MDMA Career Center

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Lead Research Scientist is an individual contributor with an extremely high level of expertise in all phases of the research process. The Lead Research Scientist will serve as the lead researcher for the National Profile of Local Health Departments study, the premier source of data on local health departments, which is used extensively both within and outside NACCHO. The Lead Research Scientist also provides expert advice and support to NACCHO research and evaluation projects and participates in collaborative research with other organizations. This position reports to the Senior Director, Research and Evaluation. Occasional travel may be required to represent NACCHO at scientific or professional meetings.

POSITION SPECIFIC DUTIES:

• Contribute to NACCHO’s National Profile of Local Health Department (Profile) study by leading questionnaire development, sampling, data cleaning, and data analysis efforts and participating in development of study publications.

• Provide expert advice and support to NACCHO research and evaluation activities, including selection of appropriate research design, methods, sampling, instrument design, data analysis, data presentation, and reporting of results.

• Promote and facilitate collaborations with external researchers that support NACCHO’s strategic and program priorities.

• Advance the field of public health systems research by participating in appropriate activities of professional and partner organizations.

• Doctoral degree in relevant professional field with a minimum of 8-10 years relevant work experience; or equivalent combination of education and experience, including a relevant certification. Exceptionally qualified Master’s degree candidates will be considered.

• Extensive experience in and knowledge of quantitative research methods, including study design, instrument design, data analysis, and reporting of research results.

• Extensive experience in and knowledge of qualitative research techniques, including grounded theory, qualitative data collection techniques, and analysis of qualitative data.

• In-depth knowledge of statistical techniques, and extensive experience in employing those techniques, including but limited to application of descriptive and inferential statistical techniques, and multivariate modeling.

• Preferred: Ability to design and implement program evaluation, including development of logic models.

• Experience in developing a variety of research reports and products, including publications for peer-reviewed journals, conference presentations, and scientific posters.

• Experience with statistical analysis software (Stata preferred) and qualitative analysis software (N-VIVO preferred) required. Spreadsheet and Word Processing software experience required.