Senior Advisor I, Research
Based in Washington, DC and approved PSI work locations
15-50% international travel
Work From Almost Anywhere Status = Eligible
Reports to Head of Strategic Research and Learning

Who we are
PSI is a network of locally rooted, globally connected organizations working to achieve consumer-powered healthcare — people-centered health systems that ensure quality, affordable care wherever and whenever it is needed. Our origins in sexual and reproductive health have grown into a broader mission. Today, we work with the public and private sectors as well as local communities, prioritizing people’s voice and choice and developing solutions to meet their essential health needs. Over the past five decades, we have helped push boundaries, break taboos, set trends, and develop innovative solutions to complex global health challenges.

Join us!
The Strategy & Insights (S&I) Department champions insight-driven prioritization across PSI, ensuring we are “doing the right things” even as we work on “doing things right.” The department promotes best practice in program design, marketing discipline, research, learning, and strategy development. S&I works with other departments to systematically capture, synthesize, and share internal and external evidence, consumer and market insights, competitive market intelligence, and program experience to guide global, market level, and program level strategy. The SRAI will join PSI’s Strategic Research & Learning team– a supportive, fun, and highly skilled group of researchers, technical writers, and knowledge management professionals that set and ensure standards for research technical quality, support the production, development and use of strategic research, and foster learning and exchange across the network.

PSI seeks a Senior Research Advisor I (SRAI) that will lead the development, quality, ethical compliance, and use of research for the design, improvement, and evaluation of PSI programs. The SRAI will also lead key research workstreams that advance PSI’s Strategic Evidence Agenda.

As a key member of our team, the SRAI will serve as the research lead for PSI’s client experience/person-centered care measurement workstream, a core principle of PSI’s consumer powered healthcare approach to scaling mixed health systems. The SRAI will also serve as a research focal point for a discrete set of high-impact countries or global projects. The SRAI will build capacity of research staff in the design, implementation, and use of research at the global or country level, engage with external communities of practice, and identify opportunities for partnership, fundraising, or elevating PSI research.

Salary Range:
$108,000 (MINIMUM) – $135,000 (MID-POINT) – $162,000 (MAXIMUM)
For US-based candidates, the annual base salary range is reflected above. * We value transparency and have provided the full salary range for this role. Actual base salary compensation will be determined by factors such as a candidate’s qualifications, experience, internal equity, external market analysis, and other business factors permitted by law. Hiring above the mid-point of the range would not be typical in order to allow for potential future salary growth. PSI offers a comprehensive benefits package which includes health care, retirement plan, generous leave, as well as other great benefits. For more information, please ask your recruiter or visit https://www.psi.org/careers/ to learn more!

*For all applicants applying outside of the US; please note that those hired outside of the US will be employed through the local PSI office. Pay and benefits will be commensurate with the role and practices of the local office, including payment in local currency.

Your contributions

• Research: Provide leadership to PSI’s client experience/person-centered care measurement workstream and technical support or leadership to high-impact PSI country offices and/or strategic projects for the design and development of quality and compliant, fit-for-purpose research and evidence. Serve as a focal point for the organization in a specific area to drive forward health area or strategy-aligned evidence activities. Ensure that PSI is using the state-of-the-art evidence for fundraising, program design, and research in the given focal area(s). 30% of time
• Thought Leadership/Knowledge Management: Contribute to the development and implementation of thought leadership and knowledge management agendas, including the development and internal and external dissemination of technical and programmatic briefs, webinars, and reports. Engage with other departments within PSI and contribute to internal decision-making as a subject matter expert on client experience/person-centered care measurement. Engage externally to represent PSI and demonstrate research expertise, capacity and experience. Develop strategies and objectives for research uptake and impact. Author or co-author peer review research publications. 20% of time
• Representation: Engage with donors and represent PSI in external forums. Convey PSI’s work in written and verbal form. Participate in technical conversations and meetings convened by donors or within communities of practice. 15% of Time
• Fundraising: Engage with fundraising teams to develop original concept notes, contribute meaningfully to Theory of Change (TOC) and strategy development, and develop learning agendas for new business, contribute to the Monitoring, Evidence, and Learning (MEL) sections. 15% of time
• Program Management: Accountable for budget and program deliverables. 10% of Time
• People Management: May manage people; Provide mentoring to staff. 10% of Time

Time percentages listed above are not exact. They are estimates and may change. This is also not an exhaustive list of all tasks that an incumbent is expected to perform but is instead a summary of the primary responsibilities and requirements of the job. The incumbent may be asked to perform duties not included above. PSI reserves the right to revise job profiles at any time based on changes to the required job responsibilities.

What are we looking for?

• Master’s Degree (or international equivalent) in a related field.
• Doctorate Degree (or international equivalent) in a related field preferred.
• At least 8 years of related experience. Equivalent combination of related education and experience may be substituted.
• Demonstrated expertise and advanced specialized skills in metrics development or person-centered care research.
• Demonstrated expertise and advanced specialized skills in collecting data through digital mechanisms.
• Significant experience leading the design, collection, cleaning, analysis, and presentation of quantitative and qualitative research.
• Demonstrated ability to work across departments and teams to achieve timely, high quality outputs and to contribute to thought leadership in relevant technical area.
• Ability to contribute to the internal and external body of evidence in relevant technical area by sharing knowledge internally and externally with global communities of practice.
• Ability to solve problems with creativity and analyze complex issues using in-depth evaluation of variable factors.
• Ability to develop and maintain relationships with internal and external colleagues. Able to work as a member of a team and independently.
• Ability to lead development of technical approach for proposals and identify potential new business opportunities.
• Demonstrate flexibility and adaptability; emotional intelligence and ability to collaborate with colleagues.
• Proficiency in Microsoft 365. Expertise in the use of quantitative or qualitative data analysis programs required.
• Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills, both verbal and written.
• Proficiency in French (preferred).
• Cultural humility and respect.

The candidate we hire will embody PSI’s corporate values:
Measurement: You use hard evidence to make decisions and guide your work. You set clear goalposts in advance and explain clearly if you need to move them.
Pragmatism: You’ll strive to deliver the best possible result with the resources available. You won’t be paralyzed by a need to make things perfect.
Honesty: You own your mistakes and are open about your shortcomings – it’s the only way you’ll learn and improve.
Collaboration: You’ll quickly establish a mental map of whom you can rely on for what, on your team, at headquarters, and in our country offices – if you try to do it all yourself, you won’t succeed.
Trust: You accept limits to your sphere of control and give colleagues the benefit of the doubt.
Commitment: You are in it for the long-haul and want to grow with the organization, just like PSI serves its consumers and partners with host-country governments through thick and thin.

References will be required. The successful candidate will be required to pass a background check. For domestic positions: Must be authorized to work in the United States. N.B. PSI will not consider work visa sponsorship for this position.

PSI is an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages applications from qualified individuals regardless of actual or perceived race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, personal appearance, matriculation, political affiliation, family status or responsibilities, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions or breastfeeding, genetic information, amnesty, veteran, special disabled veteran or uniform service member status or employment status.

ACCESSIBILITY NOTICE: If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process due to a physical or mental disability, please send an email to: [email protected] or call (202)785-0072.

#LI-Remote #LI-NC1