Associate Director of Research, Reshaping Prosecution

About the team:The Reshaping Prosecution Program is dedicated to transforming what it means to be a prosecutor by focusing on the dignity of all people impacted by the criminal justice system. Prosecutors play a critical, but often hidden, role in mass incarceration as one of the most powerful actors in the criminal justice system. They decide who to charge with a crime, what crime to charge, and what sentence to recommend if there is a conviction. Despite this immense power, prosecution has only recently become a focus of criminal justice reform efforts. Our team helps prosecutors across the country work to end mass incarceration, pursue racial equity, and be more transparent with the communities they serve. Specifically, we work with prosecutor’s offices and community-based organizations to improve safety by creating diversion programs that address the underlying drivers of crime and center racial equity.The Associate Director of Research reports directly to the initiative director with a “dotted line” to the research director. In this role, the Associate Director of Research oversees staff working across a range of methodologies and multiple projects or studies, engages in sophisticated hands-on research as needed, and manages the team’s research portfolio. This position has fluency in advocacy and communications strategies and draws on their substantial expertise in the field to oversee evidence-based messaging and policy in support of big goals. They are responsible for all research products and publications coming out of their teams. Associate Directors of Research bring substantial management experience, advanced methodological skills, strong research communication skills, and experience building and leading a research team. This is a senior-level position for researchers with extensive technical expertise and substantive knowledge and experience.About the role:Research LeadershipRepresent research on the initiative leadership team

Work with the initiative director to develop strategies that incorporate research; participate in initiative’s theory of change planning; monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL); and other activities related to the impact pipelineWork with the initiative director in support of annual planning and budget development, staffing plans, and fundraising

Serve as a member of the Vera Research Leadership Team

Ensure that researchers across the organization receive appropriate training, mentoring, and technical assistance

Supervise, support and mentor the initiative research team

Partner with initiative director and the research leadership team to develop staffing plans and lead recruitment and hiring

Cultivate relationships with partner organizationsSupervise all research work on an initiative project or teamPartner with Advocacy and Communications staff to develop coordinated strategies that leverage researchBuild and maintain expertise in prosecutionrelatedresearch and keep abreast of emerging trends and gapsPresentation and dissemination of researchSign off on evidence-based messaging and research within the initiative, and oversee development, writing, and editing of research publications and evidence-based messaging and products in support of initiative goals, including rapid response workAct as an internal and external spokesperson/representative of the work to a range of audiences including government actors, system-impacted communities, and the general publicPartner with advocacy and communications staff to develop coordinated strategies that leverage researchResearch design and implementationReview, develop, and present IRB applications and ensure that research is conducted to the highest ethical standards, serving as Principal Investigator on research projectsMentor early career researchers in human subjects/IRB protocolsLead the initiative’s data collection and analysisData collection and analysisLead/train/supervise others on data collection and analysis, overseeing all aspects of data management and analysis within the initiativeWhat qualifications are we looking for?ADRs typically have advanced graduate training, such as a Ph.D. or equivalent, as well as 9+ years of work experience or equivalent applied experience. Additionally, ADRs will have several years of experience supervising interdisciplinary research teams.Advanced project management, technical, methodological, and analytic skills.Experience supervising and working with mixed methods research and/or researchers; ability to supervise and advise on sophisticated quantitative analyses.Experience conducting applied policy research; subject matter expertise including understanding how the criminal legal system operates.Ability to support and build advocacy efforts and external stakeholder relationships.Commitment to race equity.Preferred :Experience supervising or conducting community-based research, research with people who have experienced trauma, and/ or research with people who have been detained or incarcerated.Experience partnering with advocacy and communications professionals.Experience with administrative data, ideally in the criminal legal system.Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities you'll bring:Proficient with Microsoft Office SuiteFluency in Stata, SPSS, or R statistical software; ability to lead and support code review in these programs or GitHubFamiliarity with Atlas. TI or similar qualitative analysis softwareExperience with program evaluation design and implementationDriver's license needed for travel