Director, Professional Research & Evaluation Services

Accountabilities:

• • Lead the development and delivery of externally facing research, evaluation, consulting, and advisory engagements aligned with institutional priorities and client needs.
  • Partner with clients and external organizations to understand their objectives and translate them into appropriate research, evaluation, or advisory solutions.
  • Develop scopes of work, proposals, engagement strategies, and other materials supporting new and existing client opportunities.
  • Oversee a portfolio of concurrent projects, ensuring high-quality, timely, and cost-effective delivery of project outcomes and work products.
  • Coordinate faculty, staff, students, internal contributors, and external partners to ensure effective project execution and achievement of engagement objectives.
  • Monitor contract performance, expenditures, staffing costs, contribution margins, resource utilization, and delivery risks.
  • Build trusted, long-term relationships with clients and community partners while serving as a strategic advisor and primary point of contact across engagements.
  • Identify opportunities to expand existing partnerships, develop new engagements, increase portfolio revenue, and broaden organizational and community impact.
  • Contribute to the positioning, evolution, scalability, and long-term sustainability of the professional services portfolio and delivery model.
  • Work collaboratively across organizational boundaries to strengthen service quality, improve processes, and develop innovative approaches to client delivery.
  • Recruit, coordinate, guide, and develop diverse internal contributors supporting contracted projects.
  • Provide training, coaching, and ongoing guidance to faculty, staff, and student contributors while fostering a culture of learning and continuous improvement.
  • Contribute to strategic decision-making by synthesizing complex information, identifying trends and opportunities, and providing actionable recommendations to leadership.
  • Perform other responsibilities as needed to support the success and growth of the professional services portfolio.

  Requirements:

  • Master’s degree in a relevant discipline is required; a doctoral degree is preferred.
  • 8+ years of experience in professional research, evaluation, consulting, or a closely related field.
  • Demonstrated experience developing project scopes, proposals, engagement strategies, and negotiating with clients or partners.
  • Proven ability to manage multiple concurrent projects or a complex professional services portfolio.
  • Experience supervising teams or leading project-based contributors in applied research, consulting, evaluation, or similar environments.
  • Experience working within higher education is preferred.
  • Strong command of research design, program evaluation frameworks, and quantitative and qualitative research methods.
  • Ability to apply research and evaluation methodologies effectively to real-world organizational and community challenges.
  • Strong business acumen, including an understanding of pricing, cost modeling, financial drivers, resource utilization, and sustainable service delivery.
  • Ability to identify opportunities to improve processes, scalability, efficiency, and client outcomes.
  • Excellent client relationship management, communication, negotiation, and stakeholder engagement skills.
  • Ability to build trust and influence effectively across diverse stakeholders, organizational functions, and levels of leadership.
  • Strong strategic thinking, judgment, problem-solving, prioritization, and project management capabilities.
  • Ability to communicate complex research, technical, or analytical concepts clearly to non-technical audiences and senior leaders.
  • Demonstrated ability to recruit, develop, coordinate, and manage diverse contributors.
  • Mature, tactful, responsive, and solutions-oriented approach, particularly when handling sensitive or high-stakes situations.
  • Comfortable working independently in a remote environment while maintaining strong collaboration across organizational boundaries.
  • Willingness to travel up to 20% within the United States.

  Benefits:

  • Annual salary range of $79,930–$107,900, with actual compensation based on experience, qualifications, skills, competencies, and applicable location requirements.
  • Comprehensive total rewards package designed to support employees and their families.
  • Holistic well-being and employee benefits programs.
  • Remote-first work environment.
  • Opportunities for professional development, learning, and career advancement.
  • Opportunity to lead impactful research, evaluation, and advisory work across diverse clients and communities.
  • Collaborative environment involving faculty, staff, leadership, external partners, and community organizations.
  • Opportunity to shape and grow a scalable professional services portfolio with meaningful organizational and community impact.
  • Up to 20% travel, with the primary work arrangement being remote within the United States.