Research Program Officer II

General summary/purpose:

The Bill & Melinda Gates Institute within the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH) has launched a second phase of an innovative survey research program in partnership with Jhpiego, Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA), formerly PMA2020. The project is designed to deliver high-quality, rapid-turnaround data to public health policymakers, program managers, and other stakeholders at frequent intervals to promote data-driven decision-making to improve the health and welfare of populations. To achieve this goal, PMA recruits women from a set of nationally or sub-nationally representative sentinel communities and trains them to collect data on a routine basis using smartphone technology. Data are collected at both households and facilities.

PMA operates in eight geographies. The core survey covers family planning (including contraceptive dynamics) and reproductive health indicators, while maintaining flexibility to add new modules in related health areas according to local data needs. It also includes a panel design that follows a cohort of reproductive age women on an annual basis and a representative set of service delivery points over a 3-year period. The panel is combined with periodic cross-sections drawn from the same sampled, sentinel communities.

The PMA Global team, based in Baltimore, is composed of faculty, staff, and masters and doctoral students. This team works closely with universities and research institutes across the constituent geographies to implement the surveys and to build capacity of those organizations to undertake this work independently. The PMA Global partner Jhpiego oversees sub-award management with country partners, and promotes platform sustainability, communications and data utilization efforts.

Specific duties & responsibilities:

• PMA is seeking a full-time Research Program Officer II to support data management and analysis activities across all project countries and in Baltimore.
• Major responsibilities include providing remote/in-person technical assistance during field staff trainings, field pre-testing, and data collection, including data management activities.
• As the PMA platform has been operating for the past five years, the Research Program Officer II will also oversee capacity-strengthening activities for the data management team, with a specific goal of transferring data management responsibilities from the PMA Baltimore team to in-country partners by the end of the current grant. This position will report to the Associate Director for Data.
• Assist with grant-reporting to project funders, especially for the PO’s designated countries
• Document country-level changes to protocols at the PMA Global-level
• Coordinate with relevant module and activity-specific leads within the PMA survey platform that may be organizing separate data collection activities
• Facilitate the JHSPH IRB submission and amendment processes as needed
• Develop and update data cleaning Stata ‘do’ files
• During active fieldwork, monitoring quality and rapidity of data collection
• Maintain and improve data user tools released with public datasets
• Assist with analysis for reports, data briefs, and auxiliary publications, including overseeing quality control of PMA core data products and deliverables
• Coordinate and assist with training of in-country partner technical staff
• External stakeholder engagement
• Develop and oversee the execution of capacity strengthening initiatives in data management
• Lead the curriculum development for the annual PMA Bootcamp

Minimum Qualifications

• Master’s degree (M.A., MHS, MPH)in public health, statistics, epidemiology, demographic method or other concentration with a strong quantitative/analytical field required.
• Four years related experienceworking in the field of survey implementation or sexual and reproductive health programming, preferably in low or middle-income countries required.

Additional relevant experience and/or training may substitute for some education.

*Position may require international travel (10-20%) to survey research sites in Africa and Asia in addition to possible domestic travel.*

Special Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Experience working in academic or research environments.
• Knowledge and work experience in family planning programs.
• Experience working with organizations or governments in low and middle-income countries.
• Experience with survey data collection programs (ODK, CsPro or others).
• Working proficiency in any project languages, especially French, is highly desirable.
• Ability to manage multiple activities, deadlines, and priorities simultaneously, and to execute assignments with a short turnaround time
• Must be comfortable using various software applications, e.g., Microsoft Office package (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), SharePoint, Dropbox, etc.
• Must be a fast learner with independent problem-solving ability and strong communication skills.
• Advanced familiarity with statistical analysis software packages (notably Stata).

Classified Title:Program Officer II
Working Title: Research Program Officer II
Role/Level/Range: ACRP/04/ME
Starting Salary Range:$60,945 - $83,865; Commensurate with experience
Employee group: Full Time
Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Exempt Status: Exempt
Location: 05-MD:School of Public Health
Department name: 10001156-Popltn Fmly and Reproductive Hlth Srvs
Personnel area: School of Public Health

The successful candidate(s) for this position will be subject to a pre-employment background check.

If you are interested in applying for employment with The Johns Hopkins University and require special assistance or accommodation during any part of the pre-employment process, please contact the HR Business Services Office atjhurecruitment@jhu.edu. For TTY users, call via Maryland Relay or dial 711.

The following additional provisions may apply depending on which campus you will work. Your recruiter will advise accordingly.

During the Influenza ("the flu") season, as a condition of employment, The Johns Hopkins Institutions require all employees who provide ongoing services to patients or work in patient care or clinical care areas to have an annual influenza vaccination or possess an approved medical or religious exception. Failure to meet this requirement may result in termination of employment.

The pre-employment physical for positions in clinical areas, laboratories, working with research subjects, or involving community contact requires documentation of immune status against Rubella (German measles), Rubeola (Measles), Mumps, Varicella (chickenpox), Hepatitis B and documentation of having received the Tdap (Tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis) vaccination. This may include documentation of having two (2) MMR vaccines; two (2) Varicella vaccines; or antibody status to these diseases from laboratory testing. Blood tests for immunities to these diseases are ordinarily included in the pre-employment physical exam except for those employees who provide results of blood tests or immunization documentation from their own health care providers. Any vaccinations required for these diseases will be given at no cost in our Occupational Health office.

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