Director, Research & Insights

About the role

JFF is seeking a full-time Director, Research & Insights to lead and strengthen our enterprise-wide impact measurement systems and data infrastructure. This role is ideal for a leader who thrives at the intersection of research rigor, data strategy, and organizational learning. The Director will support and lead major initiatives including the American Job Quality Survey (AJQS) and North Star measurement, State Impact Strategy, and the development of an AI-powered research repository that centralizes data and insights across JFF. The Director will also support research activities on select funded projects, and contribute to fundraising and proposal development to expand JFF's research portfolio.

Responsibilities

• Support JFF's Job Quality Measurement and North Star Efforts
• Provide technical guidance on survey design, analysis, and interpretation to our external research partners
• Analyze a large, complex dataset on job quality to answer enterprise inquiries and elevate intriguing findings to support strategic decision making.
• Define and implement a process for internal data use , including repository integration, access protocols, and sensemaking across business units (BUs).
• Facilitate Business Unit ( BU ) -specific work sessions and targeted discussions to help leaders apply AJQS data within their portfolios.
• Align job quality measurement with JFF's North Sta r impact drivers , ensuring internal alignment and contribution to our impact platform
• Oversee Reporting for State Impact Strategy
• Lead data analysis related to JFF's State Impact strategy, ensuring consistency, rigor, and relevance across workstreams.
• Reporting data to produce actionable insights that inform organizational strategy, investment priorities, and storytelling.
• Recalibrate and re-score system maturity indicators on a defined cycle, synthesizing updated state-level evidence to track progress across employer, education, government, and population domains
• Apply contribution-based frameworks to assess organizational influence on system change, drawing defensible conclusions from incomplete or lagging data without overclaiming causation
• Analyze ecosystem behavior change to distinguish between organizational activity outputs and meaningful shifts in how state-level actors engage with workforce systems
• Partner with state leads and internal leadership to pressure-test measurement logic, identify gaps in the evidence chain, and maintain framework integrity as strategies evolve
• Skilled at navigating multiple stakeholders with competing priorities including funders, internal teams, state partners, and external experts - and building the trust and shared understanding needed to move research and decision-making forward.
• Advance Business Development and Proposal Strategy
• Partner with colleagues to develop proposals, concept notes, and funder materials , translating complex research and measurement work into compelling narratives.
• Lead or co-lead sectio

Benefits

Additional Information

About JFF Jobs for the Future (JFF) drives transformation of the U.S. education and workforce systems to achieve economic advancement for all. Seeing that millions of people are unfairly shut out of quality jobs and the chance for a better life, our goal is to align education, workforce, and employment changemakers toward a shared North Star: By 2033, 75 million people facing systemic barriers to advancement will work in quality jobs. To achieve that goal, we design solutions, scale best practices, influence policy and action, and invest in innovation. With a staff of more than 200 people across the country working remotely and in offices in Boston (headquarters), Washington, DC, and Oakland, California, we operate at the national, state, and local levels, forging deep partnerships with employers, investors, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and education and workforce development providers to break down barriers and reimagine what's possible. We're on a path of ongoing growth and expanding impact. We have an operating budget of $105 million, and we're funded by dozens of leading government agencies, foundations, and corporations. Learn more about JFF and join us as we build a future that works-for everyone. Equal Employment Opportunity at JFF Inclusion, belonging, and well-being are core to JFF's North Star and mission, and we seek to invest in and learn from those who represent the communities we serve as it is important to the success of our work and the engagement of our staff members. We aim to cultivate a culture that centers the overall care, well-being, and success of the employee through flexible work hours, balanced workloads, professional development, and career advancement opportunities for all. JFF is a fair chance employer and in alignment to our North Star , we hire based on qualifications, and experience, and we are committed to fair opportunity for all qualified candidates - including those without a 4-year degree or formally incarnated individuals.

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