A best-in-class city that attracts best-in-class talent, Philadelphia is an incredible place to build a career. From our thriving arts scene and rich history to our culture of passion and grit, there are countless reasons to love living and working here. With a workforce of over 30,000 people, and more than 1,000 different job categories, the City of Philadelphia offers boundless opportunities to make an impact.

As an employer, the City of Philadelphia values inclusion, integrity, innovation, empowerment, and hard work above all else. We offer a vibrant work environment, comprehensive health care and benefits, and the experience you need to grow and excel. If you’re interested in working with a passionate team of people who care about the future of Philadelphia, start here.

What we offer

• Impact - The work you do here matters to millions. 
• Growth - Philadelphia is growing, why not grow with it? 
• Diversity & Inclusion - Find a career in a place where everyone belongs.
• Benefits - We care about your well-being.

Agency Description

The PHL Service Design Studio (SDS) sits within the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and supports service improvement efforts across the City of Philadelphia.

SDS believes our municipal government is closer to creating a more equitable Philadelphia when community members and colleagues, who’ve been historically marginalized by government actions, can access and deliver services with ease and agency. To support this belief, SDS collaborates with residents, direct service staff, and leaders to design accessible and trauma-responsive services that honor the diverse needs of Philadelphians.

In practice, that looks like partnering with:

• Agencies: We advance their strategic goals and service improvement efforts.
• Policymakers: We help prototype policy ideas before implementation.
• Program directors: We evaluate the effectiveness of service delivery.
• Colleagues: We coach colleagues on how to use participatory design methods.

For more information, visit our website at phila.gov/service-design-studio and Twitter @DesignStudioPHL.

We’re looking to hire a Research and Evaluation Practice Lead.

As a Research and Evaluation Practice Lead, you’ll collaboratively envision and lead a new practice area within the PHL Service Design Studio (SDS). This looks like building on lessons learned from the team’s past research projects to inform new directions for the team. You’ll develop standards of practice and the infrastructure required to design and facilitate equitable and ethical research and evaluation within a government context. Lastly, you’ll manage a small team and coach SDS colleagues on research and evaluation best practices — ensuring consistency and quality across projects.

Essential functions

Below are the primary duties of this position:

Leading a small and growing research practice

• Work collaboratively with other SDS practice leads and colleagues to develop a cohesive vision for how research can enable equity-centered service design projects.
• Improve existing research and evaluation tools and methods as well as create best practices.
• Evolve the team’s research infrastructure (e.g., training, governance, processes, policies, and internal accountability mechanisms) so SDS team members can consistently facilitate ethical research across projects.
• Manage, advocate for, and grow the practice area for long-term sustainability.
• Effectively allocate team members to projects and coordinate project work.
• Work in sync with other SDS practice leads.

Leading and supporting research projects

• Work with City leaders as well as SDS practice leads and colleagues to scope research and evaluation phases of service design projects.
• Collaborate with SDS practice leads and colleagues to set research and evaluation strategies on projects.
• Break down project scopes into reasonable project plans with clear deliverables, milestones, roles, responsibilities, and deadlines.
• Lead project partners and team members through research and evaluation processes.
• Design and facilitate research and evaluation — drawing from a mix of qualitative and quantitative methodologies.
• Plan and coordinate the logistics of research — including translation, recruitment, and scheduling.
• Develop research tools, like protocols, interview scripts, surveys, and data analysis frameworks.
• Effectively organize and analyze data collected from a variety of sources.
• Synthesize data into strategic insights and well-defined opportunity areas that inform holistic service design interventions.
• Develop compelling narratives that communicate the human experience to decision-makers, so they can make informed decisions.
• Document insights, learnings, and interventions into clear and actionable deliverables, reports, and publications.

Managing team members and coaching colleagues

• Cultivate an environment that helps team members thrive.
• Help team members grow their research and evaluation skills and reach career goals.
• Be aware of your biases and how they show up for you in team interactions.
• Offer ongoing feedback on work deliverables and performance.
• Be willing to have difficult conversations to address conflict in productive ways.
• Be willing to make difficult decisions that are in service of your team.
• Actively seek out and create the space for feedback from direct reports.
• Coach SDS colleagues on applying research and evaluation standards of practice in their work and help troubleshooting issues.

Communicating about your team’s work

• Document and disseminate lessons learned, tools, and best practices to colleagues and the public.
• Actively contribute to the field of service design through journal submissions, conference participation, and community skill-shares.

Competencies, knowledge, skills, and abilities

Competencies 

• Be for your colleagues: Ability to support the success and growth of your colleagues.
• Equity-centered: Ability to respect, honor, and center the experiences of residents and staff who’ve been marginalized by government actions in all that you do.  
• Excellent communicator: Ability to communicate in plain language, explain complex subjects in simple terms, and speak in respectful ways.  
• Self-awareness: Ability to understand what you need from a work environment and articulate healthy boundaries based on those needs.
• Relationship-builder: Ability to work with a variety of people and personalities and cultivate strong relationships to ensure healthy collaboration.  
• Curious: Ability to practice active listening, ask questions to get at the root of a problem, and be willing to have difficult conversations.  
• On-going learner: Be open to engaging in feedback loops, reflecting on lessons learned, and implementing changes based on new information.
• Humble: Ability to operate beyond self-interest.  
• Compassionate: Ability to empathize with others’ experiences, and based on that understanding, take appropriate action.  
• Intentional: Ability to be purposeful and detail-oriented in your work.  
• Organized: Demonstrated ability to manage projects, estimate timelines, rework a project approach based on unforeseen challenges, and set reasonable deadlines.  
• Proactive: Ability to see opportunities, navigate barriers, be self-directed, and problem-solve solutions.  

Knowledge, skills, and abilities 

• Extensive experience in qualitative and quantitative research, assessment, and evaluation methodologies.
• Experience applying statistical methods to data from quantitative surveys.
• Experience managing and analyzing large qualitative data sets.
• Excellent data visualization skills.
• Excellent project scoping and management skills.
• Familiarity with service design practices.

Nice-to-have skills

• Bilingual, especially in Spanish and Mandarin.
• Experience working with communities through participatory research or design.
• Experience managing a research process across multiple languages.
• Experience designing research that centers the experiences of people with disabilities.

Work-Life

Currently, the team works 40 hours a week on a hybrid schedule. We work four days from home and one day in the office. This schedule isn’t permanent. Meaning, it may change depending on the status of COVID-19 and the needs of the administration.

Successful candidates will have:

• A research-related degree or equivalent industry experience.
• At least five years of professional experience in research and evaluation.
• At least two years managing projects and team members.

TO APPLY: Interested candidates must submit

• Streamlined cover letter highlighting qualifications not evident in your resume. (No more than 300 words.)
• Your resume or curriculum vitae.
• At least three work samples that demonstrate your expertise in designing and facilitating quantitative and qualitative research that informs people-centered design decisions. Samples could include research protocol as well as findings and recommendations reports.

Our hiring process is as follows:

• A hiring committee will review complete applications.
• Top candidates will be asked to participate in a 30-minute informational phone conversation to learn more about the position and the hiring process.
• Top candidates will participate in a 2-hour virtual interview and portfolio review with the PHL Service Design Studio team and partner colleagues.
• Final candidates will participate in a 45-minute virtual conversation with the Chief Administrative Officer.
• We'd like the new employee to start in August of 2023.

Salary Range: Maximum of $100,000

Complete applications are due on Sunday, May 21, 2023 by midnight ET.

Did you know?

• We are a Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program qualified employer
• 25% tuition discount program for City employees (and sometimes spouses and dependents as well) in partnership with area colleges and universities
• We offer Comprehensive health coverage for employees and their eligible dependents
• Our wellness program offers eligibility into the discounted medical plan
• Employees receive paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays
• Generous retirement savings options are available

*The successful candidate must be a city of Philadelphia resident within six months of hire

Please note that effective September 1, 2021 the City of Philadelphia is requiring all new employees to present proof of vaccination against COVID-19. 

The City of Philadelphia is an Equal Opportunity employer and does not permit discrimination based on race, ethnicity, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, marital status, source of income, familial status, genetic information or domestic or sexual violence victim status. If you believe you were discriminated against, call the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations at 215-686-4670 or send an email to [email protected].

For more information, go to: Human Relations Website: http://www.phila.gov/humanrelations/Pages/default.aspx