Description

Position Summary
Reporting to the COO, the National Director of Evaluation serves as an organizational leader who provides strategic direction and insight rooted in performance measurement, evaluation design, and field best practice. The National Director of Evaluation is responsible for translating complex data into actionable metrics, designing evaluation plans, sharing findings externally, and promoting a culture of continuous improvement, inquiry, and learning. The National Director of Evaluation is responsible for developing and implementing evaluation strategies ranging from data collection mechanisms to reports used to drive program development and improvement, as well as grant acquisition. The National Director of Evaluation will also supervise data and evaluation staff.

The Evaluation and Data Department

The Evaluation & Data Department at Urban Alliance seeks to examine structural barriers within workforce development that result in inequitable access to job skills training, professional networks, and paid internships for young people of color. We believe that to build a diverse next-generation workforce, we must fight for equity and level the playing field through evidenced-based programming and rigorous equity-based evaluation.

About Urban Alliance 

For more than 25 years, Urban Alliance has provided thousands of young adults with the skills, social capital, and career exposure needed to overcome systemic barriers to equal employment and educational opportunities. Urban Alliance’s programming serves as a bridge between young people, employers, and schools by providing high school students with comprehensive soft skills and digital literacy training, paid internships with local employers, individualized mentoring, case management, and ongoing post-high school planning support. Urban Alliance is one of the few youth workforce development organizations to have its impact proven by a six-year randomized controlled trial and has been recognized as a leader in the field by the book Moneyball for Government, as well as the Chronicle of Philanthropy, NPR, Forbes, the Urban Institute, and the Obama Foundation.

Requirements

Responsibilities 

Monitoring and Evaluation: Performance Management and Accountability

• Create the foundation for evaluation of new and existing programs by collaboratively building logic models, identifying metrics, and developing recommendations on how to track and assess them. 
• Oversee technologies and organizational workflow processes to capture community partner, funder, student, and alumni data as well as organizational metrics. 
• Collaborate with team leaders to set regional, departmental, and organizational goals that include benchmarks of success.
• Build an internal resource and evidence bank on best practices and trends in major organizational areas- youth development, workforce development, 21st century skills, social-emotional learning, intergenerational mobility, and systems change.
• Meet regularly with organizational goal owners to talk about progress toward achieving goals, what trade-offs need to be made to hit organizational goals, and support needed to increase chances to achieve goals.
• Support the creation of automated Salesforce dashboards that allow staff and leadership to monitor key performance indicators.
• Create regular board reports and support the Senior Leadership Team with board related data requests.
• Oversee data submissions for grant proposal and grant reporting processes.
• Oversee the creation of data collection tools, including surveys, assessments, and interview protocols.

Culture and Management: Cultivate a data driven culture and organizational learning 

• Develop, recruit, and manage a strong, talented, and diverse Evaluation & Data team.
• Oversee the creation of actionable reports and dashboards that illuminate key findings and recommendations to improve program design.
• Supporting organizational efforts to align our practices with an equity approach and using evaluation as a tool for advancing equity.
• Increase staff data literacy and capacity to monitor key performance indicators and outcomes.
• Support an internal culture of learning and strategic decision making and build Evaluative capacity and adaptive learning skills across the organization.
• Utilize knowledge of org-wide systems and processes to participate in cross-departmental conversations regarding new initiatives as well as existing program design, implementation, and improvement.
• Support the design, assessment, and feedback loops of program improvement pilot projects.

External Evaluations, Relationships

• Liaise with external evaluators and act as the project lead on external evaluations.
• Communicate with external organizations (local, state, and nationwide), participate in diverse communities of practice and learn from their evaluation efforts and initiatives to advise the organization and provide actionable insights.
• Serve as a point of contact with others interested in learning more about our evaluation efforts.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree and at least seven years of relevant work experience with progressive data management and research responsibilities OR Master’s degree and four years’ relevant experience
• Expert level proficiency in Excel, analytical and data visualization software (e.g., R Studio, Tableau, NVivo), and Salesforce.
• Familiarity with major issues in workforce development
• Knowledge and experience of using evaluation and youth focused research methods to inform program development and improvement
• Knowledge and experience of program evaluation principles, theories, concepts, and practices
• Ability to analyze information, summarize findings and present them in ways easily understandable to all staff
• Strong experience managing a remote team
• Experience supporting and training staff and job partners, that are unfamiliar with research and evaluations, to collect, manage and analyze data
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Passion for the mission of Urban Alliance and experience with serving youth in under-resourced communities

Compensation and Benefit Package:

At Urban Alliance one of our core values is taking care of each other, and this includes offering competitive benefits, paid time off, and options for remote work.

The total compensation package for this position is between $90,000 – $107,000 based on experience. In addition to having paid time off between December 25^th and January 1^st, we provide 18 days of paid time off plus 10 paid federal holidays, as well as birthday and diversity paid holidays. Additional days are provided to staff after three years.  Depending on the calendar, additional paid closure days and early closure days are established each year.  Our benefits include a comprehensive health plan with 90% individual healthcare coverage for employees, 403(B) retirement plans with a 3% match, whole life insurance and pre-tax commuter benefits. In addition, this position can be either remote or based in one of our four locations.  If it is at one of our four locations we offer hybrid work schedules.  Whether completely remote or hybrid, travel is part of this position.  Travel to each of the four regions (Washington DC, Baltimore, Detroit, Chicago) for professional development and site visits throughout the year will be expected approximately 6-8 times per year.   Work hours are 35 hours per week and determined based on program needs to allow for both flexibility and work-life balance. 

Urban Alliance Vaccination Policy

As established by the Urban Alliance Board of Directors, all employees are required to receive a vaccination against COVID-19, unless a medical or religious reasonable accommodation is approved. If offered a job, the candidate must be able to prove that they have been vaccinated with one of the CDC-authorized vaccines, including either Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson / Janssen or request and be granted an accommodation before their start date.

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion 

Urban Alliance is a racial and social justice organization committed to creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace. Urban Alliance is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. Applicants from all underrepresented groups, including people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and DACA recipients are encouraged to apply.