Strong grantmaking requires more than investing in promising ideas. It requires asking the right questions, building evidence, and applying what we learn. As a Senior Learning and Impact Officer with the Planning, Learning, and Impact team, you'll put your research and evaluation expertise to work within Ascendium's Expand Opportunity strategy, working alongside colleagues and grant partners to understand what works, for whom, and under what conditions. Your work will help strengthen our grantmaking and advance approaches that create more pathways to upward mobility for learners from low-income backgrounds.

Reporting to the Director of Learning and Impact, you'll lead a portfolio of research and evaluation grants and help shape how we learn from our investments. Your expertise in workforce development, apprenticeships, sectoral training programs, or related areas will help inform investments in approaches that create more options for learners to access postsecondary education and workforce training that lead to living-wage employment in high-growth, high-demand fields. You'll also collaborate across strategies and contribute to broader learning priorities throughout Ascendium's Education Philanthropy.

The salary range for this position is $115,000 to $160,000.

This position is based in Madison, Wisconsin, where Ascendium Education Group is headquartered. Madison-based employees have a hybrid schedule, working three days in the office and two days remotely, which provides the opportunity for valuable in-person collaboration. While preference will be given to candidates based in Madison, a remote hire may be considered if no qualified Madison-based candidates can be identified.

Approximately half of the Education Philanthropy team works remotely from locations across the U.S. Not all locations are eligible for remote hire; eligibility depends on local and state tax and employment laws. Qualified candidates who are not based in Madison or able to relocate may apply and indicate as such but should be aware that preference will be given to Madison residency.

This position is expected to travel six to 10 times per year to conferences, grant partner events, site visits, home weeks, and other mission-aligned convenings.

When applying, please submit a one-page cover letter with your application.

Job Responsibilities

On a day-to-day basis, you may do the following.

• Learning-Fueled Strategy Development, Execution, and Continuous Improvement
• Collaborate with team members in Ascendium's Expand Opportunity strategy, which is focused on creating more options for learners to engage in postsecondary education or workforce training that provides a path to living-wage employment in high-growth, high-demand fields.
• In partnership with strategy team members and Planning, Learning, and Impact colleagues, further develop and execute our approach to learning from strategic grantmaking portfolios and our emerging priority areas, with well-articulated theories of change and explicit learning agendas.
• Further develop and execute the strategic use of research and evaluation grants aligned to the strategy.
• Contribute to the learning and evaluation capacity of Ascendium's grantmaking team and non-research grant partners through consultation and thought partnership.
• Grantmaking and Stewardship
• Source and review individual grants and initiatives that center evaluations and research. These will include formative evaluations geared towards early hypothesis testing and continuous improvement of newer innovations; mixed-methods impact studies of reform effectiveness and supporting conditions; and research geared towards understanding reform implementation and efficacy in different contexts.
• Scope, secure, and support third-party evaluations and research to advance learning agendas specific to portfolios, potentially including evaluations of grant clusters or grant initiatives.
• Present funding opportunities for consideration to leadership and board members.
• Manage a suite of active grants that center research and evaluation, which includes providing strategic support through the sharing of best practices and connecting grant partners to other resources.
• Provide consultation and support to fellow program officers to help strengthen strategic learning from non-research investments during both the sourcing of new grants and stewardship of existing grants.
• Field Leadership
• Represent Ascendium's Education Philanthropy and actively share lessons learned from funded research and evaluations for the benefit of Ascendium partners and the broader field by presenting at conferences and engaging in networks, work groups, and advisories.
• Coordinate with Ascendium's communications teams to ensure findings from research and evaluation embedded within our investments are shared on Ascendium's Education Philanthropy website and social media channels.
• Develop relationships and partnerships with national and regional funders of research and evaluation.
• Stay abreast of and contribute to evaluation best practices in the broader philanthropic field.

Knowledge and Skill Requirements

A highly qualified candidate will possess the following.

• Knowledge equivalent to a master's degree, Ph.D., or Ed.D. in sociology, economics, education, education policy, public policy, or another relevant social field.
• Seven years or more of progressive experience in evaluation and applied research in workforce development and higher education, ideally overseeing evaluation or research teams.
• Expertise with evaluations that use quantitative methods to make causal inferences, including randomized controlled trials, regression discontinuity designs, quasi-experimental designs that use propensity score matching, and other methods. Must be comfortable with qualitative methods to understand and describe phenomena.
• Expertise in mixed-methods research and evaluation, including deep expertise in designing and conducting studies that appropriately and effectively match research methods to research purpose and questions.
• This includes a range of studies including basic research to understand problems and identify promising responses; formative evaluations to produce initial insights about implementation and outcomes; impact evaluations and other summative evaluations that support casual inferences; and studies that identify conditions that enable and support successful implementation of well-evaluated reforms and innovations in different contexts.
• Content knowledge aligned with Ascendium's Expand Opportunity strategy, including sectoral training programs, apprenticeships, new or innovative models of postsecondary education, and public workforce training.
• Experience conducting research and evaluations that center equity in the research process and outcomes.
• Willingness to learn and adapt to a fast-paced, continually evolving work environment.
• Comfort with ambiguity and evolution, including in the position's roles and responsibilities within a growing Learning and Impact unit.
• Ability to work under pressure to meet critical deadlines yet remain flexible and gracious in responding to changing requirements.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Effective interpersonal skills exemplified by initiative, courtesy, diplomacy, a positive attitude, and a high bar of professional ethics and integrity.

Other Information

Ascendium offers an outstanding benefits package designed to provide employees and their families with a high degree of security. These benefits include, but are not limited to:

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance, plus a retirement savings plan with employer match.
• Generous time off, including up to eight weeks of paid parental leave.
• Student loan repayment assistance and tuition reimbursement.
• Paid volunteer time off.