Managing Director, Data, Research, and Evaluation

Health Resources in Action, Inc. (HRiA) is a non-profit organization working to improve and reimagine public health. We connect, consult, and collaborate to solve complex challenges of access and equity in our health and social systems. Together with our partners, clients, and collaborators, we create actionable solutions so that all people can thrive.

In 1957, The Medical Foundation (TMF) was created to primarily fund biomedical research in Massachusetts. Since then, we've been on a journey of evolution. We changed our name to Health Resources in Action (HRiA) to reflect our impact in the field of public health. Today, HRiA works with individuals, organizations, and communities to drive a policy and systems change approach to advance health and racial equity.

HRiA seeks sustainable solutions for complex problems using an anti-racist approach. We aim to be adaptable and flexible in meeting clients and partners where they are, offering our decades of knowledge and resources to collectively realize our dream of equitable, sustainable health for all. The foundation of this work is centered on our values:

• Health and racial equity by identifying and addressing the root causes of health inequities, intentionally working to shift narratives and power imbalances and disrupt all systems of oppression.
• Leading with heart by demonstrating our passionate commitment to our work, continuously challenging ourselves with humility and vulnerability while pursuing and holding ourselves accountable to our mission.
• Collaboration by intentionally and respectfully leading, partnering, and following to strengthen relationships, uplift different voices and build trust.
• Innovation by driving toward new strategies, questioning norms, and continuously learning and evolving to support the needs of our clients and communities.

HRiA offers exciting, engaging, and challenging employment opportunities for facilitators, trainers, researchers, analysts, policy specialists, grant managers, and more. People come to HRiA because of our commitment to advancing health equity and inspiring work; they stay for our wonderful clients, partners, and dedicated and dynamic staff. With our growing portfolio of high-impact work, person-centered policies, and generous benefits, our team continually invests in making HRiA a great place to work. Our diverse staff of over 270 people hail from 30+ states, with a homebase in Boston's Chinatown neighborhood.

The Health Alliance for Violence Intervention(HAVI) envisions a world where communities end violence and foster healing. Our mission is to reduce violence, particularly in communities of color, by advancing hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIPs) and coordinated, community-led systems that heal trauma and promote equity.


HVIPs are rooted in the philosophy that violence is preventable, and that violent injury offers an opportunity to break cycles of violence. HVIPs integrate the expertise of violence prevention professionals (VPPs) with credibility and lived experience of violence. VPPs build rapport with violently injured individuals and offer pathways to safety and transformative healing. They use trauma-informed practices in the hospital emergency department or at the hospital bedside immediately after a violent injury occurs. After individuals are discharged from the hospital, VPPs continue to support them, collaborating closely with the medical staff and with community partners to provide comprehensive wraparound services.

HVIPs embrace a public health approach to violence prevention as they are grounded in data, which indicate that victims of violence are at elevated risk for re-injury and violence perpetration. This model has been the subject of numerous peer-reviewed studies indicating promising impact on injury recidivism, contact with the criminal legal system, and trauma symptoms. The HAVI is implementing Standards and Indicators for HVIPs nationally to ensure sustainability and fidelity to the model. HVIPs are now a recommended practice by the federal government.

The HAVI's network has grown to hundreds of individuals, including physicians, nurses, social workers, therapists, violence prevention professionals, outreach workers, and researchers who are affiliated with 78 member programs in the U.S., Canada, England, and El Salvador. Our goal is to support the growth of HVIPs throughout the United States. Internally, the HAVI is structured in 4 divisions: Organizational Growth and Equity, Policy and Communications, Communities of Practice, and Data, Research, and Evaluation. Each division works to operationalize the HAVI's mission and strategic plan to strengthen the community violence intervention (CVI) field.

The HAVI is a fiscally sponsored project of Health Resources in Action, Inc.


Position Description:

The Managing Director of Data, Research, and Evaluation (DRE) is part of the organization's senior leadership team and works alongside the Executive Director to advance HVIPs and the CVI field in its data, research and evaluation work. The Managing Director, DRE leads and oversees operational efficiency and provides strategic leadership across three areas of the HAVI's work: the Research and Evaluation Department, the KP Center for Gun Violence Research and Education, and the Health Systems and CVI Integration workstream. The Managing Director, DRE, will directly supervise two Senior Directors and oversee a division of approximately six full-time staff.

The HAVI's Research and Evaluation Department seeks to advance the evidence of HVIPs' impact on violence reduction and individual and community well-being. The department focuses on building research and evaluation capacity in our network of HVIPs, supporting high-quality research on HVIPs providing strategic direction and facilitating opportunities for cross-collaboration among researchers.

The KP Center for Gun Violence Research and Education is focused on transforming the field of gun violence research and education and changing narratives about the value and impact of health-focused solutions. The Center does this by partnering with communities disproportionately impacted by gun violence, uniting rigorous scientific discovery with community-led approaches, and funding research and education initiatives that center racial equity for the advancement of clinical care delivery and other preventative strategies.

The Health Systems and CVI Integration (HSCVII) workstream facilitates integration of health systems and departments of public health into the establishment and maintenance of HVIPs and the work of community violence intervention. The HSCVII workstream facilitates knowledge sharing among stakeholders, creates standards and procedures for programmatic and data integration and collaboration, and provides resources to support community transformation.

We seek candidates who understand the intersection of rigorous science and community-driven solutions to violence. The ideal candidate brings deep experience building research and evaluation infrastructure to advance the organization and the field and brings a structural analysis of inequity to both internal and external-facing work. Time will be allocated across data, research, and evaluation work in response to organizational priorities and will be determined in partnership with the Executive Director, Deputy Director and other key stakeholders. The Managing Director should expect a dynamic portfolio and be able to pivot quickly as new opportunities arise.

The Managing Director of Data, Research, and Evaluation will report to the Executive Director (Deputy Executive Director?) and serve on the organization's Executive Team.

This is an exempt, full-time position with a salary range of $150,000 - $175,000, based on experience and internal equity factors. National travel (10-25%) is expected for this position.

Benefits

HRiA offers the following benefits to its employees:

• Health insurance
• Retirement plan
• Flexible summer hours
• Vacation starting at 4 weeks

13 paid holidays, plus office closure time during the last week of December.

Duties & Responsibilities:

Management

• Set the strategic direction for the division in alignment with organizational priorities and lead the development of division goals and work plans.
• Manage and guide the development of department and workstream Directors and staff in the Data, Research, and Evaluation division.
  • Work with Directors and staff to set and achieve goals and objectives, providing supervision, mentorship, and support as needed.
• Provide guidance, oversight, and/or approval on department priorities, budgets, hiring, plans, activities, and evaluation.
  • Direct or manage projects, as needed and/or appropriate.
• Set direction for the division, address challenges, identify and pursue funding and resource opportunities, make decisions, and develop and implement policies and procedures related to data, research and evaluation.
• Oversee budgetary planning & operations for the division and liaise with the HAVI's fiscal sponsor, HRiA, as needed.
• Provide guidance to Directors and other staff on relevant research in the field and its impact on project development and implementation.
• Cultivate and maintain positive working relationships with key national/state partners and leaders.
• Work alongside the Executive Team to manage important internal and external opportunities and challenges.
• Provide mentorship, technical guidance, and/or capacity building support to HAVI staff and project teams in the areas of research design, data, and evaluation, to strengthen internal knowledge and research infrastructure.
• Build and sustain a high functioning team and steward the HAVI's culture as an inclusive, anti-racist organization by modeling and supporting collective/community care among all HAVI staff.

Project Work

• Advise on active research and evaluation projects, provide methodological guidance, contribute to research design, and support the development of publications and knowledge products across the division.
• Demonstrate working knowledge of public health and violence-related datasets, data access, and IRB processes and provide guidance to staff on navigating these systems.
• In collaboration with other Executive leaders, oversee the HAVI's evaluation work by advising on evaluation approaches, structuring evaluation frameworks, building and facilitating partnerships with technical experts, and advising and supporting staff in evaluation execution.
• Advance field-wide capacity in data, research, and evaluation by convening and facilitating dialogue among HVIPs, researchers, health systems, community stakeholders, and/or funders and positioning the HAVI as a trusted resource in the field.
• Represent the HAVI and actively participate in national convenings, partner organization events, and other spaces focused on research, cultivating relationships and contributing expertise on behalf of the organization.
• Identify, lead, implement, or advise on projects and initiatives that strengthen and advance data, research, and evaluation work within the organization and our member network.

Thought Leadership

• Ensure the HAVI's research and evaluation agenda is grounded in the realities of the field and identify emerging opportunities, needs, and gaps.
• Ensure that racial and health equity are centered in the division's research and evaluation agenda and practices and expand the HAVI and HVIP capacity to deepen connections and operationalize its organizational values.
• Engage in strategic planning with the Executive Director, Senior Director (Strategic Planning and OGE) and the Executive Team for the growth and direction of the network.
• Develop and contribute to publications, including peer-reviewed manuscripts and other knowledge products and support staff in building their publication capacity as requested.
• Contribute to the HAVI's external communications through publications, website content, and other public-facing materials that reflect the division's work.
• Be a trusted, informed source of expertise for HRiA, clients, funders, and community partners.
• Synthesize and disseminate knowledge and best practices to build shared understanding and advance the field.
• Champion a culture of continuous learning and improvement within the division and across the organization, actively contributing to HAVI teams and committees.

Business Development

• Support the Executive Director and leverage community partnerships to identify, assess, and pursue funding opportunities.
• Lead and participate in fundraising proposal teams, as appropriate, including writing or contributing to proposals, scopes, and budgets.
• Support and guide senior and junior staff members' business development efforts.

Candidate Qualifications

Expertise

• Doctoral degree (PhD) in Public Health, Public Policy, or related field required.
• A minimum of ten years of senior level experience in community violence intervention, hospital-based violence intervention, or closely related fields required.
• Proven record of senior leadership in a nonprofit organization, with demonstrated success managing program or division operations, supervising and mentoring staff, managing up, and maintaining strong relationships with staff, funders, and community partners.
• Knowledge of the institutions and professional organizations with whom the HAVI works, including hospitals, health departments, health funders, criminal justice systems, federal agencies, and relevant professional associations.
• Experience with fiscal management, budgeting, and accounting; reporting, compliance, and accountability; and human resources
• Experience in strategic planning and leading complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives across a division or organization
• Experience working with public health datasets and knowledge of data access protocols and IRB process
• Deep knowledge of the violence intervention and prevention research landscape, with the ability to critically read and interpret literature, lead research design, engage technical expertise, guide research teams, and author publications and knowledge products
• Ability to structure and oversee evaluation initiatives, make strategic decisions about evaluation design and implementation, and build partnerships with technical experts and evaluation teams
• Demonstrated experience with effective communication, including public speaking and conveying complex and sensitive issues to diverse audiences, orally and in writing
• Demonstrated ability to supervise senior staff and develop high-functioning teams using a coaching and strengths-based approach
• Experience working with resource development teams to secure funding for projects and initiatives, including grant proposal writing, budgeting, and scoping
• Experience working in a virtual, fully remote environment strongly preferred

Organizational Values and Competencies

• Operates with a lens of equity, social justice, and trauma-informed approaches
• Demonstrated understanding of health and racial equity, the root causes of inequities, and racism as a public health crisis
• Commitment to advancing racial equity, demonstrated cultural humility, and celebration of diverse perspectives and lived experiences
• Strong written, verbal, and interpersonal skills in both virtual and in-person settings
• Ability to thrive in a collaborative team environment - leading when appropriate and accepting feedback
• Proactive, solution-oriented work style
• Ability to work independently and productively in a remote environment
• Growth mindset and ability to adapt to changing needs
• Flexibility and a sense of humor
• Ability to design presentations using professional tools such as PowerPoint, Gamma, etc.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and ability to learn software programs and tools used by the organization

This description is intended to indicate the kinds of work duties that will be required in this position. It is not intended to limit, or in any way modify, the rights of any supervisor to assign, direct, and contract work of staff under their supervision. The use of a particular illustration describing duties shall not be held to exclude other duties, not mentioned, that are of a similar level or difficulty.

Procedure for Candidacy

To apply, submit your resume and cover letter online at

HRiA is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer and is committed to providing access, equal opportunity, and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or genetic information.

For more information about the organization visit and