Senior Director of Research & Insights, DonorsChoose

• The ideal candidate is a builder, combining strong analytical instincts with exceptional communication skills
• We're looking for someone with informed perspectives and a deep curiosity about K–12 education, but also the intellectual humility to let evidence shape (and sometimes change) their thinking
• Strategic thinking and organizational judgment
• Exceptional written and verbal communication
• Ability to translate complex findings into compelling narratives for funders, executives, partners, and non-technical audiences
• Experience influencing senior leaders and organizational decision-making
• Strong understanding of both qualitative and quantitative research approaches
• Ability to distinguish signal from noise and identify emerging trends and opportunities
• Ability to identify where classroom realities intersect with donor interests, funder priorities, workforce trends, policy shifts, and emerging opportunities
• Experience turning insights into action, strategy, investment decisions, or organizational change
• If you don’t check every box listed here, or you know you’d bring additional experience to the table, we hope you’ll submit your application

Desirable

• The Impact & Insights team exists to help DonorsChoose become the most trusted source of insights about America's classrooms
• We believe teachers are among the first to see emerging needs, changing student experiences, and new opportunities—and that those closest to classrooms should help shape the conversations happening far beyond them
• By combining educator perspectives, research, data, and organizational intelligence, we produce insights that inform strategy, strengthen fundraising, shape partnerships, and help leaders across education, philanthropy, and business better understand where opportunity exists for students
• DonorsChoose is seeking a Senior Director of Research & Insights. Reporting to the Chief Impact & Insights Officer, this role is not a traditional research leadership role
• While research rigor and methodological expertise matter, the primary value of this position is helping DonorsChoose build an organizational intelligence capability rooted in classroom resource needs that informs strategy, influences decisions, strengthens fundraising, shapes partnerships, and advances student opportunity
• This context matters for a K–12 organization like ours, as we are not seeking someone whose primary orientation is academic research, publication, or evaluation for its own sake
• We are seeking a strategic thinker and translator who can identify meaningful signals, connect disparate sources of information, generate relevant intelligence, identify where classroom realities intersect with broader opportunities, and help leaders act on what we learn
• We believe one of DonorsChoose's greatest strategic advantages is our proximity to America's classrooms
• Teachers are often the first to see emerging student needs, changing classroom experiences, and new opportunities
• The successful candidate will share our belief that these perspectives are not simply stories to collect: they are strategic signals to investigate, synthesize, and translate into intelligence that helps others make better decisions
• This role sits at the intersection of education, research, data, strategy, and organizational learning
• Intelligence capability development:
• Partner closely with Data Science to co-design and scale DonorsChoose's organizational intelligence capability. Help define the questions the organization should be answering through data, intelligence, and emerging signals
• Collaborate on initiatives that uncover patterns, trends, and opportunities within DonorsChoose's unique classroom dataset
• Partner on the continued evolution of currently in-flight organizational intelligence products
• Ensure the organization's intelligence capabilities are both analytically rigorous and, above all, highly relevant to the needs of our stakeholder audiences
• Thought Leadership:
• Partner closely with Strategic Communications and Marketing to translate research findings into compelling narratives that strengthen fundraising, engagement, and organizational influence
• Help shape how DonorsChoose communicates classroom needs, student opportunity, impact, and emerging education trends
• Ensure insights are accessible and relevant to a wide range of audiences, including educators, funders, policymakers, journalists, partners, and the public
• Proactively track areas of growing interest and investment across K-12 education to align external demand with strategic opportunities
• Contribute to external thought leadership through reports, presentations, media opportunities, partnerships, and convenings
• Impact Measurement & Organizational Learning:
• Lead the organization's approach to impact measurement and learning
• Oversee measurement frameworks focused on student outcomes, historically underfunded schools, and school engagement
• Guide impact studies and validation efforts, internally and through external partners
• Ensure research and measurement efforts generate organizational learning, strategic insight, and decision support, not simply reporting
• Help build evidence that strengthens the DonorsChoose case for support and informs organizational priorities
• Success in This Role:
• Within the first year, this leader will:
• Establish a clear intelligence agenda that elevates DonorsChoose's status as a trusted source of insight about classrooms, student opportunity, and emerging education trends
• Produce highly relevant intelligence that informs fundraising, partnerships, communications, product strategy, and executive decision-making
• Strengthen collaboration across Research & Insights, Data Science, Product, Strategic Communications, Development, and Executive Leadership

• Since we’re trying to get to know you through our hiring process, we ask that you please refrain from using AI writing tools to craft your response to our application questions. A cover letter is optional and may be addressed to Kristina “Steen” Lyles, Chief Impact & Insights Officer