Principal Research and Evaluation Manager (UCP)

About Acacia Center for Justice:

The Acacia Center for Justice (“Acacia”) provides legal support and representation to immigrants facing deportation through the development, coordination, and management of national networks of legal services providers serving immigrants across the country. Acacia’s goals are twofold: to support immigrant legal services and defense networks to provide exceptional legal services to immigrants; and to advocate for the expansion of these programs and the infrastructure critical to guaranteeing immigrants access to justice, fairness, and freedom. Acacia ensures accountable, independent, zealous, and person-centered legal services and representation to protect the rights of all immigrants.

Job Summary:

The Acacia Center for Justice seeks a quantitative social scientist to conduct research and evaluation of programs delivering legal support to unaccompanied migrant children. The successful candidate will join Acacia’s Unaccompanied Children Program (UCP) team, which coordinates the delivery of legal services throughout the United States to unaccompanied children who are undergoing proceedings in the immigration court system. UCP is funded by a contract from the Department of Health and Human Services and administered through the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).

The Principal Research and Evaluation Manager (PREM) will design and implement analyses to monitor the delivery of legal services under the UCP contract and the factors affecting it. These will include key performance indicators (KPIs), analyses of program costs, estimates of case cost, evaluation of program inputs and outputs, and other analyses and metrics in support of the contract. The PREM’s responsibilities require expertise with quantitative methodologies and at least one statistical programming language (R, Python, and/or SQL), preferably R. The PREM will communicate their research and evaluation outputs through memos, reports, data visualizations, and presentations to internal and external stakeholders, including ORR.

The PREM will work in close coordination with the Associate Director of Research and Evaluation and other team members at Acacia, including non-research program staff, maintaining the feedback loops necessary to monitor and improve program management and performance and ensure compliance with contract deliverables. This position has supervisory responsibilities.

Additionally, the PREM will help track relevant public data and policy issues, developing and maintaining subject matter expertise in policies and practices affecting unaccompanied children. This substantive knowledge will inform the PREM’s work under the UCP contract as well as contributions they will make to Acacia’ public-facing research agenda. The PREM will also play an important role in ensuring that Acacia’s race, equity, and inclusion priorities are a core aspect of its research, as reflected in methodological approaches, publications, hiring and staffing, external and internal research communications, and other activities.

Primary Duties/Responsibilities:

• Contribute to the development and implementation of measurement, evaluation, and learning metrics, including KPIs and cost analyses.
• Lead the expansion of analyses of program costs and develop methodologies to estimate the typical cost of representing a child’s case.
• Lead and manage rigorous performance outcomes measurement and data analytics in support of federal contracts, in partnership with other senior research staff, senior data science staff, senior program management staff, and external partners.
• Lead and develop additional analyses, and train, supervise, and mentor others on both quantitative and qualitative methods.
• Communicate findings from research and data analysis in writing and presentations delivered to internal and external audiences, including representing the work in communication with federal government stakeholders, fielding questions and addressing requests for additional information.
• Partner with the Associate Director of Research and Evaluation, the Director of Research and Evaluation, and other research leadership to establish a long-term research agenda in support of the team’s work.
• Manage integration of insights gained from performance evaluation metrics and statistical analyses into program planning and implementation, collaborating closely with senior program management staff and a nationwide network of service providers.
• Maintain an in-depth understanding of developments in program support, program administration, and federal policy to strategically guide research in support of the contract and program goals.
• Participate in peer review of research designs, literature reviews, and analysis plans.
• Develop research proposals in support of fundraising led by REDA leadership and Acacia’s External Affairs and Development units.
• Develop and present IRB applications and ensure that research is conducted to the highest ethical standards.
• Supervise, support, and mentor research associates across methodologies and levels.
• Strategize and build opportunities for professional growth, development, and skill building among supervisees.
• Support recruitment and hiring for the research team.
• Other duties as assigned.

Required Skills, Knowledge, Abilities:

• Commitment to using research and analysis to address and undo racism and inequity in the immigration legal system; lived experience preferred.
• Advanced quantitative skills, including hands-on experience with administrative and relational datasets and both predictive and causal analyses; ability to think creatively about how to use statistical methods to address pressing policy questions.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, including Excel and Word, or similar software.
• Fluency in at least one analytical programming language (e.g., R, Python, Stata, and/or SQL), R preferred; ability to learn R while in the role required.
• Exceptional written and oral communications skills, including authoring and editing research reports in written and visual formats accessible to a broader audience, and translating and presenting research findings to external stakeholders.

Preferred Skills, Knowledge, Abilities:

• Strong understanding of the U.S. immigration system; experience working with immigration related data.
• Fluency in data management.
• Ability to work collaboratively using Git/GitHub, or the ability to quickly learn for code review.
• Fluency in a language other than English spoken by people impacted by immigration enforcement in the United States.

 Education and Experience:

• PhD or master's degree preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree required, plus four to seven years of relevant experience in applied research, equivalent applied experience, social science, or other related disciplines. In lieu of degree requirement, applicable work or life experience may be considered.
• At least three years of full-time research experience, including the leadership of a substantial research or evaluation project from inception through conclusion and dissemination.
• Experience in the fields of program evaluation, applied economics, quantitative sociology, computational social science, statistics, measurement, or a related field.
• Experience working on evaluation and measurement on government contracts.
• Experience leading in a project management role.
• Experience in a supervision or informal supervision role.

People of color and those who have been impacted by the criminal system and immigration system are strongly urged to apply. Acacia is deeply committed to race equality, inclusion and belonging and strives to create a work culture that recognizes everyone's unique lived experience.

Equal Opportunity Employment:

Acacia is an equal opportunity employer and seeks to recruit persons of diverse backgrounds and support their retention and advancement within the organization. We are committed to fostering a workplace culture inclusive of people with respect to their race, ethnicity, national origin, gender/gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, marital status, age, disabilities, political affiliation, religious beliefs, or any other characteristic. Our commitment to justice and diversity also means providing a work environment that is welcoming, respectful, and engaging.

This job description is not meant to be an all-inclusive list of duties, responsibilities and requirements but constitutes a general definition of the position's scope and function within our organization.

Acacia Center for Justice is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without unlawful discrimination based on race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military status, prior record of arrest or conviction, citizenship status, current employment status, or caregiver status.

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