Associate Director, Strategy and Learning

Organization Overview

Results for America (RFA) is the leading, national nonprofit organization helping policymakers at all levels of government harness the power of evidence and data to solve the world’s greatest challenges. Our mission is to make investing in what works the “new normal,” so that, one day, all government leaders use rigorous evidence and quality data to inform important policy and funding decisions. We believe that data-driven and evidence-based policy decisions could significantly increase the impact of the over $1 trillion that governments spend annually to advance economic mobility and racial equity. 

Founded in 2012, RFA spent its first three years partnering with policy innovators to build the credibility of evidence-based policymaking, securing early and important wins in education, expanding its work to multiple levels of government and driving awareness and demand through carefully orchestrated education and communication campaigns. During its second phase (2015-2018), RFA worked to demonstrate the power of evidence-based policymaking in ways that resonate with an even broader universe of elected officials and policymakers. As part of its third phase, RFA has demonstrated that governments at all levels can make faster, more lasting progress in accelerating economic mobility for residents when they use evidence and data in decision-making. By creating specific issue-area wins, RFA will further cement support for evidence-based policymaking among all policymakers as the “new normal.” 

Position Overview 

RFA celebrated its 10th year anniversary in 2022 and is entering its next phase of growth. With this, RFA is seeking to improve internal planning processes, and further strengthen RFA’s culture in an increasingly hybrid/remote working environment.   

RFA is looking for a deeply skilled and entrepreneurial individual to lead planning processes; develop and drive revised, intelligent meeting structures; and improve the flow of communications and decision-making practices and procedures across the organization. 

Position Reporting Relationship 

The Associate Director, Strategy and Learning, will report to RFA’s Director, Measurement, Evaluation and Learning (MEL).

Position Responsibilities 

RFA Strategy and Planning (35%)

Under the direction of the MEL Director and in close partnership with the Executive Team:

• Facilitate strategic planning process in the summer of 2022, including multiple and diverse opportunities to integrate big thinking and critical feedback from the RFA team; and
• Contribute to the design and implementation of an annual planning process for fall/winter 2022 that serves as an easy complement to the strategic planning work; and 
• Contribute to the evolution and execution of RFA’s annual planning process beyond 2022.

RFA Meetings Structure, Communications, and Decision Making (40%)

In alignment with the 2022 strategic planning process and under the strategic leadership of the MEL Director:

• Support the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of RFA’s new meeting structure, as designed by the soft reset process; 
• Coordinate content development and agenda prep for the following critical meetings at RFA:
• Bi-weekly All Team meetings and monthly Program Leader (PL) meetings, ensuring connections between the weekly All Team and PL meetings to the Executive Team and the Quarterly “stock-take” meetings; 
• All Team meetings, ensuring connection to the quarterly stock-take meetings; and 
• Executive Team meetings, ensuring priority issues are addressed
• Partner with the MEL Director in the execution of stock-take meetings, on an as-needed basis.
• Manage and facilitate team discussions related to RFA's org-wide Learning Agenda and connect org-wide and program learnings back to RFA's strategic priorities

Special Projects (15%)

• Support the Executive Team on trouble-shooting and special projects that run across the organization.

Team Management (10%)

• Manage an Associate, who leads scheduling for the Executive Team and for all of RFA’s organizational meetings and planning processes; and 
• Support the management of all consultants affiliated with RFA’s strategic planning, organizational change, and related processes.

All RFA employees are expected to participate in the organization’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. 

Qualifications and Skills 

This is a full-time, exempt position. 

Experience

• Bachelor's degree and 10+ years of relevant work experience, including demonstrated experience facilitating and/or leading significant planning processes across complex organizational structures;
• Experience with diverse process and project planning tools, including the ability to teach tool use and to ensure that tools are responsive to user needs; and 
• Experience driving results from senior leaders without also managing those leaders directly.

Capacities and skills

• Ability to drive complex projects from concept to implementation, especially in the face of ambiguity; 
• Adept at coordinating across silos, exercising influence even where they do not have direct authority; 
• Proven analytical, planning, and strategic thinking skills, successfully applied in the past to drive progress on a complex strategy or goal; 
• Outstanding interpersonal skills and written and verbal communications skills; 
• Strong attention to detail and organizational capabilities;
• Strong commitment to the Results for America mission and vision. 
• Strong commitment to RFA’s diversity, equality, and inclusion commitments