Senior Researcher, Healthcare Transformation

Join AIR as a Senior Researcher with our Healthcare Transformation Program. Our team works collaboratively to address complex challenges related to coverage, care delivery, operations, cost containment, and quality, supporting federal and state partners in improving healthcare outcomes. 

Our multidisciplinary team—including economists, data scientists, public health experts, clinicians, and policy researchers—advances evidence through rigorous research and evaluation, results driven technical assistance, and applied analytics.

The Senior Researcher leads and executes applied research projects end to end—designing rigorous studies, managing teams and budgets, overseeing data collection and analysis, developing proposals, and communicating actionable findings while serving as a trusted partner to clients and stakeholders.

Candidates hired for the position may work remotely within the United States (U.S.) or from one of our U.S. office locations. This does not include U.S. territories.

About AIR:

Founded in 1946 and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that conducts behavioral and social science research and delivers technical assistance to address some of the most pressing challenges in the United States and globally. We generate evidence and apply data-driven solutions that expand opportunities and improve lives for all.

Responsibilities

The responsibilities for the position include:

• Manage day-to-day project operations in roles such as principal investigator, project director, or task lead, ensuring deliverables are completed on time, within budget, and to a high standard.
• Lead collaborative project teams by developing timelines, coordinating staff assignments.
• Identify research problems and design rigorous applied studies, including aligned research questions, methodologies, and analytic plans.
• Apply subject-matter expertise to design and implement relevant, responsive, and impactful research and technical assistance projects.
• Develop study designs with aligned research questions, methodologies, and analytic plans.
• Lead and contribute to proposals for federal, state, foundation, and other clients.
• Devise and implement innovative solutions to practical challenges in applied research.
• Lead data collection and analysis efforts, including the design of qualitative and/or quantitative data collection tools (e.g., interview protocols, focus group guides, surveys).
• Supervise field-based data collection activities, including interviews, observations, focus groups, and document reviews.
• Conduct or oversee data analysis using appropriate tools and techniques for various data types.
• Communicate study progress and findings clearly and effectively through reports, briefs, visualizations, and other materials.
• Represent the organization professionally in client interactions and manage client and stakeholder relationships with awareness of the broader policy and practice landscape.
• Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, with clients, partners, and stakeholders, and foster positive, collaborative working relationships.
• Contribute thoughtfully and creatively to project teams.

Qualifications:

Education, Knowledge, and Experience

• PhD in related subject area (e.g., Economics, Health Services Research, Public Policy, or a related discipline) with 3+ years of relevant experience or master’s degree with 7+ years of relevant experience.
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex ideas into actionable work plans and timelines.
• Experience with qualitative data collection methodologies (e.g., structured interviews, observations, survey research) and analytic software (e.g., NVivo), and/or quantitative analysis using tools such as Stata, R, or Python.
• Experience managing project and/or task teams on research, evaluation, and technical assistance projects.
• Experience building and maintaining strong client and partner relationships.
• Experience supporting business development efforts, including grant and proposal writing.
• Experience analyzing claims and other large or complex data sets.
• Experience working in contract research and/or evaluation organizations.