Senior Researcher​/Project Director

Job no: 499106

Work type: Postdoc / Research / Fellow

Location: Denver, CO

Categories: Research

Division: Office of Resrch & Sponsored Progs

The Colorado Lab team includes management, research teams, Evidence-Building Hub teams, the Linked Information Network of Colorado (LINC) team, and operations. Staff need a strong grasp of research and evaluation methods and the ability to explain technical topics clearly, in writing and in person, to non-experts. We value a collaborative learning environment where colleagues are responsive to one another and to our partners, and where everyone holds themselves and each other accountable for high-quality, well-documented, timely work.

The Colorado Lab seeks to add one additional staff member at the Senior Researcher/Project Director level. The balance of Senior Researcher and Project Director functions will be based on the individual’s skill set and Lab needs.

• Serve as a senior researcher on projects that are directed by other members of the Colorado Lab team.
• Translate policy or practice questions into research designs. Engage government partners in this process to ensure research designs are matched to decision-making goals through skilled facilitation.
• Develop analysis plans for a variety of research designs, including causal evaluations and mixed methods studies, that promote rigor and generate actionable information.
• Develop theories of change for individual programs and investments within a public funding stream.
• Execute on a variety of analytic tasks, including data management and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, based on a project plan, recommending deviations from the plan as appropriate.
• Shepherd projects through the Institutional Review Board process.

• Develop project workplans that attend to the intersection of study activities and client goals.
• Adjust workplans in response to emergent learnings, client goals, and political or budgetary landscape.
• Balance task assignments within a project team relative to their time allocations for the project, proactively elevating to Lab leadership when adjustments are needed.

• Conceptualize and execute on standard and innovative project deliverables that will meet project/decision-maker goals that are rooted in the Lab’s Essential Elements.
• Conceptualize and support development of data visualizations and other external facing, layered communication tools (e.g., executive summaries, factsheets, social media messaging).
• Lead dissemination of project findings that supports actionability and sustainability using effective oral and written communication for non-technical audiences about technical analytic and policy issues.
• Perform skilled facilitation among researchers, government partners, and stakeholders to support meaning-making and actionability of findings.

• Direct and serve as the principal investigator on research projects involving multiple partners, tight deadlines, sensitive data, and potentially high-profile and/or controversial topics.
• Simultaneously lead multiple project teams, including supporting strengths-based staffing, monitoring workflow, and providing project-specific supervision to other researchers (e.g., statistical code review, conceptualizing literature review).
• Take responsibility/leadership for meeting projects’ contractual requirements and ensure projects stay within budget/time constraints. Identify, hire, and oversee external consultants/contractors.
• Lead the development of contract and grant proposals, scopes of work, and associated budgets.
• Initiate contract development with external…