Research Program Manager

The Society of Family Planning advances a vision of just and equitable abortion and contraception, informed by science. By leveraging the powerful tools of science and medicine, we aim to ensure that abortion and contraception practices and policies are grounded in science and center people whose access to care is constrained by systems of oppression, and that all people have access to evidence-informed and person-centered abortion and contraception. To achieve our vision and desired impacts, we focus on the following strategies, as described in our 2023-2028 strategic plan:

• Convening a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and multidisciplinary community of all engaged in the science and medicine of abortion and contraception
• Supporting the production and resourcing of research primed for impact
• Organizing and leveraging research primed for impact
• Ensuring clinical care is evidence-informed and person-centered through guidance, medical education, and other activities
• Developing and supporting leaders in abortion and contraception to transform healthcare systems, and
• Aligning the organization’s governance, operations, and overall resources to be in service of the strategies designed to bring our collective vision to life.

We seek a service-oriented, organized, and collaborative team member to support the planning, execution, and management of the Society’s research programs. This position is open to candidates living in the US. It is anticipated that the person in this position will travel approximately 5% of the time. This position reports to the Director of Research Programming and Organizational Learning.

Activities include, but are not limited to, those described below.

Manage research programs - 75%

• Oversee the planning and implementation of the Society’s NIH Navigation Cohort, including managing participant recruitment, scheduling meetings, coordinating peer review feedback, serving as a liaison between program participants, faculty, and reviewers, and participating in cohort sessions.
• Support the continued maintenance of the Society’s Post-Dobbs Research Signal by tracking, compiling, and disseminating relevant research.
• Manage the development of the Society’s Science Says summaries from start to finish and build new processes to support the continued relevance of documents.
• Oversee the lifecycle of the Society’s Research Practice Supports by providing administrative support to authors and Research Committee reviewers, serving as a liaison between authors and the journal, and implementing process improvements.
• Coordinate Research Committee meetings, including scheduling, sending reminders, and taking notes during meetings.
• Support time-limited learning communities, in collaboration with the funding opportunity lead, for investigators leading research on priority topics by scheduling meetings, coordinating external speakers, and ensuring these communities provide space for ongoing peer feedback and collaboration.
• Support the development and implementation of new research programming by conducting literature searches, drafting recruitment and communication materials, and overseeing the day to day operations of new programs.
• Assist with organizational efforts to advocate for increased federal funding for family planning research and improved processes for reviewing family planning research.
• Stay abreast of gaps in research and develop processes for tracking research gaps.
• Work in partnership with program teams to ensure strategic alignment and elevate synergies across different work products.
• Innovate processes and programming with an eye towards advancing the Society’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Vision.

Support grantmaking - 15%

• Work with grantmaking staff to ensure excellence across the grantmaking lifecycle.
• Provide administrative and editorial support for funding opportunities, review processes, and grants related communications.

Support organizational development - 10%

• Coordinate processes that leverage the expertise of the Society’s members, such as position statements, evidence summaries, and letters of support.
• Contribute to funder proposals and reports and Board updates, as needed.
• Contribute to learning related to research programming and grantmaking, seeking opportunities for reflection and leveraging internal and external data sources.
• Contribute to implementing our Annual Meeting.

Qualifications

Highly-qualified applicants will meet many of the qualifications below:

• Experience bringing programming to life, elevating existing plans, and cultivating excellence in execution.
• Service-oriented mindset and ability to work collaboratively with Society members and partner organizations.
• Exceptional eye for detail, including strong skills in copy editing and collating information from multiple sources.
• Exemplary interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.
• Responsiveness to different people with attention to alignment with the organization’s and people’s needs.
• Ability to focus on details while not losing sight of the big picture.
• Strong organizational skills and ability to juggle competing demands without sacrificing quality.
• Demonstrated ability to build and sustain authentic relationships across lines of difference.
• Ability to approach challenges with a growth mindset and nimbly adapt to emergent learnings or organizational priorities, as evidenced by comfort with asking questions and enthusiasm for incorporating the wisdom of others.
• Able to listen with empathy and respond to collaborator needs and concerns; sees feedback as an invitation, not a burden.
• Willingness to pitch in as needed; we are a small nonprofit and everyone contributes.
• High level of computer literacy, including confidence using (or learning to use) Microsoft and Google suite, Asana, Box, Slack, Canva, and other digital tools.
• Commitment to the Society’s strategic plan and Diversity Equity and Inclusion Vision.
• Fully vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19.