Research Manager, Economic and Educational Data

WestEd Career • San Francisco, CA

1d • $106,000 - $165,600 • Remote

About The Position

The Senior Research Associate will oversee population, economic, labor market, education and training data analysis that supports the growing body of work led by CEM focused on leveraging labor market, economic, demographic, workforce training, and educational data sets to support local, regional, and systems level educational and workforce planning, demonstration initiatives, systems change, research, and evaluation. This includes aggregation, data analysis, and comparison of anomalous data sets focused on the intersection of learner populations, economic and labor market information, and educational and training systems to support regional and statewide strategies that increase outcomes for low-income individuals, families, and communities. The Senior Research Associate will work across CEM’s lines of work in K16, postsecondary, workforce, and adult education systems, supporting that group’s expanding portfolio of work related to increasing economic mobility for communities of need, intersegmental systems development, and use of data to inform equity and student outcomes.

Position Overview: The ideal candidate has a strong theoretical and practical understanding of population, economic, labor market, education and workforce training data systems. They should be familiar with and have direct practical experience with a breadth of economic and labor market data tools such as ONet, US Census, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Lightcast™, IMPLAN™, Dunn and Bradstreet™, and other resources. It is desirable that they are also conversant in educational data resources such as the National Student Clearinghouse, state-level administrative data systems and similar systems and the practical use of population, labor market, economic, and educational and training data to document the economic impact, relevance, and alignment of education and training programs with the needs of business and industry. This should be matched by strong communication skills, the ability to lead diverse teams, and work in a high demand and fluid work environment. The CEM team is high performance and fast-moving working continuously across public systems and in the field. Applicants should enjoy working in a rapid paced, challenging environment where they are required to learn quickly and that pushes the boundaries of policy and practice. Curiosity, an open mind, strong problem-solving skills, and a passion for serving low income and marginalized communities are a must for this position.

Requirements

• A minimum of a Bachelors Degree in economics, planning, public policy or related field with a strong emphasis on quantitative methods and analysis (the need for a degree specific to this field is less important should the candidate demonstrate sufficient experience and a track record of successful projects).
• 5-10 years related experience in the use of population, labor market, economic, educational, and training data to inform educational, workforce, or economic development policy and practice.
• Familiarity and direct experience with a wide range of data and analytic tools related to population, labor market, economic, educational, and training data. aggregation and analysis, in particular how such tools have been used by the applicant to inform policy and practice in workforce, economic development, education, or community change.
• Experience using data for professional development and technical assistance for local institutions, regional consortia, or state systems, in particular to inform changes in policy and practice that increase low wage communities’ access to living wage jobs.
• Knowledge of legislation and policy relevant to this position including initiatives operating under the Department of Labor (WIOA), Department of Commerce, Department of Education or state level workforce, economic development, or education agencies.
• Communication Skills & Accuracy: Demonstrated ability to communicate in a collaborative manner with colleagues and partners at all levels, from frontline employees to executives and external representatives.
• Ability to communicate complex information to diverse audiences.
• Strong marketing skills including experience with writing, developing PowerPoints, and visualizing information for a diverse audience with clarity, brevity, and understanding.
• Experience developing strategies to improve usage of resources, and curating online content.
• Demonstrated ability to ensure that one's own and others’ work and information are complete and accurate, especially under tight timelines.
• Alignment : An abiding commitment to excellence and economic mobility for low wage communities and individuals with barriers to education and employment.
• Travel : Ability to travel – requires 25% travel time. For staff working remotely or from a home office travel time may be occasionally as much as 50% depending on the demands of the project

Responsibilities

• Labor market information leadership: Strengthen CEM’s approach to using economic and labor market information in new and innovative ways to illuminate and inform solutions to improving economic mobility and equitable access to living wage employment.
• Identification and cultivation of new lines of work or products to support the forward-thinking emphasis of CEM and support our focus on leading rather than following the field.
• Project management: Act as a Project Director or Co-Project Director on new projects with a total contract value up to 1 million dollars. Manage complex projects and client relationships on projects with multiple partners and deliverables with rapidly evolving priorities, and ensuring deliverables are on time and on budget.
• Demonstrated ability to lead project teams with clarity and purpose, including partners, in the development and implementation of large scale multi-system and multi-partner initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to identify and think through all necessary steps of a project, set appropriate deadlines, and use project management tools to organize and track the work.
• Data aggregation, analysis, and reporting: Design analyses requiring complex use of population, labor market, economic, occupational skills and education and training data that will support non-technical audiences to better align education, training, and employment.
• Create products intended for non-technical audiences, such as handouts, reports, graphs, social media posts, and presentations.
• Address inquires from colleagues that ensure labor market information can be integrated across CEM projects.
• Practitioner engagement, professional development, and technical assistance Support implementation of local, regional and statewide practitioner technical assistance for stakeholders from different educational segments and public systems.
• Support the use of LMI, economic, and other data sets in the field to support change conversations with educational and workforce practitioners.
• Develop training and technical assistance models that are responsive to practitioner needs to use data for program improvement, improving equity, and systems change.

Benefits

• 15% contribution toward retirement effective day 1 of employment and immediately 100% vested
• Pre-tax Flexible Spending Accounts and Health Savings Account option
• All health/welfare benefits are effective the first of the month following the hire date
• PTO: 19 days (increases to 21 days beginning the third year of employment), 12 paid holidays
• Life Insurance: value of 3x gross salary, max of 500k
• Opportunities for annual merit-based performance increases + annual incentives
• Professional development opportunities & mentorship program

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level