Strategy, Learning, and Evaluation Officer

Job Description

The Walton Family Foundation is seeking an experienced and skilled individual to join the foundation’s Bentonville office as a Strategy, Learning, and Evaluation Officer supporting the Home Region Program.

About the Position
SLED has been a core function at the foundation for ten years, working collaboratively with program teams across three diverse content areas to advance the foundation’s education, social, and environmental change mission. The foundation has just completed a strategic planning process and every department, including SLED, has developed a new vision for how we will approach our work for the next five years. This offers a unique opportunity to play an important role in shaping the continued development of a best in class strategy, learning, and evaluation function at the foundation.

The SLED Officer will be a part of the foundation’s SLED team and support the Home Region program area by producing and sharing rigorous evidence that fosters strategic learning and continuous improvement.

Specific duties include the following:

• Data collection, analysis, and documentation:
- Review, compile, and analyze data from grantee reports
- Collect and analyze primary and secondary data related to key performance indicators and strategic learning questions
- Create and maintain detailed documentation of data sources and analysis methods

• Grants and contracts administration:
- Assist with the development, sourcing, and management of third-party research and evaluation projects
- Input and monitor SLED grants and contracts through the foundation’s grants administration system

• Assist in creating actionable evidence for program staff:
- Gather, review, and synthesize existing research to address learning questions from program staff
- Conduct evaluations of select grants, including the development of lessons learned in collaboration with program staff and grantees
- Assist with the preparation of accessible materials that communicate key findings and engage staff and stakeholders in learning activities, including slide decks and data visualizations

• Contribute to the foundation’s learning culture:
- Assist in the planning and implementation of learning activities with program staff.
- Participate in and contribute to SLED learning and development activities

Whom we are looking for:

Desired education and experience
• Master’s or Doctoral degree in a relevant social science field, such as sociology, geography, economics, public policy, etc.
• One to three years of experience working directly on research and/or evaluation projects
• Subject-area knowledge in one or more of the following topics: community development and engagement; housing, transportation, and urban development; postsecondary education and workforce development; arts, culture, and recreation; entrepreneurship and economic development; organizational capacity-building and leadership development

Additional preferred qualifications
We are seeking candidates who are highly motivated, have a keen sense of responsibility, and can balance multiple priorities in a fast-paced work environment.

• Ability to work independently and take initiative while working collaboratively across and within teams
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to effectively share detailed technical information with non-technical audiences
• Experience creating strong and clear data visualizations
• Knowledge of evaluation and research methodology, descriptive and inferential statistical analysis procedures and interpretation, measurement, and data reporting
• Experience using primary and secondary data sources and qualitative and quantitative research methods
• Competency with the Microsoft Office suite of programs, including the ability to analyze and graph data using Excel

Additional helpful characteristics include
• A commitment to the mission of the Walton Family Foundation and a passion for the Home Region focus of grant making
• Proactive approach to problem-solving
• Diplomatic approach and an innate understanding of customer service
• A high level of discretion and confidentiality for both business and personal affairs

About the Walton Family Foundation
The Walton Family Foundation is at its core, a family-led foundation. Three generations of the descendants of our founders, Sam and Helen Walton, and their spouses, work together to 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.

About SLED
Strategy, learning, and evaluation are at the core of who we are at the Walton Family Foundation. Our SLED team plays a central role in providing actionable information that helps inform decision-making about individual grants as well as overall strategy. We are dedicated to learning not only from our own grantmaking, but also with and from our grantees and partners in the field. Through a strategic approach to learning, we can develop stronger strategies to achieve the greatest impact.

About the Home Region Program
We honor our roots by helping build opportunity in the communities that first gave the Walton family opportunity.

In Northwest Arkansas, we:
• Continue to improve the quality of life for a fast-growing population of all ages, incomes and culture; and
• Work locally and on the world stage establishing the region as a global leader in arts, education and overall quality of life.

In the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta region, we:
• Create access to educational and economic opportunity
Learn more about the Home Region Program strategy here

Compensation and Benefits
The Walton Family Foundation offers an excellent benefits package and a competitive salary that is commensurate with experience.

The Walton Family Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to building and maintaining a culturally diverse workplace that is free of discrimination and harassment of any kind. 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, veteran status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate.

Basic Qualifications

• Master’s or Doctoral degree in a relevant social science field, such as sociology, geography, economics, public policy, etc.
• One to three years of experience working directly on research and/or evaluation projects
• Subject-area knowledge in one or more of the following topics: community development and engagement; housing, transportation, and urban development; postsecondary education and workforce development; arts, culture, and recreation; entrepreneurship and economic development; organizational capacity-building and leadership development