Job Description
Director of Research
Full Time Regular Professional (Remote)
Company Overview
Founded in 1990, Kauffman & Associates, Inc., is an American Indian– and woman-owned management
consulting firm dedicated to uplifting American Indian and Alaska Native people, tribal and urban
Indian communities, and social sector programs. We value Indigenous knowledge and believe in the
inherent strength, resilience, and sovereignty of tribal nations to find community-led solutions
for intergenerational healing, wellness, and growth.
Our expertise spans diverse specialty areas, including behavioral health, public health, education,
and tribal affairs. We work closely with diverse stakeholders, combining stories of lived
experiences with data-driven insights, to drive positive change across Indian Country. At KAI, we
do work that matters!
Job Summary
The Director for Research is responsible for leading and sustaining planning, implementation, and
evaluation of a wide range of multidisciplinary indigenous research projects and strategic
initiatives across KAI service delivery to benefit American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN)
communities. Counsels in advancing organizational capacity in the Indigenous Evaluation Framework
(IEF)1, and data collection, analysis and evaluation informed through Indigenous Ways of Knowing
and Tribal Oral Tradition. Advises applied research activities focused on community-based
initiatives, national evaluations, social marketing, and other evaluation components of client
contracts. The work in this position is predominantly intellectual and varied involving independent
research and evaluation across multiple contracts in education, health, behavioral health, social
work, human services, and client identified focus
areas. Effective collaborative teamwork is an essential skill in assisting with weaving together
programmatic and evaluative efforts. Demonstrated experience with managing federal grants,
contracts or initiatives is required.
Essential Job Functions
• Draw from Indigenous and Western evaluation frameworks to develop and implement culturally
responsive and adaptive evaluation approaches. Designs and plans evaluation models using
participatory processes including empowerment evaluation.
• Facilitates integration of indigenous research principles across all aspects of KAI service
lines and supports KAI Leadership in advancing indigenous research capacity including developing
and delivering ongoing professional development opportunities.
• Review and recommend for inclusion research components of grants for alignment with client
guidelines/expectations and with an eye to best practices and indigenous methods in research and
evaluation.
• From and Indigenous Evaluation Framework, conducts program evaluation and applied research of
various community-based initiatives and grant-funded projects which are primarily AIAN community
focused.
• Leads community engagement, participatory action research, and/or other strategies to implement
studies in partnership with AIAN communities.
• Apply rigorous analytic thinking in the collection and interpretation of quantitative and
qualitative data including grounded theory. Uses mixed methods and adaptive approaches to gather
information and write reports for programmatic, evaluation, and social marketing purposes.
• Lead the development of literature reviews, reports, technical memos, TA tools, issue briefs,
presentations, journal manuscripts and through multi-media formats.
• Experience with federal contracts or subcontracts, and providing high quality deliverables and
services, within budget and timelines, while coaching an effective team.
• Able to negotiate Federal OMB Clearance, Data Use Agreements, and Institutional Review Board
processes and documentation.
Secondary Functions
Secondary job functions include business development activities and continuously opportunities as
assigned, including presentations to potential clients on KAI’s capacities around indigenous
research and evaluation, meetings with project officers and other officials of funding agencies,
and participation in various meetings with strategic partners.
Additionally secondary functions include:
• Maintain a strong understanding of the literature, legislation, regulatory, and policy
requirements and tribal practice of indigenous research frameworks including tribal data
sovereignty principles.
• Provide individualized technical assistance and facilitate KAI colleague learning
areas of needs assessment, program evaluation, performance measurement, data collection and reporting,
data management, dissemination, and continuous quality improvement from an Indigenous Evaluation
Framework.
• Monitor activity relating to AIAN research which may include capacity building capacity of
federal grant readers to understand indigenous and tribal logic models, tribal IRB development and
data collection and evaluation practices with AIAN communities.
• Serve as a liaison indigenous evaluation subject matter expert (SME) to assigned organizations
and clients serving Indigenous communities including Tribes, Tribal organizations, and urban AIAN
organizations.
Specific Job Skills
• Ability to conduct work that is predominately intellectual in character and requires the
consistent exercise of discretion and judgment.
• Reflexively analyze and make recommendations for continuous organizational capacity improvement
with respect to indigenous evaluation research practice.
• Outstanding relational, teamwork, and cultural competency with colleagues, community members,
federal representatives, contractors, and clients.
• Excellent qualitative research including grounded theory and indigenous evaluation and practice,
and analysis skills as well as familiarity with quantitative research analysis.
• Excellent analytical and writing skills that include attention to detail as well as a grasp of
large conceptual frameworks.
• Ability to facilitate and direct onsite/offsite evaluation work using participatory evaluation
models such as empowerment evaluation.
• Ability to incorporate adult learning methods when training and providing technical assistance
to community.
• Effectively analyze and report, written and verbally, findings from research and
evaluation
Education and Experience Required:
• A Ph.D. in evaluation, psychology, health, social work, social services, or related
field.
• Demonstrated education/ experience conducting indigenous research and evaluation including
leading, conducting, and managing research and/or evaluation projects.
• Specific experience conducting research with mixed method qualitative and quantitative research
designs and methodologies with AIAN communities.
• At least 10 years demonstrated production of complex and high-quality work including federal
grant writing, administration, tracking deliverables and report writing.
• Experience with overall program evaluation and applied research of various community- based
initiatives including Data Use Agreements and conducting research in an AIAN setting with IRB
approval and/or tribal consent.
Preferred
• At least 5 years experience of personnel supervision in a AIAN tribal organizational setting
including creating and administering budgets.
• Demonstrated evidence of successful and creative project design, development, and
management.
• Demonstrated history of professionalism, teamwork, multi-cultural awareness and working with
diverse populations.
• Demands/Complexity
• The Director of Research shall be responsible for producing high-quality, timely contract
deliverables within budget. This individual will be assigned tasks that may at times be complex in
nature with overlapping deliverables and deadlines. The Director of Research exercises independent
judgment in matters of specialization within the discipline of social science. Work products will
be subject to review by project managers respective of contract once the Director of Research has
completed them.
• Supervisory Responsibility
• The Director of Research reports to the Vice President for Research, Evaluation, and Planning
but regularly will serve as the Point of Contact to coordinate assignments and deliverables
performed by Program Evaluators as well as support staff and
consultants.
• Contact with Others
• The Director of Research will communicate face-to-face, by email, and by telephone with the Vice
President for Research, Evaluation and Planning. The Director of Research also will communicate
face-to-face, by email, and telephone with respective project managers, other members of the team,
and other KAI staff and subcontractors as required. Interactions will include simple exchanges of
information, coordination of activities, receipt of assignments and other instruction, and regular
invitations to independent problem solving.
Job Conditions
The Director of Research will work remotely. The position will include travel, evening meetings,
extended hours, and interruptions from time-to-time. Close computer work for extended periods
of time will be required.
Disclaimer
This job description is not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties
and skills required of this position. All KAI employees may be required to perform duties outside
of their normal responsibilities from time to time, as needed, to meet the ongoing needs of the
organization.
Benefits Overview
• 80% company paid medical insurance premiums; portion of family paid
• 50% company paid dental insurance premiums; portion of family paid
• Vision insurance
• $50K company paid life insurance
• Partial internet reimbursement
• 15 days of annual leave in first year
• 100% Remote work
• Matching 401K with immediate vesting
• EAP