Medicaid and Medicare Policy Researcher
About The Position
Join AIR as a Researcher focused on Marketplace, Medicaid and Medicare policy and programs with our Healthcare Transformation team to serve as a task and project leader on a broad portfolio of health policy work. Our team works collaboratively to address complex challenges related to coverage, care delivery, operations, cost containment, and health equity, supporting federal and state partners in improving outcomes for low income and medically vulnerable populations. Our multidisciplinary team—including economists, data scientists, public health experts, clinicians, and policy researchers—advances evidence through rigorous research and evaluation, results driven technical assistance, and applied analytics. This role will contribute directly to projects and studies that inform Marketplace, Medicaid and Medicare policy design, program evaluation, and system transformation. The ideal candidate will bring knowledge and experience working with state and federal agencies, particularly the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), among others, in addition to qualitative and quantitative research skills. This position has the flexibility to work remotely within the United States (U.S.) or from one of AIR’s U.S. office locations. This does not include U.S. territories.
Requirements
- 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.
Nice To Haves
- 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.
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.
Benefits
- AIR’s Total Rewards Program, is designed to reward our staff competitively and motivate them to achieve our critical mission.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
