Remote Senior Director, Data and Research

Summary

Join Instruction Partners as a Senior Director of Data & Research to drive continuous improvement of instructional leadership services and test innovative strategies for improving teaching and learning. This full-time remote position requires national travel up to 50%.

Requirements

• Advanced degree with advanced coursework on education research and evaluation, specifically including research methodologies (PhD or Doctorate preferred)
• 5+ years building, leading, mentoring, and developing teams
• 12+ years professional experience in: leading quantitative and qualitative research studies through the complete lifecycle from conception to report writing and publishing or presentation
• Facilitating teams’ adoption and collaborative management of data systems and processes that inform programmatic and operational implementation decisions and monitoring/evaluation of short and long term outputs and outcomes, including: (1) statistical programming applications (e.g., Stata, SAS), (2) data warehousing and analysis technologies (e.g., Python),  and (3) Business intelligence or data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, Google Analytics)
• Participating in and facilitating data architecture decision making processes
• Ability to communicate technical information to non-technical audiences via writing and data visualization
• Experience leading organizational learning processes to inform continuous improvement
• High cultural competence with a commitment to equity and antiracism
• Outstanding collaboration skills with experience leading cross-functional teams
• Ability to compel others to action through influence and information

Responsibilities

• Advising and supporting the CEO and Partnership and Program senior leaders with goal-setting, progress monitoring, evaluation, and coordinated reporting of Instruction Partners’ service impact goals to the Board, funders, and the public
• Leading the cross-functional Data Governance Committee in support of the committee’s determination and quality assurance of data definitions, sources, security, calculations, and interpretation of organizational service data leveraged across our four data teams
• Strategic guidance and support of the Director of the Program Measurement and Evaluation’s management of programmatic learning and research initiatives, specifically focused on engaging external peer and partner organizations for public collaboration and communication of Instruction Partners’ programmatic learning and research on core, pilot and emerging services
• Research & Evaluation: Collaborates with organizational leaders to identify and prioritize new or rescoped research studies and pilots aimed at generating learning to improve teaching and learning for all students
• Provides strategic guidance for  organizational research and evaluation cycles for all Instruction Partners service lines, especially related to the “book ends” of designing learning questions and metrics at the beginning and strategies for analysis and reporting at the end
• Lead learning and advice for relevant functional and cross-functional teams, including the Partnership and Program Leadership Group (PPLG), to design and facilitate internal discussions of data and findings to inform programmatic improvements for all service lines
• Provides thought partnership to the directors of all organizational data teams on analysis and research methods, including specifying Theories of Action, defining metrics, identifying data sources, analyzing data, and reporting findings
• Initiates and oversees fulfillment of legal and funding requirements for collaborative partnerships with external research organizations managed by the Director of Measurement & Evaluation to design and implement rigorous research studies
• Collaborates with the Chief Program Officer and executive leadership to write and publish data-informed thought leadership articles and reports
• Quality Assurance and Data Governance: Facilitates Data Governance Committee to define the vision, strategy, and change management for the implementation of consistent, evidence-based practices for organization-wide data collection, storage, security, analysis, and reporting
• Assures quality (i.e., accuracy and validity) of quantitative and qualitative data shared by the organization for thought leadership, inspiration, marketing,  org learning and evaluation
• Serves as a liaison between executive leadership and the Data Governance Committee, efficiently involving leaders in data governance and data architecture decision-making
• Team Management and Cross-Team Advisory and Facilitation: Manages 1-2 Data Directors who directly supervise their teams of data analysts and support staff to meet team goals
• Promotes a team culture of antiracism and inclusion, learning and building deep, meaningful relationships
• Creates an environment of innovation, rigor, teamwork, and customer service
• Establishes and/or reinforces structures and processes to maximize team collaboration and efficiency in partnering with internal team partners (“clients”)
• Defines team structures and individual job responsibilities by optimizing the complementary talents and resources of team staff
• Promotes individual growth and development of team members by actively understanding each individual’s strengths, areas of growth, and career aspirations, and providing opportunities for development (such as stretch assignments, access to coaching, and structured professional development) to grow desired skills