Associate Director, Office of the Executive Director

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is the nation’s leading funder of patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research—a driving force in ensuring clinical research provides more actionable information to patients about their health and healthcare choices.

The Role in a Nutshell

In this highly visible role across the organization, the Associate Director, Office of the Executive Director (OED) will function as a deputy to the Chief of Staff (COS)—reporting to the COS and working closely with the OED team—and will act as an org-wide operational and strategic partner in support of the senior and executive leadership team towards achievement of defined high-impact priorities and goals.

This is a critical role at PCORI in which you will interface daily with all levels of the organization and key external stakeholders. From preparing and positioning the Executive Director for internal/external engagement, coordinating executive meetings, and optimizing workflows to streamline OED operations to managing special initiatives and confidential projects to advance PCORI’s key goals and objectives, you will traverse between executive strategy and operational execution and serve as a critical interface between the OED and the rest of the organization.

As a core part of your responsibilities, you will serve as a thought partner to the COS and senior leadership to support strategic decision-making, a valued facilitator and connector across the organization to ensure that the ED’s vision is implemented, a catalytic “engine” to drive the pace of execution and change, and an operational project manager to enhance the efficiency of OED daily operations and support strategic implementation across departments.

How You’ll Make an Impact

Alongside the COS and the OED team, you will play a crucial role in enhancing the Executive Director’s ability to lead progress on PCORI’s objectives while ensuring that the OED operates at peak efficiency. Your contributions will directly influence executive strategy implementation and outcomes, positioning you as a vital contributor in driving the advancement of PCORI’s objectives and in shaping PCORI’s future direction.

Skills and Competencies That Will Drive Success in This Role

• You have an executive presence and a focus on relationship management, and you are able to foster collaboration by espousing the tenor, disposition, and posture of OED in your interactions across the organization. You also have a track record of building strong relationships and working collaboratively and effectively with colleagues at all levels in an organization, including senior leadership.
• You are solutions-driven with a proven ability to take charge of structuring complex projects and questions, generating hypotheses, identifying information sources, gathering and interpreting data, executing analyses, and engaging with team members and stakeholders with perspectives and findings in ways that enable effective decision-making.
• You are able to manage complex and multivariable projects, quickly synthesize information from varied sources, and proactively surface and address potential issues while communicating with a range of stakeholders.
• You are able to take a leadership role in interfacing with a spectrum of internal and external stakeholders to address key strategic operational issues and initiatives within dynamic organizations.
• You are highly detail-oriented and can seamlessly support the translation of strategic objectives into operational plans and processes that facilitate the achievement of goals, fostering collaboration with business owners and key stakeholders.
• You are a consummate team player, operating with the ethos of “no task is too small, and no ambition is too big,” thriving in an environment where “behind the scenes” action is determinative for success.

Work Environment, Salary, and Benefits

• You will work alongside OED colleagues 3 days a week in our Washington, DC office. There will be occasional times when an additional day will be required. The nature of this position requires some level of in-person collaboration to support executive decision-making and foster the solid working relationships necessary for success. Flexible hybrid work arrangements in accordance with PCORI’s policies are available for discussion.
• We are securely funded and offer an excellent compensation package. The budgeted salary for this role is $135,616 – $169,521 with generous PTO, medical, dental, and vision insurance, long-term and short-term disability, a 401(a) plan with matching up to 5% plus an additional 5% employer contribution, life insurance, tuition reimbursement, professional development, and more.
• You are joining a team of dedicated, mission-driven professionals who are smart, hardworking, friendly, and genuinely interested in helping each other succeed. Your efforts will be appreciated.

General Responsibilities

Executive Vision Implementation and Management

• Provide strategic advice on current and alternative strategies for defined workstreams, as well as on issues (including unidentified and emerging issues) that impact the organization.
• Streamline senior leadership decision-making by improving communication channels, managing and prioritizing executive deliberations, identifying the need and preparing for critical briefings and meetings, and aligning the OED interface with interdepartmental initiatives.
• Engage with peers across strategic, programmatic, and operational departments to align and advance planning and execution, including in relation to support for ED external engagement and ED communications. Facilitate cross-departmental collaboration to achieve priorities and goals.

Operational Management

• Support COS and OED to manage day-to-day OED operations on behalf of the Executive Director
• Support operations planning and coordination within the OED, including optimization of operational workflows and OED efficiency.
• Represent and serve as a liaison for the COS and iOED at meetings.
• Manage the business and administrative planning for the iOED.
• Support and sustain a learning culture through leadership examples and strategies, emphasizing collaboration and continuous improvement.

Operational Support

• Collaborate with the COS to coordinate activities across leadership teams and their respective departments, divisions, and units. Ensure effective management and communication of action items.
• Oversee leadership team meeting activities, including collating and prioritizing issues and briefings and ensuring follow-through on action items.
• Work with the COS to coordinate the scheduling of strategic organizational events, meetings, and other requests.
• Partner with the COS and other departmental leaders to oversee PCORI-wide policies and procedures.
• Handle delegated PCORI-wide or office-level projects and initiatives from the COS or ED.

Internal Stakeholder Liaising

• Research, write, edit, and coordinate the preparation of special reports, briefings, and presentations for executive leadership and the COS. Conceive, craft, and edit messages, letters, and other communications on their behalf.
• Maintain open communication channels and connections throughout PCORI to facilitate early identification of opportunities and challenges to be addressed by the ED.

Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree with at least ten years of experience supporting a chief executive or executive leadership in a dynamic organization, including a nonprofit, government, or healthcare-related setting. An advanced degree in healthcare, business/public administration, or another relevant field is preferred.
• Strong evidence of past experience in the skills and competencies listed above.
• Strong experience interfacing with a spectrum of internal and external stakeholders, preferably in the context of the execution of senior leadership strategy and vision.
• Sound understanding of business operations and organizational planning.
• Proficiency in MS Office Suite (i.e., Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, Word) and project management and collaboration tools (i.e., Teams, SharePoint, Asana). Familiarity with business intelligence applications (i.e., DOMO, PowerBI) is a plus.

About Us

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is an independent nonprofit organization authorized by Congress in 2010 and reauthorized in 2019. Its mission is to fund research that will provide patients, their caregivers, and clinicians with the evidence-based information needed to make better-informed healthcare decisions. PCORI seeks input from a broad range of stakeholders to guide its work.

Staffing Advisors is committed to reducing bias in every aspect of the hiring process. We have long recommended a competency-driven approach to hiring. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status, or any other basis protected by law. We encourage you to apply even if your experience is not a 100% match with the position description; we will consider people from a variety of backgrounds and career experiences.