Implementation Science Research Scientist

RTI International•Any RTI Office, NC

4d•$100,000 - $135,000

About The Position

RTI Health Solutions (RTI-HS), a business unit of RTI International, is an independent and internationally recognized research organization. We provide healthcare consulting and research expertise to optimize decision-making for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device products across the development and marketing life cycle. Clients rely on our expertise, quality standards, and integrity to guide their product development and regulatory and market access strategies. Our service groupings include Value, Access, and HEOR; Patient-Centered and Outcomes Research; Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Medical Communications; Global Business Operations; and Strategic Consulting and Growth. RTI-HS has office locations in the US, UK, Spain, France, and Sweden. The Patient-Centered and Outcomes Research (PCOR) team consists of accredited researchers who aim to produce evidence that empowers patients and healthcare providers to make informed decisions that optimize health outcomes, enhance patient-centered care, and improve the overall quality and efficiency of healthcare delivery. Our PCOR team is made up of 5 practice areas: Health Economics Database Studies, Health Preference Assessment, Patient-Centered Outcomes Assessment, Surveys and Observational Studies, and Implementation Science. RTI Health Solutions is seeking an experienced, strategic, and highly collaborative Associate Director, Implementation Scientist to support the continued growth and execution of our Implementation Science Program. This role is ideal for an implementation scientist or research leader who combines strong methodological expertise with an understanding of pharmaceutical development, evidence generation, and the practical factors that influence the adoption of therapies and healthcare solutions. In this role, you will lead implementation science projects from initial scoping and research design through execution, interpretation, and delivery. You will assume ownership of project scope, scientific quality, timelines, budgets, risks, team coordination, and client communication while remaining actively engaged in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research. You will also provide technical guidance to project teams and collaborate with scientific experts across RTI-HS and RTI International. You will partner with pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients to apply implementation science proactively across the development lifecycle. Your work will help identify potential adoption roadblocks early in the clinical development pipeline and integrate practical, evidence-based solutions into research and evidence-generation strategies. As needed, you will contribute to business development, proposals, capability presentations, client cultivation, and growth of the Implementation Science practice.

Requirements

A PhD in implementation science, translational health science, public health, health services research, behavioral or social science, epidemiology, or a related field plus at least 2 years of directly relevant experience; or a relevant master’s degree plus at least 4 years of directly relevant experience.
Demonstrated experience applying implementation science theories, models, frameworks, strategies, and outcomes to real-world healthcare or life sciences questions.
Strong understanding of the pharmaceutical development process and the role of evidence generation in clinical development, regulatory planning, market access, launch, and post-launch decision making.
Demonstrated ability to design scientifically rigorous and operationally feasible health research studies.

Nice To Haves

Experience designing, conducting, analyzing, and interpreting qualitative and quantitative research, including meaningful experience integrating methods within mixed-methods studies.
Demonstrated success leading research or consulting projects and assuming ownership of scope, timelines, budgets, quality, risks, team coordination, and client communication.
Strategic thinking and problem-solving skills, including the ability to translate ambiguous client questions into structured research and evidence-generation approaches.
Experience working directly with clients or external research partners and communicating scientific concepts, study options, tradeoffs, and recommendations.
Ability to collaborate effectively across scientific disciplines and organizational functions and to influence outcomes without relying solely on formal authority.
Experience contributing to proposals, scopes of work, budgets, capability presentations, or other business-development activities.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including experience preparing and reviewing client deliverables, research reports, proposals, and scientific presentations.
Ability to manage competing priorities, make timely decisions, and maintain high standards of scientific integrity, research ethics, and quality.

Responsibilities

Lead complex implementation science and applied health research projects from initial scoping and study design through final delivery.
Translate client objectives and evidence needs into scientifically rigorous, feasible, and decision-relevant research strategies.
Provide strategic direction on the application of implementation science to pharmaceutical development, evidence generation, healthcare delivery, and product adoption challenges.
Serve as the scientific and project lead for multidisciplinary teams, establishing clear roles, decision points, quality expectations, and communication pathways.
Exercise sound judgment when balancing scientific rigor, operational feasibility, client priorities, timelines, and available resources.
Provide scientific review of study plans, instruments, analyses, interpretations, reports, presentations, and other client deliverables.
Identify and manage scientific, operational, and client risks, escalating issues when appropriate and developing practical mitigation plans.
Design implementation science studies using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches appropriate to the research question and decision context.
Select and apply implementation science theories, models, and frameworks, such as CFIR, RE-AIM, EPIS, or other fit-for-purpose approaches.
Develop or oversee logic models, theories of change, implementation strategies, evaluation plans, study protocols, analysis plans, and implementation outcome measures.
Design and oversee interviews, focus groups, surveys, observations, stakeholder-engagement activities, site-based research, and other data-collection approaches.
Guide qualitative coding and analysis, quantitative and descriptive analyses, mixed-methods integration, and interpretation of findings.
Apply appropriate research designs, including observational, pragmatic, formative, process-evaluation, and hybrid effectiveness-implementation designs, as relevant to the project.
Conduct or direct literature reviews, landscape assessments, environmental scans, and other evidence-synthesis activities.
Ensure that research activities and deliverables meet applicable scientific, ethical, regulatory, privacy, documentation, and quality standards.
Apply an understanding of the pharmaceutical development process and evidence needs across clinical development, regulatory planning, market access, launch preparation, and post-launch evidence generation.
Help clients identify potential barriers and facilitators to adoption, implementation, scale-up, and sustainability early enough to inform clinical and evidence-development decisions.
Integrate implementation questions, outcomes, measures, and strategies into fit-for-purpose research and evidence-generation plans.
Connect implementation science findings to the needs of relevant stakeholders, including patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, health systems, payers, health technology assessment bodies, and other decision makers.
Collaborate with experts in health economics and outcomes research, real-world evidence, epidemiology, patient-centered outcomes research, surveys and observational studies, medical communications, and strategic consulting to develop integrated solutions.
Maintain awareness of developments in pharmaceutical evidence generation, implementation science methods, healthcare delivery, and the regulatory and market access environment.
Assume day-to-day ownership of assigned projects, including scope, work plans, staffing, timelines, budgets, quality, risks, and client expectations.
Develop project plans and translate them into clear assignments, milestones, review points, and decision timelines for multidisciplinary teams.
Monitor project financial and operational performance and take timely corrective action when delivery deviates from the agreed plan.
Coordinate internal contributors, research sites, vendors, subcontractors, and other partners to support efficient and high-quality execution.
Lead project-team and client meetings, communicate decisions and next steps, and maintain transparent documentation of progress and risks.
Ensure deliverables are scientifically accurate, responsive to client needs, completed within scope, and submitted on time.
Support the development of junior and mid-level researchers through delegation, scientific review, constructive feedback, coaching, and opportunities for increasing responsibility.
Build and maintain trusted relationships with pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and other healthcare clients.
Lead or contribute to client discussions regarding implementation challenges, research options, evidence-generation strategies, and practical solutions.
Serve in a business development capacity as needed, including opportunity qualification, proposal strategy, methodological design, scope development, staffing, timelines, budgets, and proposal writing.
Develop and deliver capability presentations, workshops, and other materials that communicate RTI-HS’s implementation science expertise and value.
Identify opportunities to expand existing client relationships, address emerging evidence needs, and integrate implementation science with other RTI-HS services.
Contribute to pipeline development, account planning, and strategic growth initiatives in collaboration with practice and business-development leaders.
Represent RTI-HS professionally in client meetings, conferences, workshops, and other external engagements.
Serve as a cross-functional collaborator across RTI Health Solutions and, as appropriate, RTI International.
Connect Implementation Science capabilities with relevant expertise across Value, Access, and HEOR; Patient-Centered and Outcomes Research; Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Medical Communications; Global Business Operations; and Strategic Consulting and Growth.
Convene and facilitate multidisciplinary teams to develop integrated approaches to complex client and research questions.
Contribute to the development and standardization of implementation science tools, templates, methods, quality processes, and best practices.
Document lessons learned and translate project experience into reusable approaches, training resources, and innovations that strengthen the program.
Mentor colleagues and promote scientific rigor, knowledge sharing, inclusion, accountability, and continuous improvement.
Lead or contribute to manuscripts, conference abstracts, posters, presentations, webinars, and other scientific or thought-leadership activities.

Benefits

competitive base salary
generous paid time off policy
merit based annual increases
bonus opportunities
robust recognition program
competitive range of insurance plans (including health, dental, life, and short-term and long-term disability)
access to a retirement savings program such as a 401(k) plan
paid parental leave for all parents
financial assistance with adoption expenses or infertility treatments
financial reimbursement for education and developmental opportunities
employee assistance program
numerous other offerings to support a healthy work-life balance