Director, Professional Research & Evaluation Services

Job description

Accountabilities: Lead the development and delivery of externally facing research, evaluation, consulting, and advisory engagements aligned with institutional priorities and client needs. Partner with clients and external organizations to understand their objectives and translate them into appropriate research, evaluation, or advisory solutions. Develop scopes of work, proposals, engagement strategies, and other materials supporting new and existing client opportunities. Oversee a portfolio of concurrent projects, ensuring high-quality, timely, and cost-effective delivery of project outcomes and work products. Coordinate faculty, staff, students, internal contributors, and external partners to ensure effective project execution and achievement of engagement objectives. Monitor contract performance, expenditures, staffing costs, contribution margins, resource utilization, and delivery risks. Build trusted, long-term relationships with clients and community partners while serving as a strategic advisor and primary point of contact across engagements. Identify opportunities to expand existing partnerships, develop new engagements, increase portfolio revenue, and broaden organizational and community impact. Contribute to the positioning, evolution, scalability, and long-term sustainability of the professional services portfolio and delivery model. Work collaboratively across organizational boundaries to strengthen service quality, improve processes, and develop innovative approaches to client delivery. Recruit, coordinate, guide, and develop diverse internal contributors supporting contracted projects. Provide training, coaching, and ongoing guidance to faculty, staff, and student contributors while fostering a culture of learning and continuous improvement. Contribute to strategic decision-making by synthesizing complex information, identifying trends and opportunities, and providing actionable recommendations to leadership. Perform other responsibilities as needed to support the success and growth of the professional services portfolio. Requirements: Master’s degree in a relevant discipline is required; a doctoral degree is preferred. 8+ years of experience in professional research, evaluation, consulting, or a closely related field. Demonstrated experience developing project scopes, proposals, engagement strategies, and negotiating with clients or partners. Proven ability to manage multiple concurrent projects or a complex professional services portfolio. Experience supervising teams or leading project-based contributors in applied research, consulting, evaluation, or similar environments. Experience working within higher education is preferred. Strong command of research design, program evaluation frameworks, and quantitative and qualitative research methods. Ability to apply research and evaluation methodologies effectively to real-world organizational and community challenges. Strong business acumen, including an understanding of pricing, cost modeling, financial drivers, resource utilization, and sustainable service delivery. Ability to identify opportunities to improve processes, scalability, efficiency, and client outcomes. Excellent client relationship management, communication, negotiation, and stakeholder engagement skills. Ability to build trust and influence effectively across diverse stakeholders, organizational functions, and levels of leadership. Strong strategic thinking, judgment, problem-solving, prioritization, and project management capabilities. Ability to communicate complex research, technical, or analytical concepts clearly to non-technical audiences and senior leaders. Demonstrated ability to recruit, develop, coordinate, and manage diverse contributors. Mature, tactful, responsive, and solutions-oriented approach, particularly when handling sensitive or high-stakes situations. Comfortable working independently in a remote environment while maintaining strong collaboration across organizational boundaries. Willingness to travel up to 20% within the United States. Benefits: Annual salary range of $79,930–$107,900, with actual compensation based on experience, qualifications, skills, competencies, and applicable location requirements. Comprehensive total rewards package designed to support employees and their families. Holistic well-being and employee benefits programs. Remote-first work environment. Opportunities for professional development, learning, and career advancement. Opportunity to lead impactful research, evaluation, and advisory work across diverse clients and communities. Collaborative environment involving faculty, staff, leadership, external partners, and community organizations. Opportunity to shape and grow a scalable professional services portfolio with meaningful organizational and community impact. Up to 20% travel, with the primary work arrangement being remote within the United States. How Jobgether works: We use an AI-powered matching process to ensure your application is reviewed quickly, objectively, and fairly against the role's core requirements. Our system identifies the top-fitting candidates, and this shortlist is then shared directly with the hiring company. The final decision and next steps (interviews, assessments) are managed by their internal team. We appreciate your interest and wish you the best! Why Apply Through Jobgether? Data Privacy Notice: By submitting your application, you acknowledge that Jobgether will process your personal data to evaluate your candidacy and share relevant information with the hiring employer. This processing is based on legitimate interest and pre-contractual measures under applicable data protection laws (including GDPR). You may exercise your rights (access, rectification, erasure, objection) at any time. #LI-CL1 This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Director, Professional Research & Evaluation Services based in United States. This leadership role is responsible for shaping and expanding an externally facing portfolio of research, evaluation, and advisory services. You will work closely with clients, community partners, senior leaders, faculty, and internal contributors to turn complex needs into practical, high-quality solutions. The position combines applied research expertise with strategic planning, consulting, business development, and client relationship management. You will oversee multiple engagements while ensuring strong delivery, financial performance, and long-term client value. The role also provides an opportunity to develop scalable service models and identify new opportunities for growth and impact. As a remote leader, you will operate across diverse stakeholders and contexts while helping build a culture of quality, learning, and continuous improvement.