Senior Researcher, Community Safety & Violence Prevention

AIR seeks a Senior Researcher for the Human and Community Development program to lead research, evaluation, and strategic growth related to community safety. This role advances evidence and practice on broad community- and systems-based approaches to preventing and reducing violence and enhancing community safety. This includes community and hospital-based violence intervention, alternative response approaches, and law enforcement-based strategies, all with an emphasis on prevention science. The Senior Researcher will lead complex studies and evaluations; collaborate with federal, state, local, and community partners; contribute to portfolio strategy and business development; and mentor staff. The ideal candidate brings deep subject-matter expertise in community safety and violence prevention; strong project and people management skills; an understanding of rigorous and varied, mixed methods approaches to building evidence; and a commitment to strengths-based, community-informed research and practice.

Candidates hired for the position may work remotely within the United States (U.S.) or from one of our U.S. office locations. This does not include U.S. territories.

About AIR:

Founded in 1946 and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that conducts behavioral and social science research and delivers technical assistance to address some of the most pressing challenges in the United States and globally. We generate evidence and apply data-driven solutions that expand opportunities and improve lives for all.

Responsibilities:

The responsibilities for this position include:

Project Leadership

• Manage large, complex research and evaluation projects focused on community safety, violence prevention, and related systems-change efforts.
• Anticipate project risks and develop mitigation strategies to ensure timely, high quality deliverables.
• Ensure compliance with ethical standards, IRB requirements, and data governance policies.

Business Development

• Lead and contribute to proposals and capture efforts for federal, state, local, foundation, and other client opportunities related to community safety.
• Develop competitive proposal strategies, including conceptual design, methodological plans, staffing, and budgets.
• Identify new business opportunities and cultivate partnerships that advance the organization’s mission.

Technical Expertise

• Serve as a senior methodological leader, advising teams on rigorous quantitative and/or qualitative approaches.
• Lead the review, analysis, synthesis, and visualization of data using appropriate practices and techniques.
• Ensure data integrity, reproducibility, and strong documentation across all analytic workflows.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Translate complex research findings—both orally and in writing—into actionable insights tailored to policymakers, practitioners, and community partners.
• Manage client and stakeholder relationships with professionalism and awareness of the broader policy and practice landscape.
• Cultivate external relationships with researchers, practitioners, community partners, and other leaders working across the community safety and prevention landscape.

Team Leadership

• Manage and mentor staff to build technical capacity in community safety, prevention science, research design, and client service.
• Provide thought partnership and coaching to mid level researchers on research design, analysis, and dissemination.
• Model inclusive leadership practices and foster a collaborative team environment.

Qualifications:

Education, Knowledge, and Experience

• PhD in criminology, sociology, psychology, public health, public policy, social work, anthropology, or a related field with 3+ years of relevant experience, or a Master’s degree with 7+ years of relevant experience.
• Deep knowledge of community safety, violence prevention and intervention, prevention science, and/or implementation science.
• Ability to take big ideas and develop work plans and timelines.
• Experience in a contract research, evaluation, policy, or applied research organization.
• Experience with broad data collection methodologies (including but not limited to structured interviews, observations, survey research) and analysis activities (including but not limited to experience with quantitative and/or qualitative analytic software packages such as STATA, R, Excel, NVivo, and Access).
• Proven ability to serve as a Project Director (PD) or equivalent role, including managing budgets, timelines, staff, and client relationships.
• Experience building and maintaining strong relationships with broad community- and systems-based clients, and cross-sector stakeholders.
• Experience with business pursuit (e.g., grant and proposal writing).

Skills

• Strong organizational and interpersonal skills including strong communication skills with the ability to produce concise, high-level summaries and briefings.
• Strong client and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build trust and communicate effectively across research, policy, practice, and community audiences.
• Strong presentation, facilitation, and thought leadership skills, including the ability to represent work with external audiences. • Strong attention to detail and commitment to accuracy when writing.
• Can collaborate effectively in a virtual work environment.

Disclosures: Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the U.S. on a full-time basis. Employment-based visa sponsorship (including H-1B sponsorship) is not available for this position. Depending on project work, qualified candidates may need to meet certain residency requirements.

American Institutes for Research is an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination on the basis of any characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local law, including, but not limited to, actual or perceived race (including traits historically associated with race, such as hair texture, hair type, and protective hairstyles such as braid, locks, and twists), creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition (e.g., cancer), sex, gender, gender identity or expression (including transgender status), sexual orientation, marital status, civil union status, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, genetic information, or military or veteran status. AIR adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo reference and background checks. AIR maintains a drug-free work environment.

ACCESSIBILITY NOTICE: If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process due to a physical or mental disability, please send an email to Taliba Boone at [email protected] or call 202.403.5000.

Fraudulent Job Scams Warning & Disclaimer: AIR is aware of individuals falsely presenting themselves as AIR representatives. Fraudulent job scams seek to extract sensitive information or money from victims. To protect yourself, please be aware that AIR recruitment will only email you from an “@air.org” domain. Please take extra caution while examining the email address, for example [email protected] is correct and [email protected] is not a legitimate AIR email address. If you are unsure of the legitimacy of a communication you have received, please reach out to [email protected]. If you see a job scam, or lose money to one, report it to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. You can also report it to your state attorney general. Find out more about how to avoid scams atftc.gov/scams.

AIR’s Total Rewards Program, is designed to reward our staff competitively and motivate them to achieve our critical mission. This position offers the anticipated annual salary as listed. Salary offers are made based on internal equity within the institution and external equity with competitive markets. Please note this is the annual salary range for candidates that are based in the United States.

Originally posted on Himalayas