Vice President, Marketing & Communications

Established in 1946, with headquarters in Arlington, VA, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) is an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit institution that conducts behavioral and social science research and delivers technical assistance and capacity building services in the U.S. and internationally in health, education, workforce development, and social and community development. AIR’s mission is to generate and apply evidence to contribute to a better, more equitable world.

AIR is seeking a Vice President for our Health Division focusing on identifying and answering important and timely questions about access, quality, cost of care, social determinants of health and health disparities, among other pressing policy issues. AIR Health Division’s work includes:

• Bridging research and practice by applying the best science and methods to overcome barriers to better care, better health and smarter spending.
• Enhancing person-centered care by focusing on outcomes that matter most to patients, families, clinicians, and payers.
• Solving real-world challenges to improving care by designing and delivering effective technical assistance and training.

Reporting to the Senior Vice President (SVP) for the Health Division, the Vice President will be responsible for the people, projects, and pursuits within their program area, including talent development, quality assurance, the efficient operation of their team, client services and business development. Vice Presidents are responsible for effectively leading staff and day-to-day operations, ensuring thought leadership, strong performance on projects and related adherence to client contracts and budgets, managing senior staff, and developing next generation leaders. They also routinely identify mission-aligned business development opportunities to contribute to Health Division and program area growth, expand the depth and breadth of project work, and lead the efficient and successful pursuit of those opportunities. Vice Presidents are also responsible for driving strong, consistent communication and coordination within their Program Areas as well as with other Health Program Areas and other AIR Divisions, with a spirit of transparency, collaboration, and inclusion. Vice Presidents are essential in carrying out AIR’s strong commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLC) in the execution of program area work, including project staffing, methods, and approaches.

Vice Presidents also contribute to the overall vision and strategic direction for the Health Division and engage in planning and problem solving to help meet Division goals, elevating the quality of the Division leadership team’s strategic thinking, creativity, and innovation. The Vice President will be a member of the Health Leadership Team, working in close collaboration with other Health Division leaders.

This position is based in the United States and the Vice President must be able to travel as needed. The selected candidate may work remotely within the United States (U.S.) or from one of AIR’s offices. This does not include U.S. territories.

Responsibilities

• Works with Division and Program Area leadership to develop a culture consistent with AIR’s mission.
• Leads a program area including the execution and management of projects, people, and business pursuits in collaboration with the Health Leadership Team.
• Contributes to the development of operational plans and annual budgets for the Division in support of AIR’s overall strategic direction in collaboration with the Senior Vice President. Implements budgets and plans for the program area.
• Represents AIR and serves as a visible leader in meetings with clients, staff, partners, and stakeholders, as appropriate.
• With a DEI focus, leads workforce planning and recruitment, project staffing, staff management, and professional development for their program area and contributes to these activities for other areas in the Division and other Divisions.
• Implements strategies to attract, motivate, retain, and effectively manage a cohesive, diverse, and highly capable team of employees.
• Develops and implements new business plans and strategies in collaboration with the Senior Vice President and identifies business development opportunities, building a robust business pipeline in collaboration with other Health Leaders and Program Area staff.
• Supports the achievement of Health Division goals related to staff engagement and development, DEI, and client satisfaction.
• Supports achievement of Health Division financial goals (revenue, profitability, sold time, growth) and business development goals (win rate, backlog, return on investment).
• Provides technical and budget review for proposal pursuits.
• Oversees health of projects in their program area.
• Serves as subject matter and/or methods expert in one or more areas under the Health Division and helps to support practice hubs that focus on cross-cutting key topics and methods.
• Enhances AIR’s external reputation in collaboration with Corporate Communications.
• Establishes and maintains broad and deep relationships with client organizations and becomes seen as a trusted advisor to clients.
• Leverages relationships to bring in new opportunities.

Qualifications

• Proven track record of leading proposals, winning contract work, and managing and leading teams.
• An advanced degree in Health Services Research or related field.
• Minimum of 20 years of overall experience in studying publicly-financed health care programs.
• Minimum of 5 years in a leadership role.
• Subject matter expertise in health care quality and patient safety and/or related topics like quality measurement using claims, EHRs or HIT, or survey data and methods, quality and safety improvement, learning, translation of evidence into practice, and technical assistance, and other topics such as social determinants of health, health-related social needs, and health disparities.
• Experience in designing and successfully leading multiple complex learning/quality improvement/technical assistance projects, implementation projects, and/or research/evaluation projects in one or more of the Program Area’s focal topic areas.
• Experience with and a commitment to DEI and CLC.
• Professional services industry knowledge with business development experience in Federal and/or state government contracting, and/or with foundations.
• Proven program leadership and high-level management experience, with a documented record of delivering results.
• Excellent planning skills, analytic and process orientation, and a disciplined approach to managing programs.
• Ability to demonstrate a commitment to both the institution’s mission and financial viability.
• Demonstrated ability to guide business development activities in the program area in collaboration with Senior Vice President and Vice President for Strategy and Business Development.
• Experience developing and implementing strategic direction in their program area and assessing progress and performance against defined objectives.
• Demonstrated ability to develop rapport with and lead mission-driven teams with both internal (staff) members and external (subcontractor and consultant) members.
• Experience integrating teams and leading through times of transition.
• Experience championing, enabling, and developing internal talent.
• Demonstrated commitment to support staff growth and open leadership opportunities to staff at all levels of the organization.
• Demonstrated capabilities in working with diverse leaders and personalities.
• High emotional intelligence to lead and collaborate in a complex organization.
• Flexibility and ability to manage change and adapt to changing circumstances and needs.
• Exceptional communication skills, including the ability to listen and understand concerns as well as the ability to communicate clearly with a variety of audiences, both internal and external.

AIR’s commitments to DEI and CLC are essential to our mission and pivotal to our strategic goals. Staff members at every level in AIR are engaged in intentional and comprehensive efforts to integrate the principles and practices of DEI and CLC into every facet of their work. We constantly assess where we are as an institution, we set goals and benchmarks, and we create opportunities to share and course-correct as necessary to drive our improvement and progress. Learn more about AIR's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Journey and hear from our staff by clicking.

The quality of AIR’s work is strengthened by diverse perspectives. At AIR, we define diversity broadly, to include racial/ethnic and cultural background, gender identity and expression, disability status, military and educational experience, life story, and other dimensions of diversity. We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply, including those with non-traditional experience, education, or background.