Director, Research and Evaluation
The Jewish Education Project
New York, NY
Opportunity for Impact
The Jewish Education Project is devoted to ensuring that Jewish education is in tune with the forces that impact our world and our communities in a changing environment. We believe that in a rapidly changing world, Jewish education must continually evolve to meet the needs of the Jewish community. The power of harnessing knowledge and curating ideas to inspire the various stakeholders who influence Jewish education is a vital component of this work.
In this time of rising antisemitism, Jewish learning should support identity-building, creating confident, proud Jews who are well-equipped to respond to the challenges they will face. In this complex and challenging world, the work of Jewish education is more urgent than ever.
We are committed to bringing the most creative solutions to a field that must remain relevant and meaningful in the lives of Jewish youth and their families today and tomorrow. For more information about The Jewish Education Project, please visit www.jewishedproject.org
About the role
The Director of Research and Evaluation serves a unique and expansive role balancing research, evaluation, strategy, execution, and teaching roles within the agency. The Director is responsible for leading various research efforts designed to learn about both end users (children, teens, their families) as well as Jewish educators. Additionally, as a key member of the Think-Action team, s/he/they will be responsible for integrating learnings across the agency and modulating our work according to our learnings.
The ideal candidate will be a practitioner with sufficient academic experience and skill to ensure that our original research work meet appropriate standards and maintain necessary rigor, while at the same time ensuring we are evaluating our practice and leveraging data to strengthen our internal growth and impact. Reporting to the Chief Jewish Education Officer, s/he/they will hold a cross-agency portfolio including working closely with the RootOne Director of Research and Evaluation.
Key Responsibilities
- In close collaboration with the CEO, Executive Director and CJEO, lead original research projects, the next one launching before the end of the calendar year.
- Lead the agency bi-annual educator survey from conception through execution and analysis.
- Work closely with the agency data team to integrate evaluative mechanisms into our new data-informed approaches.
- Serve as the lead internal “teacher” to colleagues as the agency improves its internal data culture.
- Review and improve agency program evaluation mechanisms and regularly analyze and make meaning of results, building a cycle of ongoing learning, reflection, and recalibration.
- Lead agency efforts to effectively use data to communicate our programmatic impact with external stakeholders.
- Brief and lead discussions with the Think-Action team on emerging/relevant research from outside, and within, the Jewish Education community.
- Work with all areas of program delivery to consider how data influences their practice.
- Work with evaluation teams hired for grant funded projects.
- Other research and evaluation efforts as needed.
About You
- At least 5 years’ experience as the leader of a program, initiative, or organization strongly preferred.
- Experience in the field of Jewish Education, with a particular understanding of Jewish education beyond day schools preferred.
- Extremely strong interpersonal skills and the ability to develop strong relationships with a wide variety of people.
- The ideal candidate will have a creative and collaborative disposition.
- The Ideal Candidate will have multiple of the following:
- Experience facilitating workshops and leading large presentations
- Experience making data accessible to the non-academic community
- Professional experience outside of the academic arena
- Experience with educational innovation or experimentation.
- Ability to lead and partner with integrity and inspiration; flexibility and openness to working with professional and volunteer community leaders.
- Capable of teaching others to expand the circle of skill; creativity and ability to push and inspire others to think beyond the traditional educational landscape to use new concepts and strategies.
- Entrepreneurial self-starter; a problem solver with top notch planning and prioritizing skills.
- A persuasive and passionate communicator, both written and oral
- Significant qualitative and quantitative data as well as evaluative experience; PhD preferred.
- Candidates with diverse cultural, educational, and experiential backgrounds are urged to apply.
- You are a candidate who will embrace working in an environment that prioritizes:
- A positive attitude
- Demonstrating care and concern for the people around them
- Leading with humble confidence and competence
- Reliability, consistency, and accountability.
- Striving for excellence.
What We Offer
- Competitive salary in the range of $120,000 - $130,000 depending on experience.
- Three weeks paid time off in year 1; increasing incrementally on a set schedule.
- Comprehensive health insurance.
- 401k plan.
- Paid family leave.
- Commuter benefits.
- Early close on Fridays for Shabbat and closed for most Jewish holidays.
- Shortened summer hours.
- A positive work environment with exposure to great learning opportunities and the chance to work with some of the top professionals in the field of Jewish Education.
Location: Hybrid work environment - Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 1675 Broadway, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10019. Monday and Friday work remotely.
The Jewish Education Project aims to select, place and train the best qualified persons based upon relevant factors such as work quality, attitude and experience, so as to provide equal employment opportunity for all our employees in compliance with applicable local, state, and federal laws and without regard to non-work related factors such as race, color, religion/creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other protected class. We encourage and support diversity and tolerance in our workplace.