Research Program Lead (PPM IV)

Full Job Description

This position is open to all King County Employees and the General Public.

Learn how Metro connects you with what matters.

King County Metro is seeking a Research Program Lead to set the vision for and lead all aspects of Metro’s Research Program.

This role is responsible for planning, overseeing, and guiding research, evaluation, and learning efforts that support monitoring and reporting and use of data-generated insights to inform decision-making across the agency.

The Research Program Lead supervises four full-time employees and a part-time intern and ensures the team delivers relevant, credible, and actionable research.

This includes overseeing and participating in research design, data collection (both qualitative and quantitative), analysis, synthesis, and development of clear reports, dashboards, and other tools that help Metro teams apply insights to their work.

This role partners closely with leaders and teams across Metro as well as external consultants and academic researchers to ensure research efforts align with business needs and agency priorities.

The successful candidate will communicate and uphold the Research team’s vision, build strong internal and external relationships, support staff development, and promote an equitable, inclusive, and data-informed culture across Metro.

This recruitment will be used to fill one Career Service position.

In addition, this selection process may be used to generate an eligibility pool for future career service, term limited temporary, and special duty assignment vacancies that may occur in this classification within this workgroup.

The eligibility pool will be retained for 12 months from the date of posting and may be used at the discretion of the hiring authority.

Requirements

Applying equity and social justice principles is a daily responsibility and a foundational expectation for all King County employees. In this role, you will apply equity and social justice principles that exemplify shared values, behaviors, and practices to all aspects of the work.

As Research Program Lead, you will be responsible for setting a vision for, planning, supporting, and leading all aspects of the Metro’s Research Program’s work and you will support and supervise program staff, including 4 full-time employees and a part-time intern. This includes:

1. Clearly communicate program purpose, goals, and approach.

Oversee and guide the development and implementation of relevant, credible research and evaluation plans and learning agendas.

Specific tasks: Develop or oversee development of sound research and evaluation plans and/or learning agendas matched to the needs and questions of Metro teams or business units.

Help to articulate research, evaluation, or learning questions and determine how best to pursue answers to those questions via sound sampling, appropriate data collection (surveys, interviews, focus groups, or compilation of secondary data), analysis, and synthesis of relevant data.

Advise on and/or oversee implementation of research/evaluation plans and learning agendas as needed.

2. Ensure the Research Program works effectively with individuals and groups across Metro, including leaders, work owners, and implementers and those with different disciplinary backgrounds, and provides timely and effective responses to requests for data and evidence.

Lead, oversee, contribute to, or guide the design of any new agency-led data collection efforts, including both qualitative and quantitative research studies (survey, focus groups, travel diaries, etc.).

This includes weighing in on sampling design, methods, tools, and implementation to ensure the return of quality data.

3. Lead, oversee, contribute to, or guide the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data using appropriate approaches and/or software tools (R, PowerBI, Qualtrics, etc.).
4. Lead, oversee, contribute to, or guide the synthesis of data from multiple sources to answer research, evaluation, and learning questions of interest to Metro business units, teams, or leaders.
5. Ensure that data seekers and users across Metro have easy access to helpful tools and resources.
6. Lead, oversee, contribute to, or guide preparation of approachable and actionable reports, data summaries, dashboards, or other materials that communicate data-informed conclusions and insights to internal and external partners—including internal teams or work groups, jurisdictional partners, fellow regional mobility organizations, community-based organizations, and national groups.
7. Lead, oversee, contribute to, or guide capacity building efforts that build comfort and facility with interpretation of data, distilling actionable insights, and applying insights to decisions and actions.

3. Build and manage relationships with internal and external partners - including those at Metro engaged in data collection or analysis to answer questions that are important to their own/Metro’s work, and consultants and academic researchers who support Metro with the design and implementation of studies.
4. Collaborate with and support leaders, individuals, and projects across Metro, representing the Research team’s goals and vision, providing insight on best practices for conducting research and evaluation or otherwise building evidence, and upholding Metro’s commitment to data-informed decisions.
5. Present and discuss data and evidence with an array of internal and external audiences.

Support staff regarding their individual work planning and support and oversee implementation of regular work.

Provide guidance and support regarding establishment of professional development goals and pursuit of professional development opportunities.

As needed, represent and advocate for the program’s vision, approach, and work.

6. Demonstrate a commitment to social justice and sustainability ,promoting an equitable, diverse and inclusive work environment.
7. Perform other duties as assigned

Qualifications

To be considered for this role, candidates will have the following REQUIRED qualifications:

• A master’s degree in a social science, statistics, business, marketing, mathematics, or a related field, and 2-3 years of work experience in related field OR any equivalent combination of experience and education which provides the applicant with the skills, knowledge, and abilities required to perform the work.
• Strong experience with development and implementation of research and evaluation designs, methodologies, data collection, and data analysis approaches - including outcome and impact studies, descriptive studies, and quantitative and qualitative methods and analytic approaches.
• Strong experience supporting and facilitating organizational learning.
• Strong experience programming surveys and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data using appropriate methods and software tools (R, Python, Qualtrics, STATA, etc.)
• Experience providing consultation in the areas of research, evaluation, or evidence-based learning.
• Strong project and program management skills.
  • Capacity to identify new opportunities for research and evidence building and use, and to initiate, develop, and manage partnerships and projects, and experience with writing requests for proposals for consultant services and negotiating satisfactory contracts and work agreements.
• Strong written, visual, and oral communications, and experience preparing project communications and presenting data to a variety of audiences. Experience with visual analytics platforms, such as Power BI, Tableau, ArcGIS, etc.
• People management experience and/or clear and demonstrated skills supporting people in the workplace—e.g., empathic listening, inter-personal communication, healthy conflict management, collaborative orientation, commitment to continuous improvement, prioritization of needs, and problem solving.
• Strong comfort and skills to navigate and help manage uncertainty, change, and risk in a dynamic, multi-faceted, multi-stakeholder project landscape.
• Dependable organization, attention to detail, and other soft skills that increase the ability to work effectively with (and help strengthen) teams.
• Knowledge of equity and social justice principles and practices as they apply to data- and research-related activities.

The following qualification is DESIRED:

• Able to speak a language other than English

Additional Information

Who May Apply
We are accepting applications from all qualified applicants, internal and external.

Required Application & Selection Process:

• Submit an online employment application
• Answer the supplemental questions
• Attach a resume
• Attach a cover letter - Your cover letter should include details on how you meet or exceed the knowledge, skills, and abilities for this position and your experiences as they relate to the primary job functions and desired qualification

All the application materials will be screened for qualifications, competitiveness, completeness, attention to detail, and written communication skills.

The most competitive candidates may be invited to participate in one or more interviews. Final offers are contingent on successful completion of reference checks.

NOTE: Please answer ALL questions in the online employment application itself, with each of your jobs during the last 10 years listed (listing each position for each employer separately), duties explained, reasons for leaving etc.

Applications that are not complete, or do not include the required materials, may be rejected as incomplete, and not advanced in the process.

Applicants who are unable to apply online should follow the instructions under Application Tips and FAQs at: www.kingcounty.gov/jobs.

Work ScheduleThis position is exempt from the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act and is not eligible for overtime pay.

The work week is normally 40 hours, Monday through Friday 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM. Alternative work schedules may be possible. Work LocationThis is a hybrid position.

The main work site for this position is King Street Center, 201 S Jackson St., Seattle, WA 98104. The team works in a hybrid model, with days in the office as well as telecommuting.

Currently, there will be a minimum of one day per week required in the office. The ratio of remote to onsite work will be dependent on business needs and is subject to change.

Employees will have access to shared workspaces at various King County facilities.

Employees must reside in Washington state and within a reasonable distance to their King County worksite to respond to workplace reporting requirements.

For more information regarding this recruitment, please contact:Tracy Bylund (She/Her), Talent Advisor at tbylund@kingcounty.gov Union Membership: This position is represented by PROTEC17: Professional and Technical Employees, Local 17 Job Code: 243403 To ApplyIf you are interested in pursuing this position, please follow the application instructions carefully.

If you need this announcement in an alternate language or format, would like to request accommodation or assistance in the application or assessment process or if you have questions please contact: Tracy Bylund at tbylund@kingcounty.gov.

Forbes named King County as one of Washington State's best employers.

Together, with leadership and our employees, we're changing the way government delivers service and winning national recognition as a model of excellence. Are you ready to make a difference? Come join the team dedicated to serving one of the nation's best places to live, work and play.

Guided by our "True North", we are making King County a welcoming community where every person can thrive. We value diversity, inclusion and belonging in our workplace and workforce. To reach this goal we are committed to workforce equity. Equitable recruiting, support, and retention is how we will obtain the highest quality workforce in our region; a workforce that shares and will help advance our guiding principles - we are one team; we solve problems; we focus on the customer; we drive for results; we are racially just; we respect all people; we lead the way; and we are responsible stewards. We encourage people of all backgrounds and identities to apply, including Native American and people of color, immigrants, refugees, women, LGBTQ+, people living with disabilities, and veterans.

King County is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Employer

No person is unlawfully excluded from employment opportunities based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation and pregnancy), age, genetic information, disability, veteran status, or other protected class.

Our EEO policy applies to all employment actions, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, selection for training, promotion, transfer, demotion, layoff, termination, rates of pay or other forms of compensation.

To Apply

If you are interested in pursuing this position, please follow the application instructions carefully.

If you need this announcement in an alternate language or format, would like to request accommodation or assistance in the application or assessment process or if you have questions please contact the recruiter listed on this job announcement.