Senior Research Associate

What We Are Looking For

Baylor University is seeking a full-time Senior Research Associate of the Hunger Data Lab to join our team at the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty who shares our mission of cultivating scalable solutions to end hunger. The Baylor Collaborative embraces the belief that the connection between research and practice is cyclical, with research helping to identify the gaps and opportunities where practice should aim its efforts, and with practice helping define where more research is needed. We are seeking a Senior Research Associate of the Hunger Data Lab to lead the research team and manage our portfolio of internal and external program evaluations in the areas of food insecurity and poverty. This position will report to the Interim Senior Director of Research and Education at the Collaborative. 

A Master’s degree in public health, nutrition, sociology, epidemiology, social work, or related field, and three years of relevant work experience is required. A PhD and four years of relevant work experience is preferred. A combination of education and experience will be considered in lieu of the degree requirement. 

All applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis.

Remote/hybrid work will be considered on a case-by-case basis. 

What You Will Do

Lead and manage the Hunger Data Lab  

• Maintain and improve the Collaborative’s Hunger Data Lab to increase engagement as a result of timely, and innovative learnings. 
• Coordinate reports and datasets that are useful to our staff and partners (support field staff, nonprofit partners, and others in the food security space). 
• Communicate findings to internal and external audiences, including funders, partners, and professional and academic conferences. 
• Collaborate with our Public Affairs Team to share research learnings in policy work or external communications. 
• Coordinate reporting to external constituencies, including reporting to funders, as well as repurposing research and evaluation for other audiences. 
• Coordinate compilation and distribution of latest trends and research to the Collaborative staff 

Lead and manage a diverse team 

• Supervise up to six graduate students 
• Supervise up to 2 full-time Hunger Data Lab staff 
• Coordinate with external faculty partners 
• Connect with research fellows 
• Support the cultivation of a research-informed culture at the Collaborative at large 

Support new and existing internal and external evaluation projects 

• Serve as Principal Investigator and/or Co-PI on research grants and liaise with Baylor’s Office for Vice Provost of Research. 
• Support design and execution of existing and new mixed methods program evaluations.  
• Coordinate with Baylor researchers (Faculty, post-docs, graduate students, and undergraduates) to create project teams to conduct evaluations.  
• These responsibilities include but are not limited to: ensuring soundness of research design, sampling methods, measure selection and design, IRB submission, data collection and analysis, and reporting.  
• Oversee creation of final report to stakeholders. 
• Submit policy programmatic recommendations to our Public Affairs and Public Service and Innovation Team based on findings. 
• Support project plans and manage projects to ensure deadlines are met.  
• Support program operations including timelines, budgets, work plans, and achievement of goals and milestones across multiple projects and teams.  

Grant Writing and Project Development 

• Support opportunities within the Collaborative’s programmatic efforts and ensure that means of evaluations are properly built into the structure of new programs.  
• Support development of research grants that connect to our programmatic work.  
• Support research & evaluation portions of grants for future funding. 

Other Duties

• Perform all other duties as assigned to support Baylor’s mission. 
• Ability to comply with university policies. 
• Maintain regular and punctual attendance.

What You Can Expect

As part of the Baylor family, eligible employees receive a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical, dental, and vision insurance, generous time off, tuition remission, and outstanding automatic retirement contributions. Baylor has a comprehensive benefits plan that supports you and your family’s wellbeing and allows you to be a part of the life of a vibrant and active college campus.  To learn more, go to Baylor Benefits & Advantages.

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