Program Manager, Research - Baltimore

Johns Hopkins University Center for Government Excellence (GovEx) is hiring aProgram Manager of Research who is core to designing and producing rigorous, relevant, and objective research and leading technical assistance efforts to organizations specifically for Baltimore City and decision-makers around the world. The Program Manager will lead GovEx’s research and technical assistance team for Baltimore City and ensure all GovEx’s research is methodologically sound, accurate, and high-quality and serve as a centralized hub within GovEx for specialized research and technical skills. The Program Manager will lead a team to provide direct technical assistance, coaching, and conduct supportive innovative and quality research and evaluations to the City of Baltimore that improves resident well-being and outcomes, and oversees projects that provide valuable research and information to decision-makers and the public. The team supports a culture of data and evidence, and builds bridges between researchers, city leaders, residents, and other stakeholders within the City of Baltimore.

The Program Manager will work with Practice Managers to identify and assess applied research needs in technical assistance projects and efforts with public sector leaders focused on the following areas: Economic Mobility, Healthy Communities, and Operations & Infrastructure. The Program Manager will lead the research team in scoping and designing quality research to support these focus areas and developing policy support tools and methodologies to help cities solve complex challenges, which can be used in technical assistance and replicated in cities across the globe. This position will have a specific focus on the design and implementation of policy-relevant, ethical research projects. In addition, the selected candidate will also assist Practice Managers in delivering hands-on coaching to Mayors, C-Suite leaders, and city staff on the creation and maintenance of programs to measure and evaluate impact, and ensure equitable results for vulnerable residents. The Program Manager will work closely with the GovEx executive team to build out program assessment frameworks to track the impact of projects in the short and long term.

This position reports to the Deputy Director of GovEx, working closely to properly scope, develop appropriate project plans, develop a theory-of-change for projects, using data and evidence to select metrics, evaluate disparate impacts and policy interventions that lead to measurable results. The Program Manager and their team will collaborate with internal and external partners and staff responsible for training, applied research, technology, knowledge management, monitoring & evaluation, and communications.

The selected candidate must possess a proven track record of success in policy-relevant research, and in designing processes to assess and measure impact as relevant to the City of Baltimore and the following areas: Economic Mobility, Healthy Communities, and Operations & Infrastructure. The candidate must have experience in designing, implementing, and managing research projects and coaching and providing technical assistance to senior professionals. We are seeking a highly skilled visionary with a strong knowledge and background in applied research, policy, and data practices.In addition to real-world experience working in applied research and evaluation design, the candidate must be a strong leader with excellent management and communication skills.

GovEx is committed to working with communities that are focused on ending legacies of structural, entrenched racism and oppression. Program Managers must be willing to think about reimagined government, knowledge, and engagement models through the lens of dismantling these legacies.

Specific Duties & Responsibilities:

Research & Evaluation (30%)

• Serve as a subject matter and political context expert in designing research and evaluations to measure and understand impact in the City of Baltimore, particularly in relation to the following areas: Economic Mobility, Healthy Communities, Operations & Infrastructure
• Design and implement rigorous, ethical, and applicable research projects aimed at understanding and evaluating key challenges facing public sector leaders
• Develop collaborations and partnerships with external stakeholders (community based organizations, advocacy groups, NGOs) to create research projects embedded in impacted communities and designed in partnership with impacted individuals in the City of Baltimore
• Manage the identification, training, and support of research teams

Coaching & Technical Assistance (30%)

• Provide direct, on-the-ground technical assistance to government practitioners in the City of Baltimore focused on designing and implementing research projects
• Work with Practice Managers to scope, develop project plans and technical assistance day-to-day operations, including coordinating with internal staff, holding weekly meetings, and working with external partners
• Support GovEx in developing a repository on best practices and new trends in the data usage by governments researching policy interventions
• Collaborate with the Training team to develop curriculum and resources to support workshops, trainings, and courses
• Facilitate on-site and virtual trainings and workshops held with academic, government, or nonprofit partners
• Supervise research design, data collection, data analysis and maintenance
• Support Practice Managers in the development of materials presenting trends and results seen among GovEx’s public sector clients
• Other duties as assigned

Staff Management (30%)

• Hire, train, manage, supervise, and coach a team of Senior Advisors and researchers to set and achieve strategic goals and support a values-based organization and team culture
• Develop, recommend, and administer policies, procedures, and processes in support of programmatic operations
• Assign staff to projects and oversee their successful completion of these efforts
• Manage ongoing professional development of staff to improve team talent, skills, and capacity
• In collaboration with the Deputy Director, serve as hiring manager, including development of job descriptions, onboarding, and evaluation plans
• Manage ongoing professional development of staff and career pathing to improve team talent, skills, and capacity
• Support research team and senior advisor technical assistance engagement to government practitioners

Program Design & Management (5%)

• Assist GovEx executive team to build out program assessment frameworks to measure impact and work with monitoring and evaluation team to implement
• Assist Director and Deputy Director with program design in the identification of new program/funding opportunities, specifically building out frameworks for program impact, evaluation, and research, where appropriate.
• Identify new opportunities to improve internal processes that allow for the successful implementation of GovEx’s service delivery model.
• Lead technical assistance projects assigned by the Practice Managers, with support from the Practice Manager and Deputy Director in coordinating and implementing technical assistance projects, including regular meetings with external partners on deliverables, timelines, outcomes, and impact.
• Assist Practice Managers and Deputy Director in aligning the service delivery model with priority areas.
• Support the Practice Managers and Deputy Director into developing short-term and long-term strategies and objectives, and detailing the progress and status of various priorities with partner organizations, funders, and staff
• Assist Practice Managers in defining clear goals for technical assistance and measuring progress towards those goals in coordination with Civic Impact’s Monitoring & Evaluation team

Internal & External Relations (5%)

• Manage day-to-day relationships and communications with cities and other stakeholders
• Facilitate city-to-city collaborative learning and other peer networking opportunities
• Identify and recruit new government partners for technical assistance and training
• Work in collaborative teams
• Offer internal and external trainings on ethical research methods, and tracking and measuring impact
• Partner with internal and external stakeholders to implement grant deliverables, timelines, outcomes, and impact

Partner with JHU faculty and experts, community partners, and external stakeholders to design and conduct research projects

Minimum Qualifications (Mandatory):

• Bachelor’s Degree in related field.
• Five years related experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's Degree or PhD in related discipline.
• At least 2 years experience working in public policy, public administration, or a related field, particularly with local government.

• Capacity to thrive in relationships with leaders in the civic sector.
• Ability to represent GovEx, Civic Impact, and its partners before mayors and other government officials.
• Strong understanding of quantitative research methods, and the ability to work with and understand, complex datasets.
• Strong understanding of qualitative research methods and analysis.
• Ability to scope, develop, and carry out rigorous research projects, grounded in ethical and applicable methodology, to understand core issues facing the public sector today.
• Ability to train and coach on research design, methods, analysis/coding, and reporting.
• Ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously and manage external stakeholders and workflows.
• Proficiency using Microsoft Office Suite, Google Suite, and WordPress.
• Familiarity with learning management systems, particularly TalentLMS.
• Experience conducting analysis using Excel, R, Tableau, or other visualization tools.
• Experience using project management and collaboration tools such as Slack.
• Excellent written, presentation, and research skills.
• Commitment to a collegial workplace.
• Capacity to work independently and in a result-oriented work environment.

• Familiarity with in Python, SQL, JavaScript and/or R, and GIS software.
• Knowledge of how to create data visualizations in D3.js, RStudio, or Tableau.
• Familiarity with statistical software packages like STATA, SAS and SPSS.
• Knowledge of open-source relational databases such as MySQL or PostgreSQL, and open source programming languages such Perl and PHP.
• Familiarity with Amazon Web Services.
• Familiarity with Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) such as ArcGIS or QGIS.

Supervisory Responsibility:

• (1) Senior Advisor
• (2) Researchers
• (1) Policy Analyst

Classified Title:Program Manager
Working Title: Program Manager, Research - Baltimore
Role/Level/Range: ACRP/04/ME
Starting Salary Range:Commensurate with experience
Employee group: Full Time
Schedule: 37.5/5
Exempt Status: Exempt
Location: 01-MD:Homewood Campus
Department name: 60006654-KSAS - Centers for Civic Impact
Personnel area: School of Arts & Sciences

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.

Johns Hopkins has mandated COVID-19 and influenza vaccines, as applicable. Exceptions to the COVID and flu vaccine requirements may be provided to individuals for religious beliefs or medical reasons or because the individual is pregnant or attempting to become pregnant. Requests for an exception must be submitted to the JHU vaccination registry. For additional information, applicants for SOM positions should visit https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/coronavirus/covid-19-vaccine/and all other JHU applicants should visit https://covidinfo.jhu.edu/health-safety/covid-vaccination-information/.

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

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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