The application deadline is February 17, 2025 at 11:59 pm Pacific.
We are seeking a Senior Evaluator to conduct evaluation projects or studies across multiple strategy areas of the Best Starts for Kids Levy and collaborate with internal and external partners to interpret and share the findings.
Job Duties
In addition to the duties of the Evaluator classification, the Evaluator-Senior will:
- Identify, develop, and advance crosscutting performance measurement and evaluation activities and strategies in coordination with division and unit leadership.
- Lead or consult on evaluation planning and implementation for complex, intersectional, and high-profile bodies of work involving multiple independent activities, programs, sectors, and/or levels of change.
- Support ongoing reflection and quality improvement related to how data is used within and across Best Starts’ programs, sectors, and levels.
- Oversee and coordinate crosscutting analyses of Best Starts qualitative and quantitative data in ways that expand our ability to synthesize and make meaning of findings across Best Starts’ programs.
- Lead a team of evaluators in narrative reporting, coding, analyses and theme-generation processes with a focus on authenticity and consistency.
- Engage Best Starts staff and partners to interpret analyses, ground-truth findings, identify interconnections and inform the stories told with our data.
- Facilitate research and evaluation to build community-defined evidence on Best Starts’ approach, across multiple sectors and funding streams.
- Support procurement of external/community evaluation contracts and agreements; manage contracts and budgets with evaluation partners
- Co-lead submission of grants and potentially serve as principal investigator.
- Report research and evaluation findings publicly and respond to data requests for complex and high-profile bodies of work.
- Write and manage production of data products (e.g. briefs, publications, communications materials, and visualization) that are accessible to the public and decisionmakers.
- Present and speak on behalf of high-profile programs and work to audiences such as cross-departmental leadership and external system or community-based partners.
- Facilitate data-driven policy development; bodies of work within Best Starts that this position may focus on include the Family Ways program and other strategies that intersect with the Public Health Strategic Plan
- Perform other duties as assigned or as strategies evolve that are aligned with example duties and required knowledge/skills.
Experience, Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills
- Relevant work experience (3+ years or more) conducting collaborative, participatory, and mixed-methods evaluation or research, sharing findings with community partners and translating information to inform decision making. This includes experience producing study protocols, grant proposals, evaluation plans, implementation plans, data reports and briefs using equity-focused evaluation methods.
- Experience leading or mentoring a team in one or more components of an evaluation project/study.
- Demonstrated understanding of equitable evaluation principles, including application to evaluation projects.
- Extensive experience incorporating equity, racial and social justice values into day-to-day work and ability to reflect and act on areas of improvement.
- Demonstrated experience collaborating with community, health, or human services organizations for practical and useful performance measurement, including knowledge of qualitative approaches, data collection methods, and analysis using administrative data systems.
- Strong presentation and facilitation skills; experience leading discussions about data collection, analysis, interpretation, outcomes and themes to a variety of audiences, technical and non-technical, using engaging and participatory approaches
- Strong communication and writing skills, including use of plain language, careful documentation and experience compiling themes integrating a variety of quantitative and qualitative data sources into a cohesive and compelling narrative.
- Effective problem solving and interpersonal skills, including the ability to seek information and resources, grow partnerships, and develop trusting relationships with teams.
- Experience successfully managing complex projects, anticipating needs of partners, and guiding decision-making processes while managing timelines and competing priorities.
- Demonstrated experience designing theories of change or conceptual models for complex initiatives or sets of funding strategies.
- Demonstrated experience with data management and visualization tools such as Dedoose, Survey Monkey and/or Tableau.
Desired Qualifications
- Experience collaborating with program partners to analyze and interpret data for policy development or priority setting.
- Experience producing a range of data products for non-technical audiences and conducting active dissemination of those products to interested communities.
- Advanced training or education in community-based participatory research and evaluation or related field.
Best Starts for Kids
Building on the deep knowledge, connections, and skills within King County communities, and backed by what science and research tells us about human development, the Best Starts for Kids King County initiative meets children and families with the right services at the right time. The first Best Starts for Kids levy, approved by King County voters in 2015, reached 490,000 of King County’s youngest children and their families and 40,000 youth and young adults, catalyzing strong starts in a child’s earliest years, and sustaining those gains through to adulthood. In August 2021, King County voters chose to renew the levy with over 62% approval for another six years. The plan for Best Starts for Kids 2.0 will maintain current Best Starts for Kids investments in promotion, prevention, and early intervention, while deepening our investments to address critical needs in our community. View the Best Starts for Kids Implementation Plan: 2022 – 2027.
