ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, EMERGENT SCIENCES

Company: University of Washington
Location: Seattle
Posted on: May 24, 2025

Job Description:

If you are using a screen reader and experience any difficulty accessing our web pages, please call 206-543-2544 or email UWHires and we will be happy to assist you. jump to contentDepartment: INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH METRICS AND EVALUATIONJob Location Detail: This position is located in Seattle, Washington and is hybrid eligible as approved by supervisor and subject to change as needed for operational needs.Benefits: As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs. For a complete description of our benefits for this position, please visit our website, click here.As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills, and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.

UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits, and natural beauty.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent research organization at the University of Washington. Its mission is to deliver to the world timely, relevant, and scientifically valid evidence to improve health policy and practice. IHME carries out its mission through a range of projects within different research areas including the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors; Future Health Scenarios; Cost Effectiveness and Efficiency; Resource Tracking; and Impact Evaluations. Our vision is to provide policymakers, donors, and researchers with the highest-quality quantitative evidence base so all people live long lives in full health.

IHME is committed to providing the evidence base necessary to help solve the world's most important health problems. This requires creativity and innovation, which are cultivated by an inclusive, diverse, and equitable environment that respects and appreciates differences, embraces collaboration, and invites the voices of all IHME team members.

IHME has an outstanding opportunity for an Assistant Director, Emergent Sciences on the Emerging Sciences Team at IHME. This position reports to IHME's Institute Director and is pivotal in driving forward an innovative research agenda across a diverse range of analytical domains related to IHME's mission. The Assistant Director's core responsibilities will be to harness their deep analytical knowledge-which must include familiarity with advanced quantitative methodologies and the Global Burden of Disease analysis-to lead a team and craft solutions that are both novel and scientifically robust. This role demands a proactive individual capable of intellectually navigating large, diverse data sets and directing analyses, rapidly assimilating new information, and addressing complex analytical problems.. This work will be vital in generating insights that aid decision-makers and donors, enhancing the influence and reach or our overall research enterprise.

The Assistant Director position is a key role in turning strategic objectives into specific, actionable plans, leading their team towards clear objectives. The position demands strong analytical skills and the ability to create new methods to meet the evolving challenges in emergent sciences. Being quick to think innovatively and develop innovative approaches to solve new problems is necessary in order to turn data into actionable evidence. Clear communication is essential for explaining complex ideas to your team, the wider organization, and external partners or donors, along with and building strong relationships to achieve the Institute's goals. This position is contingent upon project funding availability.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Leadership and Planning

• Lead efforts of annual strategic planning and devise plans for translating high-level strategies and policies into actionable plans for effective operational and research goals achievement.
  
• Serve as a bridge between strategic vision and operational execution, managing the team to ensure alignment with organizational goals.
  
• Identify strategic opportunities for advancement in emergent sciences and delineate clear paths for exploration and impact.
  
• Facilitate cross-team collaboration to leverage interdisciplinary insights, optimizing research methodologies and outcomes, and incorporating insights to translate operational needs across teams.
  
• Be astutely aware of how developments in population health and science present opportunities and areas where IHME can have an impact on its mission. Identify key questions that, if answered, would improve policy and practice by producing quantifiable evidence to inform decision-makers.
  
• Bear responsibility for the team's high achievement, positive contribution to IHME's organizational culture, and responsiveness to our mission.
  
  Research Innovation and Quality Assurance
  
  
• Evaluate emerging analytical questions promptly to define their scope and the feasibility of potential responses.
  
• Provide expert command of the GBD and Forecasting, including the methodologies of each, the implications of their main analytic strategies, the data that feeds into them, and their results. This knowledge is critical to the position's responsibility to develop interdisciplinary research approaches to produce policy-relevant evidence.
  
• Innovate, develop, test, and help deploy new analytical methods that achieve scientific excellence routinely in a timely and effective way across IHME while enhancing its ability to answer new scientific and policy questions.
  
• Drive the strategic enhancement of current analytical approaches to address new questions and employ experimental methods with disparate data to consistently elevate research quality and impact.
  
• Recognize opportunities for improvement and deliver solutions to enable efficient evaluation and enhancement of research data and findings.
  
• Generate time-sensitive deliverables such as papers, reports, presentations, data requests, and data visualizations.
  
• Pivot agilely amongst high-profile policy-relevant analytic topics with complex stakeholders and scant data to produce relevant results used by high-profile government, inter-governmental, donor, and private sector contexts.
  
• Lead the development of user-friendly, advanced diagnostic tools that assess the quality and effectiveness of intricate analyses, supporting a wide range of research teams in achieving high standards of scientific integrity and accuracy.
  
  Team Leadership
  
  
• Supervise staff to include: hiring and training; leading workflow; priority setting; reviewing work and establishing quality standards; conducting regular performance assessments; providing mentorship and professional development for employees.
  
• Identify training needs and opportunities for team members to grow their skills and advance their careers; ensure that the team has the necessary resources to complete their tasks effectively.
  
• Provide clear direction, motivation, and support to achieve excellence in their respective projects.
  
• Foster a culture of innovation, continuous improvement, and ethical behavior, aiming to build a high-performing team prepared for current and future challenges.
  
• Monitor individual and team performance, provide feedback, and help resolve any performance issues; assist the team in overcoming obstacles, making decisions, and resolving conflicts.
  
• Attend required training about team leadership, management, and related topics as designated by ODT and the IHME Director.
  
• Represent IHME and the team to high-level external stakeholders with diplomacy, command of the scientific outputs of the team, and an openness to receiving and responding to critique and feedback professionally in a manner that enhances our relationships and achievement of our mission.
  
  Other duties as assigned
  
  MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
  
  
• Bachelor's degree in social sciences, public health, computer science, sciences, mathematics, engineering, or related field and eight years of experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
  
  Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.
  
  ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
  
  
• A commitment to working alongside others at IHME to illuminate the health impacts of systemic racism and to work within IHME to make our organization more diverse and inclusive. See IHME's DEI statement here .
  
• Advanced experience implementing complex analytic code in R, Python, or SQL.
  
• Demonstrated supervisory and project research management experience. Proven leadership skills; ability to influence and lead a team while meeting deliverables and deadlines.
  
• Experience developing and executing new statistical modeling techniques and/or the tools used to deploy them.
  
• Demonstrated ability to devise diagnostic systems and processes to identify anomalous results. Experience helping others learn how to troubleshoot results and code efficiently and comprehensively.
  
• Strategic thinker who can objectively assess complex materials, intake new knowledge, and make difficult decisions that have organization-wide impact with incomplete information.
  
• Exceptional listening skills and ability to relate to, influence, and coach employees of all levels in the organization.
  
• Outstanding intellectual capability and ability to agilely learn new information on the fly.
  
• Must exhibit strong desire and ability to learn intellectual content to facilitate highly complex scientific projects.
  
• Exceptional oral and written communication skills, particularly the ability to convey intricate and complicated intellectual material and instructions to individuals of various skills and backgrounds.
  
• High-level relationship management skills are critical to communicate with stakeholders at multiple levels, including donors, researchers, administrators, and other external audiences.
  
• Incumbent must be able to work independently and must be able to take multiple priorities and translate them into project completion through expert planning.
  
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced and collaborative environment to manage multiple priorities while coordinating resources needed to meet deadlines.
  
  CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT
  
  
• Weekend and evening work sometimes required.
  
• This position is open to anyone authorized to work in the U.S.
  
• Working internationally is only allowed for IHME-sponsored work that requires in-country participation.
  
• This position is located in Seattle, Washington, and is hybrid eligible as approved by the supervisor and subject to change as needed for operational needs.
  
  Application Process: The application process may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process. These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select "Apply to this position". Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment, you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your "My Jobs" page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are access ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.Committed to attracting and retaining a diverse staff, the University of Washington will honor your experiences, perspectives and unique identity. Together, our community strives to create and maintain working and learning environments that are inclusive, equitable and welcoming.To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the Disability Services Office at 206-543-6450 or dso@uw.edu .Applicants considered for this position will be required to disclose if they are the subject of any substantiated findings or current investigations related to sexual misconduct at their current employment and past employment. Disclosure is required under Washington state law .
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Keywords: University of Washington, Redmond , ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, EMERGENT SCIENCES, Executive , Seattle, Washington