Westat is an employee-owned corporation providing research services to agencies of the U.S. Government, as well as businesses, foundations, and state and local governments. Westat's research, technical, and administrative staff of more than 2,000 is located at our headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, near Washington, DC.
Westat is committed to building a diverse workforce and a culture of inclusivity, belonging and equity for all. We believe that our greatest strength draws on the different backgrounds, cultures, perspectives and experiences of our employees.
Westat is seeking a Principal Research Associate to join its team of experienced evaluators who design and conduct studies of federal education programs and policies for the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and other clients. This position involves directing one or more tasks on large federal evaluation contracts and contributing proposals and business development. This position is remote-eligible.
Job responsibilities:
• Directing one or more tasks on large federal implementation or impact evaluations of federally funded education programs or federal policies.
• Conducting quantitative analyses.
• Co-authoring reports for policymaker audiences.
• Mentoring staff on evaluation projects and proposals.
• Contributing to the identification and advancement of business opportunities.
• Making substantive contributions to sections of technical proposals and budgets.
Basic Qualifications:
• Doctoral degree in a social science field (e.g., economics, education, psychology, public policy, or sociology) with 5 or more years of experience in education research; or a master’s degree in a social science field with 8 or more years of experience in education research.
• Experience conducting and reporting findings from quantitative or qualitative analyses.
• Experience on at least one federally funded evaluation of an education program.
• Experience on at least one federal evaluation contract.
• Experience leading and overseeing a task or set of project activities.
• US Citizenship is required by contract.
Preferred Qualifications:
• Demonstrated experience contributing to proposals to evaluate of education programs or policies.
• Experience leading site recruitment for impact evaluations.
• Experience leading the collection and analysis of administrative data.
• Experience contributing to cost or cost-effectiveness analyses.
• Expertise in R, SAS, Stata, or another statistical software program.
• Experience with data science applications such as natural language processing to extract information from existing sources.
• Completion of IES-supported trainings in cluster randomized trials, meta-analysis, quasi-experimental designs, or cost-effectiveness analysis.
• Certification in What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) 5.0 standards.
Westat offers a well-rounded and comprehensive benefits program focused on wellness and work/life balance. Subject to plan requirements, employees may participate in:
- Employee Stock Ownership Plan
- 401(k) Retirement Plan
- Paid Parental Leave
- Vacation Leave (20 days per year)
- Sick Leave (10 days per year)
- Holiday Leave (7 government holidays and 2 floating holidays)
- Professional Development
- Health Advocate
- Employee Assistance Program
- Travel Accident Insurance
- Medical Insurance
- Dental Insurance
- Vision Insurance
- Short Term Disability Insurance
- Long Term Disability Insurance
- Life and AD&D Insurance
- Critical Illness Insurance
- Supplemental Life Insurance
- Flexible Spending Account
- Health Savings Account
This opportunity will be posted for a minimum of 5 days and applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis.
Westat is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship status, genetic information, gender identity or expression, or any other protected status under applicable law.
#LI-WST1 #REMOTE
