Research Officer - Strategy Learning and Evaluation Dept.
Job Description
The Walton Family Foundation is seeking an experienced and skilled individual to join the foundation’s Bentonville or Washington, DC office as a Strategy, Learning, and Evaluation Officer (SLED Officer) working to support the research and evaluation needs of the K12 Education Program.
Specific duties include the following:
• Work with the Education team program staff, other SLED team members, and the SLED Director to develop and report information useful to the ongoing execution of the K-12 Education Program Strategic Plan;
• Develop third party research and evaluation grants and contracts and manage third party researchers and contractors;
• Conduct evaluations of grants, grantees, and K12 program strategies and initiatives;
• Track third party-research and produce summary reviews and synopses of complex K-12 educational and public policy research.
• Assist with the development and implementation of the foundation-wide evaluation framework and of consistent evaluation approaches.
• Provide research support to Education team program staff.
• Work to improve the visualization of department products.
• Increase the outward-facing presence for SLED through communications, presentations, participation in convenings, and publications.
• Increase the adaptive learning capacity of program staff, working to continue shifting the culture to one of learning and reflection, and incorporating lessons learned into strategic decision-making processes.
• Manage new bodies of research and evaluation work within the K-12 strategic plan.
Whom we are looking for:
Characteristics that will support your success
• A commitment to the mission of the Walton Family Foundation and a passion for education and creating high-quality education opportunities for students, particularly low-income students
• Experience and comfort working both independently and under close supervision, as required by the task.
• Unquestionable ethics and personal integrity
• Proactive approach to problem-solving and sharp thinker
• Diplomatic approach and an innate understanding of customer service
• A high level of discretion and confidentiality for both business and personal affairs
• Intellectual agility and the ability to analyze, think critically, and understand emerging issues that are directly relevant to evaluation and the Foundation’s focus areas.
About the Walton Family Foundation
The Walton Family Foundation is, at its core, a family-led foundation. The children and grandchildren of our founders, Sam and Helen Walton, lead the foundation and create access to opportunity for people and communities. We work in three areas: improving K-12 education, protecting rivers and oceans and the communities they support, and investing in our home region of Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta. In 2017, the foundation awarded more than $535 million in grants in support of these initiatives. To learn more, visit waltonfamilyfoundation.org and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, with offices in Washington, D.C., Jersey City, New Jersey and Denver, Colorado, approximately 125 staff conduct the day-to-day operations of the foundation.
About SLED
The Strategy, Learning, and Evaluation Department at the Walton Family Foundation supports careful planning, rigorous research, and systematic assessment in service of organizational learning, strategic adaptation, and philanthropic impact. We seek to learn with our grantees and other partners and advance the fields in which we work.
The Walton Family Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to building and maintaining a culturally diverse workplace. We encourage women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and veterans to apply. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, status of protected veteran, among other things or status as a qualified individual with a disability.
Basic Qualifications
• Master’s degree in a relevant field required (e.g., economics, education policy, public policy)
• Strong project management skills, ideally with experience in managing research grants and contracts
• At least five (5) years of experience in a professional setting, ideally with a strong focus on data analysis, research, and analytical writing
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively detailed technical material to non-technical audiences.
• Technologically savvy, with demonstrated competency with the Microsoft Office suite of programs, including the ability to retrieve, array, summarize, and graph data using Excel.
Other Duties
This position is located in Bentonville, AR OR Washington, DC.
