable for delivering outcomes. We grow and reward superb talent. 
• Strong Learning and Problem Solving Orientation. We insist upon the ability to learn and grow from mistakes, seek clarification, listen and ask questions, identify problems and surface solutions, and help others do the same. We don’t sit in uncertainty. 
• Grace Under Pressure. We don’t sit with ambiguity; we are quick to adjust, adapt, and respond with a high level of maturity and empathy.
• Intrinsically Motivated. We care deeply about the mission and working with practitioners to deliver better, more meaningful, and equitable outcomes for students and communities. 
• Disagree and Commit. We are fans of rigorous debate, and then we align to support effective implementation.
• Act with dignity and assume the best intent. We recognize that not all of us are going to use the right language, but all of us are working towards the same goal. We strive to avoid blame and drama.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

• Virtual Team Collaboration – Ability to work effectively in a remote environment with team members across multiple time zones. Regular availability is expected between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM (ET).
• Workload Flexibility – Expected to work 40-50 hours per week, with fluctuations based on client and organizational demands.
• Travel Requirements—Travel up to 20% is required to meet the organization's needs.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

• Ability to sit, talk, and listen for extended periods, up to 8 hours daily.
• Requires fine motor skills, including continuous typing for up to 4 hours.
• Ability to lift and carry items weighing up to 30 pounds.

Studies have shown that women and people of color are often reluctant to submit a job application unless they meet all qualifications—we encourage applicants who may not meet 100 percent of the position qualifications to apply anyway.