Research And Learning Specialist

Research & Learning Specialist
Start Date: April 16, 2024
Location: Portland, Oregon or Central Oregon (hybrid). Some overnight travel to Central Oregon regions and throughout Portland required.
Schedule: Full-Time. Typically 9:00am - 5:00pm (37.5 hrs./wk.) Monday - Friday
Supervisor: Senior Director of Impact
Compensation: $46,355 - $63,645. Commensurate with experience. Salary Exempt.
Benefits: paid time off, health, dental, and vision insurance (95% employer paid for employee, 15% employer paid for dependents), 403(b) retirement matching, flexible spending account (with employer contribution), long-term disability, short-term disability, life insurance, paid parental leave, and partial relocation reimbursement if applicable.
Organization Description
At Caldera, we believe in the power of creativity. Our mission is to inspire and support learners from underserved rural and urban communities by awakening the potential of their creative voice. We do this through a unique fusion of art, environment, and mentorship. Our Youth Program provides learners from Portland and Central Oregon with long-term relationships with caring adults, which nurtures individual creativity, from sixth grade into young adulthood.
Caldera has a $4M budget, an 18-member board, 21 full-time, year-round employees, and a range of seasonally contracted artists and staff. Its administrative office is located in Portland, Oregon, and its Arts Center is located outside of Sisters in Central Oregon.
Position Description
The Research & Learning Specialist will be responsible, in coordination with the Impact Team, for monitoring, evaluating, researching, and Learning-related tasks and deliverables for programmatic and organizational projects. Under the supervision of the Senior Director of Impact, the Research & Learning Specialist will support Caldera's Impact Team to understand the impact, develop an evaluation strategy, and manage its implementation. The Research & Learning Specialist will also participate in project management and performance improvement by providing timely monitoring and evaluation data, tailored reports, and strategic inputs for program management. Key functions of this role include data gathering and analysis, reporting, determining and implementing evaluation processes, and more.
Requirements
Specific Responsibilities
Impact Evaluation & Assessment Development

• Support and manage projects and coordinate to meet deliverable deadlines.
• Support program improvement and organization-wide use of field data for learning and decision-making.
• Support the design, management, monitoring, evaluation, research, and Learning of projects and initiatives.
• Develop learning content to train, coach, or mentor staff on best practices and tools.
• Work with the Senior Director of Impact and Impact Team to evaluate and maintain the continuous improvement of impact areas, including refinement of evaluation tools, analysis of findings, and management of programs.

Data Collection & Analysis

• Conduct data analysis to better understand insights and impact.
• Design surveys, data collection tools, and instruments and deploy them.
• Procure data to determine trends and analyze program data for specific strategic outcomes.
• Visualize results to promote utilization of key findings.
• Review research, surveys, and/or evaluation reports to improve the quality of analysis.
• Support and conduct presentations developed for sharing data analysis.

Administrative Duties

• Support team by performing tasks related to organization and strong communication.
• Data entry and recordkeeping tasks as needed.
• Provide general administrative support for the Senior Director of Impact as needed and assigned.
• Attend professional development opportunities and training as necessary.

Please note the above lists are not exhaustive.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications

• Minimum of 3 years of demonstrated relevant experience conducting different types of programmatic and/or organizational evaluation, including participatory, formative, summative, development, impact, quantitative and qualitative data collection, and analysis.
• Strong project management skills and ability to prioritize projects, take initiative, and multi-task.
• Strong project-reporting skills, with a focus on interdepartmental communications.
• Excellent organizational and time management skills; ability to work efficiently and to deadlines.
• Ability to support and implement an evidence-based evaluation system.
• Positive, flexible, active problem-solver.
• Ability to travel between Portland and Central Oregon at various program locations, sometimes at multiple sites a day in remote locations.
• Comfortable with a flexible schedule that includes evening and weekend activities.
• Proficiency with Microsoft software and other current technologies.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Degree in nonprofit administration, arts, education, or a similar field.
• Highly experienced with Excel or Google Sheets for reporting and analytics.
• Familiarity with data justice principles and designing assessment and evaluation through an equity lens.
• Spanish-speaking is highly valued.
• Nimble business mind focused on developing creative solutions.
• Experience working with diverse groups, with a high degree of cultural competency and a deep understanding of group processes as it relates to multiple cultures.

To Apply: Submit cover letter and resume via Paylocity by 11:59 pm on March 17, 2024
Equity & Inclusion
We recognize that Caldera communities face many societal inequities. We recognize the history and ongoing impacts of racism in our country, state, and institutions. We acknowledge that we will always have room to grow as an organization and as individuals in our understanding of racism and oppression. We commit to continually examining our role in perpetuating and combating institutional racism. We also commit to aligning our policies and practices to advance racial equity, inclusion, and freedom of expression.
We commit to integrating equity and inclusion into all areas of our work to better serve our mission; when we do, we get closer to the world we want for our learners. We will also seek inspiration from artistic and cultural traditions. To ensure our own accountability, we will:

1. seek deeper relationships with and feedback from our larger community;
2. use our Equity Plan to guide ongoing work; and
3. apply our Equity Lens to decision-making.

Caldera is an equal opportunity employer encouraging applicants of all backgrounds and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations.
We encourage people of color and Caldera community members to apply.