Research Director

BDI (Bridging Divides Initiative) is a non-partisan research project at Princeton University that tracks and mitigates political violence in the United States. BDI envisions a future where thriving communities are prepared to respond in periods of risk, empowered to address long-term divides, and supported to build a pluralistic, multi-racial democracy. The initiative achieves this through three strategic objectives: producing action-oriented research for trend monitoring and early warning, fostering cross-sector collaboration among pro-democracy stakeholders, and building policy frameworks for community leaders and decision-makers. Since 2019, BDI has increased awareness of political violence risk while driving effective interventions to reduce harm.

About the role

The Research Director will provide strategic and operational leadership for BDI’s core research functions: Data and Tools, and Participatory Research. This role reports to the Executive Director and serves as a key member of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), bridging high-level strategic planning with day-to-day management of a multidisciplinary research team. The position ensures BDI delivers timely, actionable, and rigorous data, tools, and analysis to mitigate political violence in the U.S. This is a full-time, benefits-eligible, 1-year-term position with the possibility of extension, fully remote, and must be performed within the United States.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership & Organizational Management
  • Serve as a core member of BDI’s Senior Leadership Team, contributing to organizational governance, cross-functional strategy, and alignment of research activities with mission priorities and BDI’s Theory of Change.
  • Advise the SLT on emerging research opportunities, methodology needs, and the multi-year research agenda aligned with BDI’s strategic goals.
  • Support the Executive Director, COO, and Development Director in proposal writing and expert oversight of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) design, particularly for data and participatory research grants.
  • Act as a senior research spokesperson for BDI, delivering high-level briefings to senior leaders, academic conferences, and civil society audiences to communicate BDI’s data and insights on emerging trends.
  • Build and maintain collaborative partnerships with external researchers, universities, and research organizations to co-produce impactful research products.
  • Serve as BDI’s senior-most expert on conflict data and analysis, BDI-specific tools, and participatory research findings, evaluating core value-add and setting methodological standards.
• Portfolio Oversight & Research Integrity
  • Provide executive oversight for two core functional workstreams, serving as Principal Investigator (PI) where relevant, and maintain Institutional Review Board (IRB) compliance and ethical research standards.
  • Participatory research: Oversee longer-term research engaging communities impacted by political violence (state and non-state), involving local communities in knowledge production. Current project: Understanding Threats and Harassment survey and qualitative interview work.
  • Data and Tools: Ensure trusted data on political violence is accessible and translatable. Oversee internal work to create, clean, or build tools for analysis, including the Political Violence Dashboard, discrete datasets, and the BDI Violence Risk Index.
  • Establish rigorous research design standards, data integrity protocols, and standardization audits in collaboration with directors across BDI.
  • Refine research methodologies and improve the sensitivity of BDI’s county-level risk index with ESOC faculty and campus experts.
• Management & Mentorship
  • Directly manage, mentor, and build cohesive pathways for direct reports (Project Managers and Senior Research Specialists) and provide indirect leadership for broader research staff.
  • Define clear roles and responsibilities, facilitate cross-team coordination, and foster professional growth and skill development.
  • Provide ad-hoc advising to students, graduate researchers, or faculty utilizing BDI data.
  • Lead the "data and tool literacy" initiative across BDI, empowering staff to flag emerging trends, navigate tools, and engage with BDI’s data products.
• Operational Execution & Cross-Team Coordination
  • Partner with senior leadership and cross-functional directors to establish the annual product roadmap and adjust timelines with the Early Warning/Early Response (EWER) and External Engagement teams.
  • Direct the research team’s ability to provide custom, real-time analysis for community partners and the internal Early Warning team.
  • Design and participate in the executive review and approval process for high-stakes analytical outputs (e.g., issue briefs, blog posts, memos) to ensure non-partisan rigor, clarity, and accessibility.

Qualifications

• Required
  • 8-10+ years of progressive experience in research leadership, applied social science, conflict analysis, public policy, or related fields, including managing research teams/programs.
  • Expertise in quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, with a proven track record of maintaining data and research integrity across complex portfolios.
  • Substantial experience managing, mentoring, and developing multidisciplinary teams of researchers, data specialists, or project managers in high-performance environments.
  • Experience in conflict, peacebuilding, democracy, political violence mitigation/prevention, or closely related fields.
  • Professional experience managing data-driven projects using R and Tableau for analysis and visualization.
  • Ability to manage multiple complex, multi-stakeholder research workstreams under high-pressure, time-sensitive conditions.
  • Exceptional editing, writing, and presentation skills, with the ability to translate technical data into accessible narratives for policy, media, and grassroots audiences.
  • Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field or equivalent professional experience.
• Preferred
  • PhD or advanced Master’s degree in Political Science, Public Policy, International Affairs, Sociology, Data Science, or related fields.
  • Prior experience leading research operations or strategic engagement within an academic institution or research-intensive nonprofit.
  • Direct experience designing or overseeing participatory research models that engage impacted communities in knowledge production.
  • Experience coordinating mixed collaboration teams (academic, policymaker, civil society) and navigating competing stakeholder priorities.
  • Experience with spatial data, mapping tools, or public-facing interactive data dashboards.
  • Success in leading and maintaining team cohesion in a fully remote workspace, including experience with tools like Asana, Slack, and G-Suite.

Benefits

The University offers a comprehensive benefit program to eligible employees. More information.

Pay

Salary range: $138,000 to $154,000.

Schedule

Standard weekly hours: 36.25. This is a full-time, non-overtime-eligible position with a 180-day probationary period.