Research Scientist; Evaluator

Company Description

EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT CENTER (EDC)

EDC is one of the world’s leading nonprofit research and development firms. EDC designs, implements, and evaluates programs to improve education, health, and economic opportunity worldwide. Collaborating with both public and private partners, we strive for a world where all people are empowered to live healthy, productive lives.

EDC is hiring a Research Scientist (Evaluator) to provide strategic leadership, methodological expertise, and senior-level project management across two initiatives: the Zero Suicide Institute Project and the Safeguard Veterans Project. The position is based in EDC’s Be Well program area and focuses on suicide prevention work funded by state, federal, foundation, and private sources, including partnerships that support systems change and effective prevention and treatment across health systems, schools, and communities.

The role will contribute to projects associated with EDC’s Zero Suicide Institute (ZSI), which supports systems of care in adopting and sustaining continuous quality improvement practices to strengthen suicide prevention and treatment. ZSI works with health and behavioral health systems, states, tribes, federal agencies, and partners worldwide to implement the Zero Suicide framework.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Safeguard Veterans tests the feasibility of a comprehensive, community-based system of care for Veteran suicide prevention. The project partners with community organizations in six pilot counties to implement and evaluate a bundle of targeted interventions while strengthening overall community infrastructure and continuity of care. The evaluation includes both intervention-level analyses (e.g., evidence-based practice training, safety planning in emergency departments) and a nested logic model examining system capacity across sectors.

EDC plays a lead role in evaluation design and implementation, interpretation of findings, and development of the final Feasibility Study and Implementation Plan in collaboration with partner organizations.

With guidance from the Senior Evaluation Advisor, the Research Scientist (Evaluator) will lead evaluation design across pilot communities, ensure rigor in quantitative and qualitative methods, supervise evaluation staff, and serve as a senior thought partner to project leadership, federal partners, and community coalitions. The role includes leading EDC’s contributions to analysis and reporting and working closely with an Evaluation Lead at a partner organization to support collaboration, information sharing, and alignment across teams.

This project focuses on evaluating the impact of ZSI services and tools in three health care settings: community mental health/CCBHCs, crisis services, and integrated health care. The Research Scientist (Evaluator) will guide evaluation design, manage progress on the evaluation plan, and oversee key project management activities. Responsibilities include leading a mixed-methods evaluation, ensuring timely and accurate reporting to the funder, and producing insights that inform strategic marketing, positioning, and continuous improvement of ZSI services and the Zero Suicide toolkit.

The ideal candidate is an experienced evaluator and project manager with deep expertise in logic models, theory-driven and mixed-methods evaluation, and applied work in community and behavioral health settings. This senior leadership role requires the ability to supervise staff, adapt to evolving evaluation needs, and translate findings into actionable insights for practitioners, policymakers, and partners.

• Lead the design and implementation of evaluation frameworks across projects.
• Provide senior oversight to evaluation staff and TTA providers, ensuring clear roles, methodological rigor, and consistency.
• Manage evaluation timelines, tasks, and deliverables across multiple projects for both individual and team workloads.
• Develop and refine logic models, theories of change, and evaluation designs for project initiatives.
• Ensure rigorous qualitative and…