EMPLOYER PROFILE
We are a small research team based in Austin, Texas that is made up of passionate and intellectually curious researchers. We conduct policy-relevant research at the district, state, and federal levels, exploring interesting education research questions informed by some of the most pressing, challenging problems confronting educators, researchers, and policymakers today. Our work is funded through contracts with local, state, and federal agencies, and through grants from government agencies and private funders. We regularly partner with some of the largest social policy research companies in the world. We are looking to grow our team with an experienced education researcher who shares our energy and enthusiasm for tackling complex problems, whether it be designing a randomized controlled trial to test the impacts of a novel instructional approach, using quasi-experimental methods to evaluate the effectiveness of a district’s educator incentive and compensation model, or using survey research methods to measure stakeholder opinion on the quality of a district’s schools.
SUMMARY
This position is for a mid-level to senior-level researcher with a strong background in quantitative research methods in education research and evaluation. This position will be responsible for conducting education research and evaluating education programs for school districts, states, regional education service centers, education research centers, foundations, federal education agencies, and other public and private organizations. The position will involve a leadership role in: a) project management, b) technical methods relating to a variety of research studies, 3) supervision of quantitative analyses and results reporting, 4) execution of quantitative analyses and results reporting, and 5) new business development. These responsibilities all relate to applied education research and program evaluation that utilize quantitative and qualitative methods.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
- Provide a leadership role in the development of research frameworks that measure the impact of programs on interim and long-term outcomes, or that answer key questions in the current field of education research.
- Provide mentorship and guidance to a team of quantitative analysts responsible for managing, cleaning, and analyzing large-scale district, state, or other public and private educational datasets.
- Communicate results of statistical analyses through written reports, presentations, briefings, scorecards, and other products.
- Provide statistical consulting to clients regarding the appropriate use of existing data.
- Contribute expertise, support, and leadership for the development of evaluation or research proposals in response to competitive funding opportunities issued by school districts, state education agencies, the federal government, and private foundations.
- Direct and manage complex components of large projects or for a series of smaller projects with responsibility for budget management, task delegation, project deliverables, and client relations.
- Contribute to the improvement and implementation of processes ensuring the integrity and quality of research activities and project deliverables.
REQUIRED AND PREFERRED SKILLS
The candidate must be flexible and willing to fulfill a variety of roles in the Research and Evaluation (R&E) team. These roles include the responsibilities typically associated with project directorship, including overseeing and contributing to proposal development with a particular focus on the methodological components of the effort, oversight of all phases of the project, and project and staff management and task delegation. In addition, the candidate will be expected to serve as a methodological leader across projects within the R&E unit, and retain responsibility over a portfolio of quantitative tasks on projects they lead, as well as projects led by other managing research staff. Thus, this position is ideal for candidates who are interested in balancing project and staff leadership obligations with those of a senior methodologist and quantitative analyst.
Required
- A Ph.D. in a social science field, such as political science, economics, psychology, educational psychology, sociology, human development, etc.
- At least 8 years of experience in education research.
- A strong background in quantitative research methods, defined broadly to including econometrics, applied statistics, or psychometrics.
- Demonstrated experience in new business development and client relationship management, including effective, independent proposal writing.
- Proven experience managing complex research projects.
- Strong familiarity with quasi-experimental and experimental research designs applied to education research and evaluation problems.
- Expertise in a statistical programming language, including Stata, R, or SAS (Stata or R are strongly preferred)
Preferred
- The ideal candidate is motivated to independently pursue interesting, meaningful, and satisfying work in education research.
- The ideal candidate will be interested in mentoring, supervising, and supporting the quantitative work of Gibson’s Research and Evaluation unit.
EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS, EXPECTATIONS, AND ASSURANCES
This position will require 40 hours of work per week, usually Monday through Friday. The ability to travel 10%-20% of the time is required.
The position is in Austin, Texas. Gibson offers a competitive salary, opportunities for performance and business development-based bonuses, generous vacation and personal leave, retirement benefits that include 401(k) matching, employer contributions to health insurance (75% of the employee cost), and the possibility of flexible/remote working arrangements.
The salary range is $110,000 to $150,000, and placement within the range will be based on the candidate’s experience as well as business development acumen. Additional bonus compensation is available based on performance and business development depending on the financial position of the firm.
Gibson Consulting Group, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. To learn more about us, please visit www.gibsonconsult.com. To apply please send a cover letter and CV to: bfrank@gibsonconsult.com or complete the Submit Your Resume form below.
POSITION SUMMARY
Gibson, an education consulting and research group, is dedicated to improving the operations and functions of education systems, and conducting research that improves the education experience of students across all grade ranges. This industry in many cases requires our prospective clients to issue Requests for Proposals (RFPs), and our firm must submit competitive, thoughtful and persuasive proposals to win this work. Other business development scenarios are non-competitive, but a proposal of some kind is required for virtually every consulting and research project we conduct. Consequently, identifying business development opportunities and responding to RFPs are two of the most important functions in our firm.
The Business Development Specialist is responsible for leading, planning, scheduling, and overseeing the timely development and delivery of high-quality responses to competitive and non-competitive business opportunities, researching new business development and proposal opportunities, and contributing to other business development initiatives including the firm’s web site and social media. The ideal candidate shows great attention to detail while still being able to see the big picture, fosters a positive and responsive team environment, and can quickly adjust to dynamic priorities under strict timelines.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
Proposal Development
- Write competitive and compelling proposals.
- Manage the proposal development process through effective leadership and collaboration across teams that include internal staff and supporting subcontractors.
- Analyze solicitation requirements to prepare the proposal outline, development schedule, and compliance matrix for each opportunity.
- Coordinate each proposal effort with the owning business unit, subject matter experts, and partner organizations to maximize each proposal’s chance to win.
- Maintain company profile information and inventories of company qualifications and professional resumes, and package/customize these materials based on the needs of individual proposals.
- Ensure responses to competitive and non-competitive procurements comply with stated specifications and requirements.
- Ensure the high-quality content and appearance of final proposal deliverables.
- Manage proposal production, assembly, and delivery.
- Take ownership of proposal quality and final delivery by performing rigorous quality assurance checks on draft and final documents.
- Prepare and present quarterly and annual reports on key proposal statistics.
Lead Generation and Management
- Identify potential business opportunities through daily monitoring of search engines and other online research activities.
- Actively maintain search engine criteria and search terms through coordination with internal staff.
- Maintain and update activity in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.
Business Development and Marketing
- Track and report on the status of all business development activities in weekly reports and at staff meetings.
- Conduct competitor and market research/analysis to inform development activities and products, including analysis of bid scoring information post-award, review of winning bidder’s proposals, and research into competitors’ relative strengths and weaknesses.
- Work collaboratively with staff on special projects.
- Develop and update content for company website.
- Assist in the writing and editing of technical articles for publication or blogs.
- Maintain company’s social media presence (twitter, LinkedIn, etc.).
- Assist in any advertising or other marketing activities.
Other
- Review and edit other client deliverables and reports, as needed.
- Other duties as assigned.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES
The successful candidate must have:
- Excellent technical and non-technical writing skills.
- Exceptional communication skills, both written and verbal.
- Ability to learn quickly and manage multiple priorities and/or projects.
- Expertise in editing and the ability to combine writings by several authors into a cohesive document.
- Excellent organizational, planning, and prioritization skills.
- Strong attention to detail.
- Ability to problem-solve and identify process efficiencies and improvements.
- Strong working knowledge of MS-Office software programs (e.g., Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
- Experience with WordPress or other website content management tool.
- Ability to quickly learn new systems and tools.
- Prior knowledge of the public education system (preferred).
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
The ideal candidate will have:
- 5+ years of experience in professional services proposal/business development and management, technical writing, grant writing, or communications.
- Bachelor’s Degree in Rhetoric, English, Communications, or other related discipline.
EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS, EXPECTATIONS, AND ASSURANCES
This exempt full-time position will require 40 hours of work per week, usually Monday through Friday 8:30am and 5:30pm. Flexible hours and work schedule may be considered after individual establishes a track record of strong performance. This position requires that the incumbent sit or stand for extended periods of time while working on a computer.
This position is in Austin, Texas and will may require travel on a limited basis. Gibson offers a competitive salary, opportunities for performance bonuses, generous vacation and personal leave, retirement benefits that include 401(k) matching and employer contributions to health and life insurance.
All employment with Gibson is at-will. This means that the employee or Gibson may end the employment relationship at any time with or without notice or cause.
Gibson Consulting Group, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. To learn more about us, please visit www.gibsonconsult.com. To apply please send a cover letter and CV to: jobs@gibsonconsult.com or complete the Submit Your Resume form below.
