Westat is an employee-owned corporation providing research services to agencies of the U.S. Government, as well as businesses, foundations, and state and local governments. Westat's research, technical, and administrative staff of more than 2,000 is located at our headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, near Washington, DC.

Westat has an immediate opening for a senior study director to join our team of technical assistance experts in our education practice to advise our clients on strategic planning, strategy implementation and continuous improvement efforts, support internal team growth and drive business development related to clients' organizational effectiveness initiatives. 

In this leadership role you will use your demonstrated experience working with private education, non-profit and/or government agencies leading initiatives to advise our clients in their strategy development, strategic planning, operations consulting, implementation planning and continuous improvement efforts. 

Job Responsibilities
•    Share your knowledge and expertise to help state education agencies (SEAs), regional educational agencies (REAs), local education agencies (LEAs), and institutes of higher education (IHE) clients address their most difficult challenges using strategies that ensure long term outcomes are in focus, maximize available resources, implement continuous improvement cycles and create sustainable systems. 
•    Define client needs in a way that gets at root causes of the problems that our clients are trying to solve. 
•    Apply industry best practices and business principles to develop actionable recommendations.
•    Support communication efforts that contribute to the body of knowledge in the area of strategy development, strategic planning, operations consulting, implementation planning and continuous improvement efforts.
•    Manage a portfolio of projects by supervising work of project leads to include due diligence in project planning and providing the project management oversight required to meet client expectations. 
•    Lead teams to help clients identify success criteria, challenge establishing thinking and improve performance by employing strong project management practices. 
•    Lead research and technical assistance activities that provide innovative solutions and drive transformation. 
 
Basic Qualifications
•    Master's degree in relevant field and eight years of relevant experience providing capacity building support in a fast turnaround environment directly to clients with the intention of building program or organizational capacity within public or private organizations or local, state or federal education agencies. 
•    Demonstrated management of large project teams.
•    Strong experience in designing and managing projects in the area of organizational change/behavior and continuous improvement within large systems. 

Preferred Qualifications
•    Knowledgeable about education systems in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Kansas and/or West Virginia
•    Experience designing needs-based technical assistance projects for a variety of clients
•    Extensive knowledge about evidence-based practices
•    Familiarity with business development, including proposal writing
•    Ability to employ a variety of analytic tools to study different states, share ideas about new projects that the team might be able to undertake as a result of internal knowledge and skills. 
•    Experience working with a state education agency. 
•    Expert communication and presentation skills. Ability to synthesize the team's work into recommendations for presentation to clients and deliver oral and written reports to client management. 
•    Familiarity with Project Management best practices including the use of tools to help streamline the process.

Westat offers a well-rounded and comprehensive benefits program focused on wellness and work/life balance. Eligible employees may participate in:

• Employee Stock Ownership Plan
• 401(k) Retirement Plan
• Paid Parental Leave
• Vacation Leave
• Sick Leave
• Holiday Leave
• Professional Development
• Health Advocate
• Employee Assistance Program
• Travel Accident Insurance
• Medical Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Short Term Disability Insurance
• Long Term Disability Insurance
• Life and AD&D Insurance
• Critical Illness Insurance
• Supplemental Life Insurance
• Flexible Spending Account
• Health Savings Account

Westat is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship status, genetic information, gender identity or expression, or any other protected status under applicable law.