Center on Rural Innovation (CORI)

Position Title/Short Description

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About the Role

The Director of Research, Knowledge, and Evaluation leads the Center on Rural Innovation’s thought leadership work and provides support to other teams through research, data analytics, and knowledge development within the organization. This position will lead and build our Research, Knowledge, and Evaluation team, which conducts nationally recognized research that provides economic insights, delivers published reports, and informs policy recommendations that advances our mission to create inclusive tech economies in rural America.

The Center on Rural Innovation (CORI) has been data-driven from the start. Our research agenda has included analysis of technology job gaps in rural America, a nationally regarded analysis of race in rural, highlighting regions most affected by gaps in broadband, and the asset analysis for where rural places can succeed in building tradable innovation economies. This research has placed the organization at the forefront of this work and has received funding from nationally regarded organizations — including the Economic Development Administration, Ascendium Education Group, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation — with reach across the country. The next Director of Research, Knowledge, and Evaluation has the opportunity to expand this operation significantly and become a driver of knowledge for future-forward economic development across the country.

The Director of Research, Knowledge, and Evaluation will have a proven track record of research accomplishments and demonstrated leadership capability. They will serve as the driver of knowledge development within the organization to inform our strategy and fact-based narrative changes about what is possible in rural America. The director will identify, design, and lead complex qualitative and quantitative research projects with the ability to perform in any phase of a project from design to implementation. In addition, the director will be responsible for developing internal tools that allow the various parts of the organization to execute on the mission with the most up-to-date data and economic research, and will continue to grow CORI’s reputation as a thought leader in rural economic development. The Director of Research, Knowledge, and Evaluation will bring extensive conceptualization expertise and methodologies in studying rural and regional economies, with established external peer recognition for expertise/professional stature in their field. They will collaborate closely with other teams within the organization and will oversee program evaluation across the organization.