The Research and Evaluation Strategist assists with the management of the Engagement Research and Advancement division by advancing division strategies, external and internal relationships, staff development, project development and project implementation. In addition, the Research and Evaluation Strategist designs, executes, and facilitates systematic evaluation and research studies for exhibits, programs, museum initiatives, and associated proposals.

Participate in programs/initiatives to enhance corporate culture, such as:

• Working effectively with and supporting volunteers throughout the organization
• Supporting OMSI's Total Guest Experience (TGE)/Customer Service mission & objectives in daily job performance, including diversity initiatives

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

Performing the following will involve driving to various locations outside OMSI's corporate headquarters:

Functions

• Manage engagement research, evaluation, and impacts activities with lenses of community and learner diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and equity
• Assist with the management of the division by cultivating and advancing division strategies, relationships, staff development, proposal development, and project development.
• Lead aspects of management systems related to project acquisition, finances, staffing, training, and project oversight.
• Responsible for monitoring research and evaluation plan design, implementation, and proposal development on designated projects.
• Responsible for mentoring and supporting staff members and volunteers, including supervision of staff on designated projects.
• Regularly confer with supervisees in order to monitor supervisees' work and assure compliance of projects.
• Confer with Manager and other division staff as appropriate to ensure supervisees' completion of duties and overall satisfaction with the supervisees' work.
• Support division project management, division budget development and administration, and participate in division annual work plan development.
• Develop and implements research and evaluation plans for individual projects, including the design research and evaluation protocol and instruments.
• Coordinate and/or execute evaluation activities, including literature reviews, data collection, data analysis, interpretation, reporting, and dissemination.
• Facilitate involvement of other museum staff in research and evaluation, as appropriate.
• Help develop and advance research priorities list
• Support planning, procurement, implementation, documentation, and timely reporting of grants
• Facilitate organizational and team processes including ideating, framework development, planning, and decision-making.
• Lead or contribute to organizational committees and initiatives; liaison with other OMSI centers to support new project development and OMSI's mission.
• Assess educational and experiential value of existing and developing exhibits and programs
• Manage division activities and budgets
• Manage division paid and unpaid personnel including hiring, workplans, and contracts
• Define and facilitate involvement of community and research advisors in the project and organizational processes.
• Lead and support government, foundation, sales, and organizational funding opportunities, including proposal development
• Nurture relationships with collaborators in communities and aligned fields
• Manage and conduct primary research and evaluation and communicate findings, serving in roles including planning, project and study design, relationship management, project management, project facilitation, project implementation, and information synthesis, interpretation, and delivery.
• Serve as project lead, as assigned, which includes leading the fulfillment of project charters.
• Frame, coordinate, and regularly share research and evaluation findings with internal and external, professional and public OMSI communities
• Monitor and maintain standards of primary research and evaluation
• Support standards of science content research and science learning experience development
• Advocate that the highest standards of scientific/educational integrity and accessibility are maintained in all OMSI exhibits and activities developed within the exhibits department.
• Participate in the development and implementation of strategies to enhance the visitor engagement and learning at OMSI.
• Support OMSI's Human Research Protection Procedures including Informed consent position statement, Institutional Review Board requirements, and Visitor Studies Review Team
• Represent OMSI's Engagement Research and Advancement activities in local, regional, and national settings, displaying leadership skills that position OMSI for success in each setting.

Practices

• Support ethical treatment of human research and evaluation participants. Complete related training as required
• Support the integrity of research, evaluation, and education practices
• Support practices for gathering evidence for informed decisions and actions
• Support accessibility and inclusion
• Support fiscal responsibility
• Support advancements in informal learning
• Support accuracy in STEM content
• Serve as a liaison with external evaluators.
• Serve as a team member of OMSI divisions, projects, and committees.
• This position is non-exempt, paid hourly
• This position is regular part-time, for 8 - 28 hours/week.

Working Conditions:  

• Possible travel to meetings and conferences multiple times per year.
• Some work on evenings, weekends, and holidays will be required.
• Physical Demands: 60% Sitting 30% Standing 10% Lifting/Carrying/Pushing/Pulling 5-10 Pounds
• Tasks generally require close vision (clear vision at 20 inches or less), distance vision (clear vision at 20 feet or more), color vision (ability to identify and distinguish colors), peripheral vision (ability to observe an area that can be seen up and down or to the left or right while eyes are fixed on a given point), depth and perception (three dimensional vision, ability to judge distance and spatial relationships), and ability to adjust focus (ability to adjust the eyes to bring an object into sharp focus). Accommodations for impaired visual abilities can be discussed.
• Work environment will occasionally include proximity to moving mechanical parts and outdoor weather conditions, including wet, hot, and cold.
• The noise level is generally moderate (examples: business office with computers and printers, light traffic, museum exhibits and crowds) and occasionally loud (examples: exhibit shop machinery).

Secondary Functions: 

• Assist in recruiting and hiring designated division staff and contractors.
• Monitor supervisees' schedules and facilitate supervisees' assignments to projects.
• Help develop and monitor supervisees' training plans.
• Help monitor compliance of human subject research ethics and human protection training.
• Oversee work log and timesheet submission, as necessary
• Conduct annual performance evaluations of supervisees, as appropriate.
• Facilitate the use of work stations.
• Assume other tasks and responsibilities as assigned by the Research, Evaluation, and Impacts Manager.

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities: 

Requirements: 

Business practices

• Professional oral and written communication skills appropriate to the position. Ability to interface well with fellow paid and unpaid staff, participants, and partners in professional, education, research, and evaluation settings.
• Demonstrated excellent interpersonal, written and verbal communication and customer service skills to work effectively with people of diverse talents and backgrounds.
• Excellent organizational, analytical, and problem solving skills.
• Ability to effectively work independently and with teams on multiple, simultaneous, diverse tasks. Includes ability to learn quickly and meet deadlines.
• Demonstrated organizational, project, and initiative leadership skills working with people of diverse backgrounds while achieving collaboration and measurable results
• Abilities in strategic planning.
• Ability to learn quickly and meet deadlines.
• Ability to exercise initiative and good judgment in anticipating problems before they arise.
• People management skills.
• Time management skills.
• Ability to work under pressure with flexibility.
• Ability to effectively manage and track multiple projects simultaneously, prioritize, work well with a high degree of accuracy, and meet stringent and overlapping deadlines.
• Demonstrated skills in teamwork and collaboration with colleagues and community members, with varied skills and responsibilities meeting individual, departmental and organizational deadlines.
• Strong presentation skills.
• Direct experience with social media networks and communications
• Proficient in Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Outlook.
• Hands-on experience with word processing, spreadsheet analysis, database management, statistical software, publishing software, presentation software, computer graphics, and electronic data collection tools and demonstrated proficiency with at least two of these software types.
• Basic understanding of ethics related to intellectual rights and copyrights
• Understanding of confidentiality protocols.

Principles and Practices of Informal Learning Environments and Participant Behavior

• Demonstrated understanding of participant research.
• Demonstrated experience advocating for the accessibility, inclusion and safety of educational experiences.
• Demonstrated understanding of museum experiences (e.g. exhibits, programs, cyber).
• Demonstrated understanding of user-friendly text formatting and 2-D and 3-D design
• Demonstrated understanding of science, technology, engineering, and math learning and education

Research and Evaluation Methods and Analysis

• Demonstrated knowledge of and experience maintaining research and evaluation integrity.
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience with techniques for facilitating and making decisions using evidence.
• Demonstrated knowledge of experimental design and data collection methods.
• Demonstrated knowledge of qualitative data collection methods and analysis.
• Demonstrated understanding of descriptive and inferential statistics.
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience with techniques for facilitating and making decisions using evidence

Preferences: 

• Nonprofit leadership and management experience.
• Museum leadership and management experience.
• Experience generating revenues through fund-raising, grants, memberships, sales, and/or other streams.
• Experience in Financial Edge

Education & Work Experience 

Requirements: 

• Graduate degree in science or science education; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Minimum 4 years of progressive program management, including staff supervision, multiple project management, and budget responsibility.
• Minimum 1 year of experience working with the public, formal and informal settings.
• Minimum 2 years experience developing informal learning experiences,
• Minimum 3 years of experience in museums or informal science education.
• Minimum of 2 years experience leading staff for team based research projects.
• Minimum 2 years of coordination and project management skills.
• Minimum 1 year experience overseeing the generation of revenues.
• Minimum 1 year relationship-stewardship experience with public and professional community members.
• Demonstrated experience in behavioral research (e.g., literature searches, data collection, data management, data analysis, data interpretation, and data reporting).
• Minimum 3 years experience assessing the value and accessibility of education partnerships, programs, exhibits, research, organizational structures, or related work.
• Experience organizing and sharing knowledge with professional colleagues.

Preferences: 

• Bilingual - Spanish/English.
• Experience working with volunteers.
• Ph. D. preferred.

Additional Requirements/Preferences; Including Licenses and Certifications: 

BASIC REQUIREMENTS: 

• Valid driver's license and satisfactory driving record.
• Pre-employment and/or pre-duty checks, such as a criminal background check, reference checks, and requirements in the MVR Policy including passing Motor Vehicle Record (MVR) check.