Senior Director, Research & Policy

ExpandED is dedicated to ensuring that all young people have access to enriching learning opportunities that affirm their identities, teach them valuable skills, and spark new possibilities. Through program development, capacity-building, research and advocacy, we work toward our vision of a vibrant and stable publicly-funded system of school-community partnership so that all New York City children thrive.

Established in 1998, the organization today works with more than 119,000 children and 900 programs throughout New York City to ensure that students in under-served communities have access to innovative, engaging ways of learning to enable them to reach their full potential. Over the last two decades, ExpandED Schools’ program, research and policy efforts have led to increased recognition of the academic, social, and emotional benefits of enrichment, tutoring, and career-connected learning, increased funding, and new models for school-community partnership.

Purpose of Position

The Senior Director, Research and Policy, has primary oversight over research and policy functions to expand the learning and impact of our organization and its work. The Senior Director, Research and Policy, works across the organization’s program areas and externally to build a strong case for relevant, ambitious, feasible evidence-based recommendations for system change in education and youth development to advance ExpandED’s mission and objectives.

The right candidate for the role has strong familiarity with research practices and methods and experience within local or state government.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Lead a team of five research staff and one policy manager, cultivating a productive and collaborative team culture, strategic use of resources, and individual growth.
• Work with the CEO, COO, and Vice Presidents of our three programmatic areas (enrichment, high-impact tutoring, and career-connected learning), manage the development and evolution of the organization’s multi-pronged research agenda focused on systemic change and supporting young people’s healthy development in New York City.
• Manage research team workflows through task ownership and delegation to ensure:
  • Internal and external multi-method research designs are completed and analysed to answer targeted programmatic and policy questions.
  • Data collection activities for multiple internal and/or external evaluations align to research questions
  • Data collection tools and protocols (survey instruments, interview guides and observation protocols) are effective.
  • Institutional Review Board (IRB) applications are submitted and all evaluations are conducted according to appropriate human subject’s regulations.
  • Productive relationships with external evaluation clients that meet their needs, including progress toward goals, making sense of research findings, and developing steps for improvement.
• Serve as lead communicator of research and evaluation findings to primary stakeholders (i.e., practitioners and program participants and ExpandED’s Board, staff, and funders). This includes working with the communications team to produce and disseminate findings regarding messaging of research and evaluation results to external audiences.
• Manage policy team workflows through task ownership and delegation to ensure:
  • Coordination of advocacy activities and reporting and key messages to decision-makers based on lessons from our work and aligned to our organizational values.
  • Strong relationships with our lobbying firm and compliance with city and state lobbying requirements.
• Manage and support the progress of policy agendas for each of ExpandED’s programmatic areas.
• Assist development team with research-focused fundraising efforts, including preparation of evaluation designs, budgets and reports.
• Serve as liaison to external partners, policy working groups, higher education institutions, public agencies, and other researchers and evaluation firms, as appropriate
• Contribute ideas for new projects based on findings from prior evaluations and policy goals.

Qualifications and Competencies:

• Bachelor’s degree and at least five years of related experience with progressive growth
• Experience leading evaluations within education
• Experience working within advocacy coalitions
• Ability to understand multiple and conflicting needs. Is able to work within safeguards so that policy needs do not influence research; while allowing cited research to influence policy. Ensure information is gathered and shared effectively, ethically, and appropriately;
• Strong cultural competence with respect for and extensive knowledge of the cultures of the various stakeholders we work with and the communities we serve
• Commitment to collaboration and participating as a member of a team that recognizes that it is strengthened through its diversity
• Excellent planning and organizational skills with a proven ability to execute tasks efficiently
• Strong communication and facilitation skills, including clear and persuasive speaking and writing
• Expertise in using data to improve programs and instruction
• Ability to collaborate effectively with diverse stakeholders and execute projects independently
• Proficient Knowledge in MS Office (Excel, Outlook, Word, PowerPoint), Airtable, and Power BI. Additional experience with R, Tableau, or other data analysis or visualization software is preferred.
• Flexibility, adaptability and comfort with complexity and change
• Willingness to travel throughout NYC (up to 2-3 days per week) including evenings and weekends.

Our organization follows a hybrid work structure where employees can work remotely or from the office, as needed. All staff must spend 5 days in the office per month as determined by their team schedule. Additionally, leaders of teams may call team members together for in-person meetings in the office when they reasonably believe that the work will be more productive and/or efficient if completed through in-person collaboration, and all full-time employees are expected to attend monthly all-staff meetings at the office. Finally, this position requires regular use of public transportation and some work in school buildings that may require climbing stairs.

Benefits:

ExpandED Schools offers a generous benefits package, which includes:

• Full-time and eligible part-time employees receive medical, dental and vision plans for employees and dependents, largely subsidized by ExpandED Schools
• Health, dependent care and transit pre-tax accounts
• Employer-paid life insurance and supplemental disability coverage
• A generous paid time off package which includes 24 personal days, 8 sick days, and 13 paid holidays (prorated for part-time staff)
• 403b retirement plan with eligibility for employer contribution of 5% of annual compensation after one year of employment (no match requirement)
• Commitment to work-life balance
• Partial tuition reimbursement offered to employees after six months of service
• Professional development opportunities, including funds to participate in external training and coaching opportunities

ExpandED Schools believes in the importance of being a diverse, equitable and inclusive organization that enables our students and staff to thrive. We are committed to building a talented team that reflects the diverse backgrounds and experiences of our students. ExpandED Schools is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and as such, we hire without consideration to race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status or disability.