Senior Director, Implementation Science

Application Deadline: 14 August 2026

Department: KNA-Research & Evaluation

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: Remote

Reporting To: Senior Director, Research & Evaluation

Compensation: $135,000 - $190,000 / year

Description

Key Responsibilities

• Research and Evaluation-Informed Program Co-Design and Implementation: Co-lead (with program partners) JED’s efforts to develop and update technical assistance programs for schools and communities based on the best available evidence and evaluation frameworks. These efforts are collaborative with programmatic partners; this role guides and oversees efforts to ensure that programs are evidence-based, measurable, and positioned to generate impact. 
  • Develop protocols and resources to support development and updates to JED’s core programs, including identifying mechanisms and cycles for routine and major updates.
  • Collaborate with the Senior Director, Knowledge & Review and other staff to stay informed of the best available evidence to promote mental health and prevent suicide. 
  • Support, advise, and oversee staff within this vertical in developing or updating program design elements, evaluation frameworks (such as a theory of change), and program survey and measurement tools to align with best practices and the evolving research. 
  • Develop, implement, and oversee continuous quality feedback loops to support program implementation fidelity in collaboration with program, data, and technology partners. 
  • Identify opportunities to use data to support equitable implementation of JED’s programs, including identifying which strategies may work for whom and in what context.
  • Develop processes and lead efforts to improve data literacy at JED, leading with the perspective that all staff should be equipped to use data to drive decision-making. 
• Survey and Measurement Design: Oversee and advise efforts to develop survey and assessment tools that ensure measurability of JED’s technical assistance programs. These data also provide opportunities for conducting basic and rigorous evaluation research, as well as research on emerging trends, risk and protective factors, and outcomes in youth mental health and suicide.
  • Collaborate with JED’s partners at the Healthy Minds Study to leverage these data for programmatic impact and to advance research on college student mental health.
  • Advise the teams’ scientists on best practices in survey and measurement design, including ensuring that questions align with JED’s broader research and evaluation goals, are developmentally appropriate, and benchmark with national and field standards.
  • Develop and oversee processes to support routine survey updates, balancing the need to maintain data consistency over time with flexibility as trends and priorities evolve. 
  • Oversee day-to-day elements of JED’s Institutional Review Board approvals, including identifying when IRB approvals and updates are needed and how to interpret approvals. 
  • Collaborate with the Senior Director, Data Management and Analysis