Our Organization

Join our team and work to bring about a healthier and more equitable world through community science, open technology, and the pursuit of environmental justice. Public Lab is a community, supported by a 501(c)(3) non-profit, that develops and applies open-source tools to environmental exploration and investigation. By democratizing inexpensive and accessible do-it-yourself techniques, Public Lab creates a collaborative network of practitioners who actively reimagine the human relationship with the environment.

The Details

• Terms: Full-time
• Position reports to: Director of Community Development.
• Compensation: $50,000-$60,000 based on experience and qualifications.
• Where: Remote, but with the opportunity to work from our offices in New Orleans or Brooklyn. This job requires occasional travel and work outside regular business hours.

About This Role

This position is ideal for an evaluator who wants to be part of a fast-moving team developing, advancing, and sharing community science practices around the world. This role is an integral part of Public Lab’s Organizing & Research group, which works to ensure that people who come to Public Lab in pursuit of environmental justice are able to connect with others to advance locally meaningful outcomes through empiricism and advocacy.

This is a role for someone who loves questions and developing tools for questioning.

The Learning and Evaluation Manager anchors evaluation and organizational learning processes to assess the impact, both planned and unplanned, of Public Lab’s programs and culture. The Learning and Evaluation Manager navigates the cultural challenges of equitable knowledge production while documenting case studies of projects happening in and around Public Lab. To do this work, the Learning and Evaluation Manager disrupts the researcher/subject relationship in favor of discourse and collaboration, and from this relational position, anchors the design and collection of the types of data needed to document the scope of Public Lab’s work and its significance. More broadly, the Learning and Evaluation Manager integrates learning practices and insights across the organization and the Public Lab ecosystem to speed the emergence of collective intelligence.

In this role you will:

• Conduct qualitative, conversation-style interviews with community members.
• Document case studies to support staff-written white papers on project methodology.
• Contribute, alongside staff and external partners, to peer-reviewed articles on community science.
• Gather quantitative data with and about Public Lab community and partners to produce the bi-annual All Community Survey.
• Create logic models and metrics for program work to track progress against Public Lab’s strategic objectives.
• Develop and maintain an annual schedule of evaluation activities.
• Analyze data, write reports, present results and insights.
• Design, test, implement, and encourage a culture of short feedback loops.
• Support program teams to incorporate their own organizational learning and feedback practices and implement what they learn.
• Support the sustainability of community projects through contributing to grant writing efforts and other fundraising initiatives.
• Adhere to Public Lab values and the Code of Conduct, nonprofit policies, and procedures.

This position might be for you if you are:

• An experienced evaluator. You’ve completed high-level work in fields related to evaluation, public administration, sociology, psychology, applied research or measurement, development studies, education studies, science and technology studies, etc. Learning or evaluation experience in a nonprofit or mission-driven organization is a plus.
• Trained in program evaluation and design, and interviewing and analysis methods. You’ve created instruments (Google Forms! Semi-structured interview templates!) that yielded insights that changed how a team worked and the design of a program.
• Results oriented and data driven. You have a strong command of data and analytics and you set measurable goals and analyze progress.
• An exceptional written and oral communicator. You have excellent interpersonal skills. You're a collaborator and a problem-solver who is often praised for your organization and attention to detail. You can translate complex work and the mission of Public Lab to different audiences.
• An experienced facilitator. You have experience working with people from different backgrounds to face challenging questions and make progress as a team.
• Team-oriented. You work collaboratively, both in person and with remote colleagues, to envision and promote positive change, and to be supportive of others. You bring integrity to all situations.
• Open-minded. You are curious and creative. You are open to sharing and learning from successes and failures, willing to take and implement new ideas, and excited to learn from your peers.
• Organized, thorough, and self-sufficient. You communicate consistently with your team, stay on top of your to-do list, and you don't miss deadlines.
• An excellent problem solver. You're excited to take on diverse development challenges, identify where organizational operations may be improved, and propose solutions.
• Tech-savvy. You are excited by technology and to learn new programs, with support from colleagues. You are interested in or have used technology in the context of advocacy, grants tracking, and reporting. You have experience using a variety of collaborative software such as Slack, Google Docs, and Dropbox.
• A life long learner. Committed to on-the-job learning about concepts related to Public Lab’s work such as community science, peer production, communities of practice, open source, the equitable co-production of knowledge, student-led inquiry, post-normal science, environmental governance.

Benefits

Public Lab offers a benefits package that includes:

• 15 days starting vacation time, with a bonus week off during the winter holidays;
• 11 personal days;
• 12 federal holidays observed;
• We offer medical, dental, and vision insurance plans. The base plan offerings provide 100% coverage of premiums for you;
• 401(k) account;
• A 30 day sabbatical after five years of employment.

To Apply

Please submit your application through the Learning and Evaluation Manager role listing on Idealist.

We will begin reviewing applications on a rolling basis beginning in January 2021, for as long as it takes to fill the position. No phone calls, please.

Public Lab is an equal opportunity employer committed to a diverse, multicultural work environment. We encourage people with different ability sets, people of color, and people of diverse sexual orientations, gender expressions, and identities to apply.