Work. Serve. Thrive.

Imagine a place where your talent can make a meaningful difference in people's lives. Working at Feeding America is a uniquely rewarding experience in which our employees work together as vital parts of a much larger mission. We are innovative, mission-focused, diverse, collaborative, values-driven and focused on results.

Feeding America is the nation’s largest charity and the leading domestic hunger-relief charity in the United States. Our mission is to feed America's hungry through a nationwide network of member food banks and engage our country in the fight to end hunger. Learn more about Feeding America here.

This position is based out of Feeding America’s Chicago office. At Feeding America, we believe in offering a flexible work environment. Employees can be in the office an average of 2 days a week (when not travelling for work) and work from home on other days. Employees also have access to a 30-day “work anywhere” program during the course of each calendar year that can be combined with PTO and/or holidays.

The Opportunity

The Research Analyst will provide research support to the organization through contribution to the development, execution, and management of primary and secondary research and analysis, facilitating the development of organization and policy-based research to support evidence-based programs, legislation, and organization advancement of Feeding America.

Compensation

Here at Feeding America national organization, equity is central to our mission and is an integral part of our compensation policies and structures. Historically, systemic racism and sexism in all aspects of our society, including compensation practices, has led to pay inequities that negatively impact people of color, women, and especially women of color. These practices include basing salary offers on previous compensation and negotiating salary offers. As such, we maintain transparent salary ranges and clearly defined practices for how our team, including new hires, begins and moves through these ranges. You can expect us to offer the best salary up front based on these clearly defined pay practices with little room for negotiation. The salary range listed below represents the starting to mid-point salaries for positions and comparable roles at this level at our organization and candidates should expect to be offered a salary near the starting point of the range that is listed on the job posting. We make exceptions for highly experienced (multiple years of at-level experience) new hires in accordance with our pay practices. Once hired, employees have the opportunity to progress through salary ranges via regular merit increases and step promotions.

Salary: $59,000 - $75,000+ Based on Experience

Responsibilities:

• Takes direction from Manager/Director, Research to implement project tasks, processes and analysis for key research studies and initiatives (e.g., Service Insights, Feeding America Client Survey (FACS), Map the Meal Gap, State of Senior Hunger, program evaluation, and other special population studies), progressing key project components and coordinating with team members, appropriate personnel, and/or consultants in a timely and clear fashion.
• Collaborates with research managers and directors to define project goals, research design and deliverables and to draft and manage project budgets. When appropriate, delineates tasks to team members, appropriate personnel, and/or consultants to support key project activities and deliverables.
• Implements Feeding America's Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion foundation into research and evaluation activities and projects. This may include 1) examining own background and biases continually, 2) committing to dig deeper into data, 3) recognizing the impact the research process itself has on communities and acknowledge our role in ensuring that research benefits communities, 4) engaging communities as partners in research, and 5) guarding against the implied or explicit assumption that white is the default position.
• Supports research functions and initiatives by providing project management functions, including coordination of meetings and communications, progress management, and support activities.
• Provides data management functions including data analytics plan development, data cleaning, and data aggregation. Manages dataset repositories and ensures data integrity and use upon request for data use.
• Develops data analysis protocols and conducts in-depth data analyses with quantitative and/or qualitative methods, as appropriate, and provides analyses of the data findings, from both original research and secondary sources.
• Uses gathered data to create data visualizations, executive summaries, and other deliverables that interpret and disseminate outcomes and key findings from research studies and initiatives.
• Provides support for personalized data analysis provided to the food bank network and partners interested in accessing data to use for programmatic and strategic alignment.
• Conducts literature reviews and provides analysis and summary materials to document findings available internally. Reviews and provides summaries of the literature on key research topics and best practice indicators of success.
• Supports the development of national and local protocols for understanding dimensions of food insecurity and related topics.
• Provides research, communication, and data analysis-related technical assistance to food bank and partner organizations, assisting in understanding the best practices in developing strong data collection and management structures.
• Collaborates with research managers and directors to provide technical assistance to other departments and food bank network members on a range of research initiatives and ongoing queries into the literature base.

Required Experience and Qualifications:

• Experience working with partner organizations, communities, and researchers to understand research needs, manage projects, and provide data and research tools to support data collection needs.
• Basic knowledge of statistical concepts and professional working knowledge in statistical software (e.g., R, SPSS, STATA, and/or SAS).
• Experience with quantitative and/or qualitative data collection, survey design, data management, and analysis.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Advanced degree or relevant experience, preferred (e.g., Public Policy, Statistics, Analytics, Public Administration, Social Work or related field)
• 3+ years experience in applied research in the social sciences or related fields with statistical analysis, preferred

Foundational Requirements:

• Mission Focused: Demonstrates a commitment to Feeding America’s mission through work and action. Is committed to people keep people facing hunger at the center of our work and strives to translate this commitment into action on a daily basis. Willing to advocate for people facing hunger and serve as an ambassador for Feeding America inside and outside of work.
• Embraces Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Demonstrates a personal commitment to valuing different background and life experiences through word and action. Takes personal actions to build an inclusive culture that ensures everyone can fully contribute based on their unique talents, skills and perspectives and feels welcomed and valued. Commits to driving equitable solutions to address root cause issues by incorporating an equity framework in their daily work. Committed to continuous personal EDI development.

Required Leadership Competencies:

• Leverages Functional Expertise: Uses functional knowledge to inform decisions, fix problems and suggest improvements to processes. Demonstrates professional curiosity and works to broaden functional/technical skills.
  
• Manages for Results/Delegates Effectively: Takes accountability for own performance and creates a plan with prioritized activities to support achievement of measurable goals. Handles the pressure of multiple priorities without sacrificing quality and timeliness of work or service. Provides helpful, supportive feedback to others.
• Communicates Effectively: Organizes thoughts and provides clear verbal and written messages to individuals and small groups. Communicates with colleagues and manager(s) to provide information, resolve issues, and promote ideas and proposals. Listens carefully and asks questions to build understanding.
• Collaborates Internally and Externally: Takes a positive, collaborative approach within own team and with other colleagues. Supports others’ efforts, putting aside own interests to do so. Resolves issues by approaching those involved directly in a non-judgmental, non-emotional manner.