Associate Director of Research, Reshaping Prosecution

About the team:

The Reshaping Prosecution Program is dedicated to transforming what it means to be a prosecutor by focusing on the dignity of all people impacted by the criminal justice system. Prosecutors play a critical, but often hidden, role in mass incarceration as one of the most powerful actors in the criminal justice system. They decide who to charge with a crime, what crime to charge, and what sentence to recommend if there is a conviction. Despite this immense power, prosecution has only recently become a focus of criminal justice reform efforts. Our team helps prosecutors across the country work to end mass incarceration, pursue racial equity, and be more transparent with the communities they serve. Specifically, we work with prosecutor’s offices and community-based organizations to improve safety by creating diversion programs that address the underlying drivers of crime and center racial equity.

The Associate Director of Research reports directly to the initiative director with a “dotted line” to the research director. In this role, the Associate Director of Research oversees staff working across a range of methodologies and multiple projects or studies, engages in sophisticated hands-on research as needed, and manages the team’s research portfolio. This position has fluency in advocacy and communications strategies and draws on their substantial expertise in the field to oversee evidence-based messaging and policy in support of big goals. They are responsible for all research products and publications coming out of their teams. Associate Directors of Research bring substantial management experience, advanced methodological skills, strong research communication skills, and experience building and leading a research team. This is a senior-level position for researchers with extensive technical expertise and substantive knowledge and experience.

About the role:

Research Leadership

• Represent research on the initiative leadership team
  • Work with the initiative director to develop strategies that incorporate research; participate in initiative’s theory of change planning; monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL); and other activities related to the impact pipeline
  • Work with the initiative director in support of annual planning and budget development, staffing plans, and fundraising
• Serve as a member of the Vera Research Leadership Team
  • Ensure that researchers across the organization receive appropriate training, mentoring, and technical assistance
• Supervise, support and mentor the initiative research team
  • Partner with initiative director and the research leadership team to develop staffing plans and lead recruitment and hiring
• Cultivate relationships with partner organizations
• Supervise all research work on an initiative project or team
• Partner with Advocacy and Communications staff to develop coordinated strategies that leverage research
• Build and maintain expertise in prosecutionrelated
• research and keep abreast of emerging trends and gaps

Presentation and dissemination of research

• Sign off on evidence-based messaging and research within the initiative, and oversee development, writing, and editing of research publications and evidence-based messaging and products in support of initiative goals, including rapid response work
• Act as an internal and external spokesperson/representative of the work to a range of audiences including government actors, system-impacted communities, and the general public
• Partner with advocacy and communications staff to develop coordinated strategies that leverage research

Research design and implementation

• Review, develop, and present IRB applications and ensure that research is conducted to the highest ethical standards, serving as Principal Investigator on research projects
• Mentor early career researchers in human subjects/IRB protocols
• Lead the initiative’s data collection and analysis

Data collection and analysis

• Lead/train/supervise others on data collection and analysis, overseeing all aspects of data management and analysis within the initiative

What qualifications are we looking for?

• ADRs typically have advanced graduate training, such as a Ph.D. or equivalent, as well as 9+ years of work experience or equivalent applied experience. Additionally, ADRs will have several years of experience supervising interdisciplinary research teams.
• Advanced project management, technical, methodological, and analytic skills.
• Experience supervising and working with mixed methods research and/or researchers; ability to supervise and advise on sophisticated quantitative analyses.
• Experience conducting applied policy research; subject matter expertise including understanding how the criminal legal system operates.
• Ability to support and build advocacy efforts and external stakeholder relationships.
• Commitment to race equity.

Preferred:

• Experience supervising or conducting community-based research, research with people who have experienced trauma, and/ or research with people who have been detained or incarcerated.
• Experience partnering with advocacy and communications professionals.
• Experience with administrative data, ideally in the criminal legal system.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities you'll bring:

• Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite
• Fluency in Stata, SPSS, or R statistical software; ability to lead and support code review in these programs or GitHub
• Familiarity with Atlas. TI or similar qualitative analysis software
• Experience with program evaluation design and implementation
• Driver's license needed for travel

Location:

Please note this role will report to our Brooklyn, NY, Washington, D.C., New Orleans, LA, or Los Angeles, CA, office. Vera employees adhere to a hybrid schedule and are in-office on an alternating schedule that generally amounts to 10 days per month.

Compensation and Benefits:

The compensation range for this position is $129,000 - $134,000. Actual salaries will vary depending on factors including but not limited to experience and performance. The salary range listed is just one component of Vera Institute’s total compensation package for employees. As an employer of choice in our field, supporting Vera staff - both personally and professionally - is a priority. To do this, we invest in the well-being of our staff through other rewards including merit pay, generous paid time off, a comprehensive health insurance plan, student loan repayment benefits, professional development training opportunities and up to $2,000 annual for education costs and fees relevant to Vera work, employer-funded retirement plan, and flexible time. To learn more about Vera’s benefits offerings, click here.