Evaluation Associate/Senior Evaluation Associate (K-12 Evaluation)

About the role

The University of Mississippi – affectionately known as Ole Miss – is a premier public research institution dedicated to fostering a vibrant, inclusive community where students, faculty, and staff can reach their fullest potential. The Center for Research Evaluation (CERE) at Ole Miss is seeking an Evaluation Associate or Senior Evaluation Associate to join its K–12 Evaluation team. In this role you will design and lead meaningful evaluation and applied research projects with school districts, state agencies, nonprofit organizations, foundations, university partners, and other organizations working to improve educational opportunities and outcomes. CERE operates independently, collaborating closely with clients across Mississippi and the nation to understand their questions, develop rigorous and practical approaches, and translate findings into usable information for learning and decision‑making. This is an open‑rank position; the appointed level (Evaluation Associate or Senior Evaluation Associate) will be based on the candidate’s education, relevant experience, demonstrated skills, and qualifications. The position is expected to work from the Oxford campus, with travel possibly required within Mississippi and elsewhere in the United States. CERE’s work is highly collaborative, and Evaluation Associates/Senior Evaluation Associates typically manage multiple evaluation projects simultaneously, requiring comfort working across projects and content areas, managing competing priorities, and adapting evaluation approaches to different client and program contexts.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage evaluation and applied research projects, including developing work plans, coordinating project activities, and ensuring high‑quality, timely implementation.
• Design practical and rigorous evaluation approaches that align evaluation questions, methods, data sources, and deliverables with client and project needs.
• Develop and implement data collection strategies, including logic models and theories of change, surveys, interviews, focus groups, and other quantitative and qualitative methods.
• Analyze and interpret quantitative and qualitative data and conduct literature reviews or other background research to inform evaluation activities and findings.
• Translate findings into useful information through reports, presentations, data visualizations, briefs, and facilitated conversations designed for technical and nontechnical audiences.
• Build strong, collaborative relationships with clients and partners and support the use of evaluation findings for learning, improvement, and decision making.
• Contribute to the quality and growth of CERE’s work through collaboration with colleagues and students, quality assurance, proposals and business development, and other professional or capacity‑building activities.
• Responsibilities vary by appointment level; Senior Evaluation Associates are expected to demonstrate greater independence in leading complex projects, managing client relationships, providing quality assurance, mentoring or supporting staff, and contributing to business development.

Requirements

Evaluation Associate (starting salary range: $70,000–$79,000) – candidates should have:

• At least a bachelor’s degree in an appropriate field (Measurement, Evaluation, Education, Psychology, Social Sciences, Public Health, or related).
• At least two years of relevant experience.
• Experience with quantitative and qualitative research or evaluation methods.
• Demonstrated ability to contribute to or manage evaluation, applied research, or related projects.
• Experience developing data collection tools and analyzing quantitative and/or qualitative data.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate findings to nontechnical audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities and work collaboratively with clients and project teams.

Senior Evaluation Associate (starting salary range: $80,000–$89,000) – must meet the above and demonstrate:

• At least a master’s degree in an appropriate field.
• At least three years of relevant experience.
• Demonstrated ability to independently design and lead complex evaluation or applied research projects from planning through reporting.
• Experience developing evaluation designs and scopes of work responsive to client needs.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects and strategic client relationships with a high degree of independence.
• Experience providing quality assurance, mentoring or coaching evaluation or research staff, and/or leading project teams.
• Experience contributing to proposals