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 Technical Assistance Associate to join our team of technical assistance experts in our education practice supporting our College and Career Readiness Portfolio.   In this role you will use your demonstrated experience working with private education, non-profit and/or government agencies to lead initiatives in strategy and operations consulting while advising our clients on planning, implementation and continuous improvement efforts. You will also support internal team growth and business development related to college readiness, access, and success and workforce readiness and placement.  

Job Responsibilities
•    Support the College and Career Readiness (CCR) Portfolio team 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 and create sustainable systems. 
•    Implement technical assistance activities based on identified 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 support the implementation of actionable recommendations.
•    Support communication efforts that contribute to the body of knowledge in the area of college readiness, access, and success and workforce readiness and placement.
•    Support the CCR portfolio manager to conduct strategic due diligence of the projects within the portfolio and provide the project management oversight required to meet client expectations. 
•    Facilitate conversations 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 six 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 a local, state or federal education agency.  
•    Strong knowledge of the Higher Education Act, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, and Perkins V Act.
•    Experience working with nontraditional students, including adult learners, at community colleges and other institutions.

Preferred Qualifications
•    Knowledgeable about education systems in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and/or West Virginia
•    Strong management and leadership experience.
•    Experience designing needs-based technical assistance projects for a variety of clients
•    Strong 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 the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education 
•    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. 
•    Worked on multiple projects at once with competing priorities and deadlines.

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.