Director of Research, Weitzman Institute-Remote

Job Description Summary:

Job Description:

The Weitzman Institute is a national leader in evidence-based, stakeholder-informed primary care innovation and transformation, serving over 2 million patients across all 50 U.S. states, DC, Puerto Rico, and Guam through partnerships with FQHCs and other health systems. Established in 2007 as the first research, education, and policy center embedded within a large safety-net primary care health system, the Institute is part of the Moses/Weitzman Health System (MWHS), a family of organizations that includes Community Health Center, Inc., one of the country’s leading FQHCs, and affiliates spanning workforce development and eConsults.

The Director of Research position affords a rare research environment: direct access to real-world clinical and EHR data, established pathways to patients, providers, and community partners in the safety net, and the ability to move from study design through implementation and dissemination within a large integrated health system, translating evidence into practice and policy at national scale.

The Institute’s research portfolio is anchored in primary care integration, social drivers of health, community-engaged and stakeholder-driven research, health workforce development, and practice transformation, with growing bodies of work in digital health transformation. Across all of it, we ground our efforts in the lived experiences of patients and healthcare teams, ensuring our work is both practical and impactful for vulnerable populations nationwide.

This is a pivotal moment for safety-net research. To lead this next chapter, the Institute seeks a visionary, entrepreneurial, and collaborative Director of Research who will help build and lead a high-performing, nationally recognized research enterprise. The Director will drive the development, implementation, scholarly productivity, funding diversification, and financial sustainability of the Institute’s Research and Evaluation portfolio.

The ideal candidate will be an accomplished research leader with a demonstrated record of building externally funded research programs, producing high-impact scholarship, developing and mentoring high-performing teams, cultivating strategic partnerships, and translating evidence into practice and policy. They will bring success securing funding across diverse sources including government, philanthropy, private-sector, academic, and other mission-aligned partners, and the ability to develop a sustainable funding pipeline aligned with the Institute’s strategic priorities.

The successful candidate will be intellectually curious, mission-driven, highly collaborative, comfortable with ambiguity, and energized by the opportunity to build rather than simply maintain. They will be equally comfortable discussing study design with a scientist, strategy with an executive, funding priorities with a foundation leader, implementation with a clinician, and career development with an early-career researcher. Most importantly, they will share the Institute’s commitment to generating evidence that is rigorous, practical, actionable, and capable of improving care and outcomes for safety-net populations at scale.

This is a fast-paced, geographically distributed work environment requiring a high degree of autonomy, proactive communication, adaptability, accountability, and the ability to lead effectively across virtual teams and organizational boundaries.

Additional qualifications of interest include:

• A nationally recognized record of research excellence and thought leadership.
• Deep research expertise in at least one substantive area, combined with sufficient breadth to engage across a range of health, healthcare, and policy issues.
• A demonstrated ability to build and sustain a diversified portfolio of externally funded research, evaluation, and learning activities.
• Experience cultivating relationships with funders, health systems, academic institutions, government agencies, philanthropy, private-sector organizations, and community partners.
• A strong record of first- and/or senior-author publications and other scholarly dissemination.
• Experience translating research and evaluation findings into practice, policy, organizational strategy, or systems change.
• Demonstrated success developing and mentoring mid- and early-career researchers and building the next generation of research leaders.
• A track record of leading multidisciplinary teams and fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, professional growth, and scientific excellence.
• Comfort engaging with thought leaders, clients, executives, clinicians, community leaders, funders, and other decision-makers to represent Weitzman.
• An entrepreneurial spirit and demonstrated ability to identify emerging opportunities and convert them into strategically aligned research initiatives.
• Experience managing complex portfolios, competing priorities, and changing circumstances in a high-autonomy environment.
• Experience leading geographically dispersed or remote-first teams is strongly preferred.

This position will require occasional travel.

Minimum Qualifications

Education/Training

• PhD, MD, or equivalent terminal degree required.

Experience

• At least 10 years of relevant research experience, with demonstrated progression in research leadership, program development, and organizational responsibility.
• A strong and sustained track record of obtaining external funding for research, evaluation, or related initiatives, including demonstrated success within the past three years.
• Demonstrated success securing funding from multiple sources, with experience that may include government, philanthropy, private-sector, academic, health-system, or other mission-aligned funders.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and manage a diversified funding pipeline, cultivate funder relationships, identify emerging funding opportunities, and align opportunities with organizational strategy.
• A strong record of publishing in high-impact peer-reviewed journals, including serving as first and/or senior author on a significant number of recent publications.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and lead a research portfolio or program of work, rather than solely individual research projects.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, manage, develop, and mentor mid- and early-career research staff and investigators.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams and managing complex research, evaluation, or learning portfolios involving multiple stakeholders and concurrent priorities.
• Demonstrated experience developing and championing research proposals and contracts across multiple offices and teams, including grant administration, finance, contracts/legal, business development, and other organizational functions.
• Experience managing research resources, budgets, staffing, timelines, and deliverables, with an understanding of the relationship between scientific priorities, organizational capacity, and financial sustainability.
• Demonstrated success working collaboratively across academic, clinical, operational, community, and/or policy environments.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Research leadership: Deep expertise in research methods and design, with strong quantitative and qualitative analytical skills and demonstrated ability to oversee rigorous, high-quality research and evaluation.
• Funding strategy: Exceptional business development and relationship-building skills applied to research, including the ability to develop diversified funding strategies and convert relationships and opportunities into funded work.
• Scholarly leadership: Ability to establish and advance a compelling research agenda, generate high-quality publications, and elevate the Institute’s national scientific visibility and thought leadership.
• Strategic portfolio management: Ability to assess opportunities, prioritize investments, allocate resources, manage risk, and make disciplined decisions about where the Institute should focus its research capacity.
• Translation and implementation: Ability to translate research, evaluation, and learning into practice, policy, organizational strategy, and scalable solutions.
• People leadership: Demonstrated ability to build, lead, retain, and develop high-performing multidisciplinary teams, including effective delegation, coaching, performance management, and professional development.
• Mentorship and sponsorship: Ability to cultivate emerging investigators and research professionals through mentorship, sponsorship, opportunities for leadership, and support for scholarly and career advancement.
• Collaboration: Exceptional interpersonal and relationship-management skills, with the ability to build trust and work effectively with clinical, administrative, operational, academic, community, and external stakeholders.
• Executive communication: Ability to communicate complex scientific and strategic concepts clearly and persuasively to audiences ranging from researchers and clinicians to executives, funders, policymakers, and community partners.
• Remote-first leadership: Demonstrated ability to lead effectively in geographically distributed and remote environments through proactive communication, clear expectations, asynchronous collaboration, accountability, and intentional team-building.
• Agility and judgment: Capacity to manage ambiguity, competing priorities, rapidly changing circumstances, and high-stakes decisions while maintaining scientific rigor and organizational focus.
• Project and time management: Strong organizational skills and demonstrated ability to manage multiple complex initiatives simultaneously while meeting deadlines and delivering high-quality results.
• Community engagement: Strong knowledge of and experience with meaningful community engagement and stakeholder-informed research.
• Entrepreneurial orientation: Demonstrated ability to identify emerging trends, opportunities, and partnerships and translate them into strategically aligned initiatives.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

1. Research Strategy and Portfolio Leadership

• Develop and implement a strategic, forward-looking research and evaluation portfolio aligned with the Institute’s mission, organizational strategy, emerging health priorities, and the needs of safety-net populations.
• Build a balanced portfolio of research, evaluation, and learning initiatives that advances scientific excellence while generating meaningful impact in practice and policy.
• Identify emerging scientific, clinical, policy, and funding trends and position the Institute to respond strategically.
• Evaluate potential opportunities and make recommendations regarding organizational priorities, investments, partnerships, and resource allocation.
• Serve as a scientific and strategic thought partner to the Chief Scientific Officer and Institute leadership.
• Ensure research activities are appropriately prioritized based on scientific merit, strategic alignment, organizational capacity, funding potential, impact, and sustainability.

2. Funding Strategy and Business Development

• Develop and execute a diversified, multi-year funding strategy and pipeline for the Institute’s research and evaluation portfolio.
• Identify and pursue opportunities across government, philanthropy, private-sector, academic, health-system, and other mission-aligned funding sources.
• Lead and contribute to competitive grant and contract proposals, including scientific strategy, proposal development, writing, budgeting, and supporting materials aligned with funder priorities.
• Build and cultivate long-term relationships with current and prospective funders, including government agencies, foundations, corporations, academic institutions, health systems, and other strategic partners.
• Develop strategic approaches to converting emerging opportunities and relationships into sustainable funded programs.
• Partner with business development, finance, grants administration, contracts/legal, communications, and other teams to ensure successful development and execution of proposals and contracts.
• Monitor the research funding landscape and proactively position the Institute for emerging opportunities.
• Contribute to the financial sustainability and growth of the Research and Evaluation portfolio.

3. Research, Scholarship, and Dissemination

• Serve as Principal Investigator, Co-Investigator, or scientific lead on high-impact research and evaluation initiatives.
• Provide scientific oversight and ensure the quality, integrity, and rigor of study design, implementation, analysis, and reporting.
• Develop and maintain a strong scholarly agenda that advances the Institute’s scientific reputation and national thought leadership.
• Lead and support a sustained pipeline of peer-reviewed publications, with an emphasis on high-quality and high-impact scholarship.
• Mentor and sponsor research staff and junior investigators in publication development, conference presentations, grant writing, research design, and scholarly dissemination.
• Disseminate findings through peer-reviewed publications, white papers, policy products, national conferences, webinars, and other appropriate channels.
• Strengthen the Institute’s national presence by positioning research findings to inform practice, policy, organizational strategy, and systems transformation.

4. Translation, Implementation, and Impact

• Advance the Institute’s ability to move from research and evaluation to implementation, practice improvement, policy influence, and national dissemination.
• Ensure research is designed with consideration of implementation, scalability, sustainability, and real-world impact.
• Use evidence, data, and learning to support strategic decision-making for internal and external partners.
• Build partnerships that facilitate the translation and adoption of evidence-based approaches across health systems, FQHCs, communities, and other settings.
• Contribute to the development of research and evaluation approaches that are responsive to the lived experiences of patients, healthcare teams, and communities.

5. People Leadership, Mentorship, and Team Development

• Lead, supervise, and support a multidisciplinary research team that may include scientists, investigators, research associates, program managers, analysts, coordinators, and other professionals.
• Build and sustain a high-performing, collaborative, inclusive, and accountable research culture.
• Establish clear expectations, priorities, roles, and performance standards for team members.
• Provide regular coaching, feedback, professional development, and performance management.
• Develop career pathways and leadership opportunities for mid- and early-career researchers and research professionals.
• Mentor and sponsor emerging investigators in research leadership, grant development, publication, presentation, stakeholder engagement, and career advancement.
• Create opportunities for junior and mid-career staff to assume increasing scientific and leadership responsibility.
• Foster collaboration across research teams and disciplines and proactively address barriers to effective teamwork.
• Support recruitment, retention, and development of high-quality research talent.

6. Partnerships and External Engagement

• Cultivate external collaborations with academic institutions, research organizations, health systems, government agencies, funders, and community-based organizations to expand the reach and impact of the Institute’s work.
• Represent Weitzman at national meetings, conferences, funder meetings, and other external forums.
• Develop and maintain trusted relationships with thought leaders, clients, decision-makers, clinicians, community partners, and other stakeholders.
• Identify opportunities for strategic collaboration, joint research, co-development, and pursuit of external funding.
• Serve as an ambassador for the Institute’s research capabilities, scientific reputation, and mission.

7. Portfolio, Financial, and Operational Management

• Oversee the effective management of research portfolios, including staffing, budgets, timelines, deliverables, and resource allocation.
• Partner with finance and administrative leadership to monitor portfolio performance and ensure responsible stewardship of research resources.
• Ensure projects are appropriately staffed and resourced to deliver high-quality work.
• Anticipate operational risks, capacity constraints, and competing priorities and develop solutions proactively.
• Establish appropriate systems for tracking research pipelines, funding opportunities, project milestones, publications, partnerships, and other indicators of portfolio performance.
• Champion efficient, collaborative workflows across research and supporting organizational functions.

8. Institute Leadership

• Contribute to the achievement of established goals and objectives of the Institute and Moses/Weitzman Health System.
• Work closely with the Chief Scientific Officer and other Institute and MWHS leaders to advance organizational strategy.
• Collaborate effectively across research, education, policy, clinical, operational, data, finance, business development, communications, and other functions.
• Participate in meetings, committees, and organizational initiatives as appropriate.
• Uphold the Institute’s policies, procedures, quality standards, scientific standards, and safety standards.
• Represent the Institute in community outreach and external engagement activities as appropriate.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

What Success Looks Like

Within the first 12–24 months, the successful Director of Research will be expected to:

• Strengthen and advance a strategically aligned research and evaluation portfolio.
• Expand and diversify the Institute’s external funding pipeline and funded portfolio, including development of new funder relationships.
• Establish or strengthen a sustainable scholarly publication and dissemination pipeline.
• Increase the national visibility and thought leadership of Weitzman research.
• Build a high-performing research team characterized by scientific excellence, collaboration, accountability, and professional growth.
• Develop and mentor mid- and early-career researchers and create meaningful pathways toward greater scientific independence and leadership.
• Strengthen collaborations across academic, clinical, community, government, philanthropic, and other sectors.
• Improve the translation of research and evaluation into practice, policy, and scalable solutions.
• Maintain strong operational and financial stewardship of the research portfolio.
• Serve as a trusted, strategic, and collaborative partner to the Chief Scientific Officer and broader Institute and MWHS leadership.

This Position is available for remote work.

Organization Information:

The Moses/Weitzman Health System is a global leader addressing challenges faced by organizations caring for the poor and diverse populations, and is home to programs focusing on education, research, and process improvement support for safety net providers. The system delivers primary care to more than 150,000 patients in Connecticut, and extends access to specialty care for more than 2.5 million individuals across the U.S. It is a national accrediting body for organizations training advanced practice providers, and offers accredited education and training for Medical Assistants in multiple states. As an incubator for new ideas in areas including social justice, the environment, and social determinants of health, the MWHS is addressing challenges faced by providers caring for underserved communities, creating innovative and impactful initiatives led by nationally and internationally recognized experts. As it forges pathways into the future of primary care, the MWHS honors Lillian Reba Moses (1924-2012), a granddaughter of slaves, and Gerard (Gerry) Weitzman (1938-1999), whose ancestors escaped pogroms in Eastern Europe. Their vision and commitment to justice and equity in healthcare is the foundation upon which the Moses/Weitzman Health System was built.

Time Type:

Full time