Director of Research Partnerships

Description:

BACKGROUND  
George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF) is a charitable organization dedicated to providing an equal opportunity for young children in Tulsa through investments in early childhood education, community health, social services and civic enhancement.  
The Birth through Eight Strategy for Tulsa, referred to as BEST, represents an exciting opportunity for Tulsa. This strategy is a comprehensive, continuous and integrated approach that focuses on families to help break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. Programs and services, community agencies and philanthropies are partnering with Tulsa’s families to build a cycle of opportunity.  

POSITION SUMMARY  
The Director of Research Partnerships will play a key role in shaping, managing and communicating the evaluation of the Birth through Eight Strategy for Tulsa. This person will report to the managing director of BEST and will manage key relationships, including those with BEST research and evaluation partners and a research and evaluation advisory group.

Responsibilities:

Primary Responsibilities Include: 

• Shape the vision for the BEST evaluation agenda in collaboration with other experts.
• Develop and manage the BEST research and evaluation advisory group, consisting of local and national experts.
• Serve as the primary day-to-day GKFF liaison to BEST evaluation partners to ensure milestones are met, coordination with programs and services is smooth and efficient, and issues in need of further attention are surfaced.  
• Drawing support from other evaluation and research experts as needed: 
• Lead the creation of the vision for outcomes and impact studies for BEST.
• Develop and manage RFPs, other research application processes and ongoing oversight for external research contracts for BEST studies.
• Represent BEST at research meetings and conferences to advance BEST priorities around sharing lessons learned and supporting the scaling and replication of BEST.
• Translate technical findings from BEST and other related studies into understandable terms for the GKFF team, BEST implementing partners and other stakeholders.
• Advise the BEST GKFF team on a vision for scaling and replicating BEST, informed by extensive reviews of evaluation, research and policies.
• Advise the GKFF BEST team on how to draw from existing research and evidence to inform ongoing BEST planning and draw comparisons between BEST and other initiatives across the country. 
• Identify and develop plans for supplemental data collection efforts to support additional evaluation plans.
• Directly support the BEST managing director with presentations, analyses, reports and convenings for a wide range of stakeholders by synthesizing BEST evaluation findings, the BEST evaluation agenda and other research-related projects and by framing the syntheses for appropriate audiences and contexts.
• Actively contribute to ongoing BEST team meetings and engage in ongoing collaboration with fellow team members within GKFF.
• Collaborate with the Director of Data Systems and Technology within GKFF to ensure BEST priorities and strategies around data, technology, research and evaluation support and inform one other.

Qualifications: