Research Director, Good Jobs First

Good Jobs First Seeks Research Director

Location: Virtual in the United States

Good Jobs First, a non-profit research center based in Washington DC and operating virtually across the United States, now seeks a Research Director to lead its economic development incentives research work. The director will play an integral role in identifying new relationships and seizing on significant findings to agitate for change.

Good Jobs First is the nation’s leading resource center promoting corporate and government accountability in economic development. Since 1998, it has set dozens of research precedents while leading the movement to win subsidy disclosure by state governments, as well as safeguards such as clawbacks and Job Quality Standards. It also led the successful campaign for local disclosure, winning GASB Statement No. 77 on Tax Abatement Disclosures, a municipal finance landmark.

Good Jobs First also promotes corporate accountability, through research publications and its globally popular database, Violation Tracker. Former Research Director Phil Mattera now leads that work as GJF’s Violation Tracker Project Director.

The Research Director will ensure research consistency and standardization, train and support researchers, build and sustain relationships with external partners, and oversee our Subsidy Tracker and Tax Break Tracker databases.

What You’ll Do:

Oversee Research

• Standardize processes (including methodologies) for how to build and carry out GJF research products, which include blogs, white papers, and reports;
• Lead thinking about strategy and research needs, including purpose, outcomes, and process and how the work fits into external needs and GJF as an organization;
• Lead research that explores connections and relationships between policy and race, ethnicity, income and geography;
• Participate in all aspects of research projects, from idea development to writing and publicizing final research products;
• Project manage multiple, concurrent research projects to ensure funder deliverables are met, the work is moving forward, and the work adequately distributed.

Manage Research Staff

• Provide feedback and mentorship to researchers to help them improve their research skills and strategies, and identify most significant findings;
• Lead regular research meetings to build upon a culture of collaboration and cross-team planning;
• Review, edit, and provide feedback on written products;
• Seek professional development opportunities for themself and others;
• Work with researchers to think about how their work fits into broader organizational goals and GJF’s mission;
• Participate in regular, ongoing evaluations and goal-setting.

Build connections

• Provide timely technical assistance to GJF’s diverse user base of NGOs, journalists, unions, public officials, think tanks, and academics;
• Cultivate and develop relationships with NGOs, elected officials, journalists, grassroots groups, and others involved in specific reform efforts;
• Conduct trainings, give speeches, and provide testimony on incentives provided by GJF staff in person and remotely;
• Regularly write blogs, Op-Eds, and other external pieces that amplify our research and/or link back to subsidy news of the day.

Oversee the Subsidy Tracker and Tax Break Tracker databases

(Subsidy Tracker is GJF’s 15-year-old, deal-specific database spanning more than 1,300 federal, state, and local programs, and Tax Break Tracker is GJF’s place-based database of local- and state-specific disclosures of revenues lost to incentive programs).

• Help researchers set priorities for what programs are most important to collect;
• Oversee the data collection effort for both databases, developing a schedule of updates and tracking that work;
• Consider ways of streamlining the data collection process (including using artificial intelligence);
• Consider the applications/needs of the database users in making decisions;
• Work with a consultant to analyze the workflow and make recommendations for next steps.

Other desirable qualifications:

• Experience wrangling large datasets
• Knowledge of and ability to critique programs and deals involving common incentives such as TIF districts, enterprise zones, property tax abatements, corporate income tax credits, and sales tax exemptions;
• A demonstrated commitment to racial, social, and economic justice;
• Strong communications skills ranging from big-picture economic justice framing to succinct media sound bites;
• Strong writing, editing, and public speaking skills;
• The ability to simplify and popularly communicate facially complex topics such as TIF;
• The ability to work remotely on both team projects and solo assignments;
• Knowledge of municipal finance; familiarity with public fiscal documents such as budgets and annual comprehensive financial reports;
• Knowledge of tax justice, organized labor, community organizing and/or environmental advocacy networks.

Although this is a 40-hour-per-week remote position that can be done anywhere in the U.S., the Research Director must be generally available 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern Time weekdays for internal and external meetings and coalition work. Some evening and weekend work is required, and the position must be able to do light travel, including to semi-annual in-person staff retreats. As a condition of employment, Good Jobs First requires proof of COVID-19 vaccination and boosters.

Good Jobs First is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages applications from women and people of color.

Send a résumé only (with “RD application” in the subject line) to info@goodjobsfirst.org. Candidates who meet the qualifications will be invited to the next phase. No phone calls, please.