Research Director, Social Action Lab

About the role

The Social Action Lab at the University of Pennsylvania is seeking a Research Director to provide strategic, scientific, and operational leadership for a portfolio of community-engaged research and public health initiatives in the United States. The Lab focuses on developing, implementing, and evaluating interventions that address pressing social and health challenges, with particular emphasis on cross-sector collaboration, rural health, and integration with local services and public health systems.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and scientific leadership for research and public health initiatives with particular attention to rural areas.
• Collaborate with the team to establish priorities, identify growth opportunities, and ensure that research efforts align with community needs and public health goals.
• Oversee the planning, implementation, evaluation, and daily management of complex projects. This includes coordinating timelines, communications, accountability systems, budgets, compliance, and operational improvements to ensure high-quality execution.
• Build and maintain strong partnerships with academic institutions, community organizations, public health departments, and other stakeholders.
• Represent the Lab at external meetings, facilitate meaningful engagement with partners, and identify new collaboration and funding opportunities, particularly in underserved areas.
• Lead or contribute to research grant applications, research objectives, implementation plans, budgets, manuscripts, reports, and public-facing materials.
• Provide leadership and mentorship to staff, trainees, and project teams by establishing clear roles, workflows, and expectations, while fostering a collaborative, efficient, and high-performing team environment.
• Set hiring priorities and recruit and manage personnel in the projects’ area.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Arts, and 7 to 10 years of experience or equivalent combination of education and experience is required.
• Candidates with a PhD and 10+ years of relevant experience in public health, social sciences, health services research, community-engaged research, implementation science, behavioral science, public policy, epidemiology, or a related field are strongly preferred.
• This position requires living in the broad Appalachian region.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, multi-stakeholder research or public health initiatives.
• Significant experience working with external partners such as community-based organizations, public health departments, healthcare systems, government agencies, and rural community stakeholders.
• Prominent ability to manage and align work across multiple institutions, organizations, and collaborators.
• Experience leading teams, supervising staff, mentoring personnel, and managing competing priorities.
• Strong grant-writing, scientific writing, or proposal-development experience.
• Excellent organizational, leadership, project management, interpersonal, and communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to operate independently, exercise sound judgment, and drive initiatives from concept through implementation.
• Record of leading research publications and grant efforts.
• Experience with substance use and HIV policy research required.
• Experience integrating research programs with local services, public health infrastructure, or community-based delivery systems.
• Experience with federally funded grants, foundation grants, cooperative agreements, or large collaborative research initiatives.
• Track record of contributing to peer-reviewed publications, public health reports, policy briefs, or other dissemination products.
• Experience with community-engaged research, implementation science, health equity, social determinants of health, or intervention development and evaluation.
• Prior leadership experience in the public health sector strongly preferred.

Job Location

This is a 100% remote position and will be physically located in the Appalachia region.

Department / School

Annenberg School for Communication

Pay Range

$95,136.00 - $120,000.00 Annual Rate

Salary offers are made based on the candidate’s qualifications, experience, skills, and education as they directly relate to the requirements of the position, and in alignment with salary ranges based on external market data for the job’s level. Internal organization and peer data at Penn are also considered.