Principal Researcher in Youth Development

The Principal Researcher in Youth Development will lead business pursuits related to federal, state, and local youth development research, evaluation, and technical assistance. We seek a dynamic business development leader contributing to the expansion and management of a robust portfolio of contract and grant-funded policy, research, and evaluation projects in youth development.

The chosen candidate will focus on areas such as adolescent health and wellbeing, teen pregnancy prevention, youth economic mobility programs, and related policy areas. The candidate will also oversee projects in out-of-school time, summer learning, sports education, and informal learning environments.

Responsibilities:

• Providing thought leadership, building capacity, and expanding eminence in youth development.
• Exploring opportunities and developing a marketing and business plan to grow AIR’s youth development work.
• Centering an interdisciplinary and innovative approach to support intersecting fields like mental health, trauma-informed care, juvenile justice, and social service supports.
• Supporting AIR’s growth through business development, including leading and writing proposals for grants or contracts to federal, state, and local education agencies, foundations, and other clients.
• Managing projects, serving as principal investigator and/or project director for large and/or complex research studies, evaluations, or technical assistance centers, including designing project approaches, leading teams, overseeing project tasks, monitoring quality assurance, managing budgets, and fostering client relationships.
• Mentoring junior colleagues by sharing best practices in conducting research and technical assistance, applying evaluation methods, and leading project tasks; modeling effective problem-solving approaches and providing feedback on their work.
• Maintaining excellent relationships with funders, clients, and partners; serving as a primary client contact; and actively growing the portfolio of work through these relationships and staying abreast of field directions.

Qualifications:

Education, Knowledge, and Experience:

• A Ph.D. in child development, developmental psychology, human development, education, public or social policy, or a related field, with a minimum of 7 years of relevant work experience managing and conducting research, or a Master’s degree and at least 11 years of relevant experience.
• 10+ years of project leadership experience, including proposal writing, project management, staff supervision, report writing, and external relationship management.
• A national and positive reputation for expertise in youth development and well-connected in the field.
• Knowledge of youth development, adolescent health, and/or youth economic mobility research.
• A proven record of accomplishment leading proposals and winning competitive contracts/grants from various funding organizations (e.g., federal, state, and local government; foundations).
• Familiarity with federal and state procurement and contract opportunities.
• Experience effectively leading and mentoring teams working on large/complex projects to ensure project excellence, timeliness, and on-budget execution.

Skills:

• Strong quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-method design and analysis skills or technical assistance leadership to serve as a senior team leader on proposals and projects.
• Demonstrated strong writing skills to effectively communicate findings and policy implications from technical research for policymakers and practitioners.
• Demonstrated clear oral communication skills, including the capacity to collaborate professionally with clients, federal or foundation project officers, implementing partners, consultants, program leadership staff, and other stakeholders.
• Proven ability to develop staff capacity in research and evaluation design and methods, project management, client relationships, research publication, and business development.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines independently while contributing to a collaborative team environment.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with attention to accuracy and research best practices.