Senior Researcher, Employment & Economic Opportunity – Part-Time

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States.

📋 Description

• Assist project teams engaged in large-scale assessment contracts and associated business development initiatives, including the International Activities Support and NAEP Technical Support contracts.

• Provide technical and project leadership for operational and analytical activities that support NAEP and U.S. participation in significant international large-scale assessments and surveys.

• Oversee the development, enhancement, and ongoing maintenance of the International Data Explorer (IDE).

• Integrate new datasets from international large-scale assessments and prepare related variables, metadata, jurisdiction information, instructional notes, footnotes, and supporting content.

• Conduct quality assurance and technical reviews for the IDE and associated data products.

• Ensure the accuracy and consistency of datasets, specifications, calculations, tables, charts, maps, labels, documentation, and overall functionality.

• Uphold rigorous, documented quality assurance processes to guarantee accurate, reproducible, and publication-ready outputs.

• Develop and manage project timelines, work plans, interdependent tasks, deliverables, team staffing, and resources across client, subcontractor, and internal teams.

• Identify risks and evolving requirements to adjust priorities and schedules based on data availability and study release timelines.

• Maintain project management and workflow tracking systems, such as Airtable.

• Oversee subcontractor activities, deliverables, technical work, schedules, dependencies, quality assurance requirements, and issue resolution.

• Lead technical reviews of international assessment and NAEP data products, documentation, reports, publications, and materials.

• Perform research and statistical analyses utilizing R, Stata, SAS, or other suitable tools.

• Contribute to business development through proposal management and writing, technical proposal input, and market research.

⛳️ Requirements

• Ph.D. in educational measurement, research and evaluation, comparative and international education, or a related discipline, with a minimum of 3 years of relevant experience in managing and conducting research or related activities; or a master’s degree with at least 7 years of relevant experience.

• In-depth knowledge of the contextual, content, methodological, and technical components of national and international large-scale assessments and surveys, such as NAEP and PISA.

• Strong grasp of complex survey methodology and statistical analysis, including complex sample designs, sampling and replicate weights, plausible values, and their implications for analysis and reporting.

• Experience in developing, maintaining, or enhancing online data analysis tools or databases, and/or training diverse stakeholders to utilize such tools for data analysis and interpretation.

• Proven experience collaborating and coordinating with federal government entities to conduct assessments and surveys.

• Experience leading cross-functional teams on federally funded research initiatives.

• Proficiency in conducting statistical analyses using R, Stata, SAS, or similar analytical software.

• Excellent interpersonal and relationship management abilities for engaging with stakeholders at various levels and from diverse backgrounds.

• Strong attention to detail and a commitment to maintaining accuracy and quality.

• Robust project management skills, including timeline tracking, risk identification, and managing competing priorities.

• Self-motivated and dependable, capable of working independently and taking ownership of complex tasks with minimal supervision.

• Outstanding communication skills with a commitment to validity, clarity, and evidence-based messaging.

• Ability to collaborate effectively with multidisciplinary teams and external partners in a virtual work setting.

• Must be currently authorized to work in the U.S. on a full-time basis.

• Employment-based visa sponsorship, including H-1B sponsorship, is not available.

• Depending on project work, qualified candidates may be required to meet specific residency requirements.

• Selected candidates must adhere to child safeguarding principles and undergo reference and background checks.

🏝️ Benefits

• AIR’s Total Rewards Program.

• Flexibility for remote work within the United States or from one of AIR’s U.S. office locations.

• Commitment to equal employment opportunity and affirmative action.

• Reasonable accommodations for disabilities during the employment process.

• Reference and background checks as part of the candidate selection process.

• Drug-free workplace.