[Remote] Medicaid and Medicare Policy Researcher

Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. American Institutes for Research (AIR) is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization focused on behavioral and social science research. They are seeking a Medicaid and Medicare Policy Researcher to lead projects on health policy, engaging with stakeholders and conducting quantitative research to inform policy design and program evaluations.

Responsibilities

• Engage with Marketplace, Medicaid and Medicare stakeholders through meetings, briefings, and dissemination activities
• Interpret policy and regulations
• Specify, oversee, and interpret descriptive and statistical analyses of large, complex datasets
• Translate complex analytic findings into clear, actionable insights for state and federal stakeholders, including client reports, technical memoranda, and presentations
• Design and oversee the development of dashboards and other data visualizations to present quality performance and associated data
• Apply appropriate quantitative methods to collect, manage, analyze, and interpret administrative data, such as claims, encounters, enrollment, eligibility, and provider data
• Lead or contribute to the design and execution of research and evaluation projects, including policy analyses, demonstrations, and program evaluations
• Support proposal development work by writing technical sections, contributing to analytic approaches, and supporting proposal strategy
• Manage small to mid sized project tasks or analytic components, including planning timelines, tracking deliverables, and coordinating with internal teams and external clients
• Develop and manage budgets (in collaboration with a Project Manager), and communicate timelines, scope and resources with clients
• Ensure the quality, accuracy, and consistency of all work products through appropriate QA/QC processes
• Supervise, mentor and guide junior staff through feedback, training, and modeling best practices in quantitative and qualitative policy research and professional completion of project tasks
• Work effectively in a highly collaborative, multidisciplinary team environment with staff of varied technical skills and expertise

Skills

• PhD in a relevant field (e.g., Economics, Public Policy, Health Services Research, Statistics, Public Health, Sociology, Political Science, or a related discipline), or a Master's degree with at least four years of quantitative research experience
• Demonstrate policy expertise related to Marketplace, Medicare and Medicaid
• Demonstrated experience conducting applied quantitative research related to Marketplace, Medicaid, or Medicare
• Experience interpreting analytic results and contributing to reports, briefs, or presentations that inform program or policy decisions
• Experience working on research, evaluation, or technical assistance projects for federal or state Medicaid agencies, CMS, or other public or nonprofit entities
• Experience collaborating with cross functional teams, including programmers, analysts, and policy experts
• Demonstrated experience applying a range of statistical inference methods
• Experience developing and writing proposals for federal agencies
• Experience developing, implementing, and/or adapting quality measures for federal programs
• Experience with large program and administrative, patient reported outcome, survey measure datasets
• Strong quantitative and data analysis skills, including experience with statistical and data tools such as SAS, SQL, Stata, R, Python, or similar software
• Ability to document analytic methods, conduct data quality checks, and support reproducible research practices
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to convey complex findings to technical and non technical audiences
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines independently while contributing effectively in a collaborative, virtual team environment
• Proven ability to coach and mentor junior staff and foster inclusive team dynamics
• Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and commitment to accuracy in data analysis and reporting
• Ability to lead and collaborate effectively within multidisciplinary teams
• Ability to learn quickly, take direction, and work independently in a fast-paced environment
• Strong presentation, professional development delivery, and facilitation skills
• Comfortable working in a virtual/dispersed work environment
• Familiarity with CMS data sources, Medicaid and Medicare programs, waiver demonstrations (e.g., 1115 waivers), or value based payment models preferred but not required
• Direct experience working with CMS is strongly preferred, but not required

Benefits

• AIR’s Total Rewards Program
• Designed to reward our staff competitively and motivate them to achieve our critical mission

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