Senior Research Economist - U.S. Health Policy

RTI International•Durham, NC

4d•$166,000 - $203,000

About The Position

RTI International’s Health Care Systems Research Department is hiring a Senior Research Economist to serve as a task and project leader for new and ongoing research studies and operational support activities. The role leads and directs analyses relating to health economics and domestic U.S. health policy, applying research design and statistical methods to address complex health care policy issues for U.S. government and non-government clients. The Senior Research Economist develops and implements technical solutions, directs research teams, manages project quality, budgets, timelines, and client communications, and translates analytical findings into actionable insights. The position also contributes to proposals and business development, mentors colleagues, and builds recognized expertise in relevant policy, technical, and methodological areas.

Requirements

PhD with at least 8 years of relevant experience, a master’s degree with at least 12 years of relevant experience, or a bachelor’s degree with at least 15 years of relevant experience.
Experience writing successful proposals for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Expertise designing studies using medical and/or pharmaceutical claims, analyzing data to answer complex analytic questions, and presenting results to stakeholders.
Ability to interpret regulations and legislation to model the impacts of changes on stakeholders.
Deep understanding of Medicare and contextual knowledge of other health care policies.
Recognized expertise in one or more domestic U.S. health care policy areas.
Experience working with data sources such as Medicare medical and/or pharmacy claims, encounter data, commercial claims, and health survey data.
Experience designing analyses of very large datasets, including technical programming specifications and languages, and familiarity with or ability to acquire expertise in federal agency data processing systems, environments, and requirements.
Strong track record leading projects focused on program design and support, outcome evaluations, or quantitative analysis.
Experience managing complex projects for federal agencies such as CMS, ASPE, HRSA, CDC, and AHRQ, or state counterparts.
Experience managing project and task research teams focused on policy, methods, data science, statistics, and/or economics.
Must be legally authorized to work in the United States and must not require now or in the future sponsorship for employment visa status.

Responsibilities

Define, investigate, formulate, and execute approaches and solutions to complex problems in client projects and programs.
Plan and direct preparation of proposals with significant technical complexity, contract value, or strategic importance.
Perform complex research tasks and develop and implement innovative technical solutions to research problems and questions.
Direct teams conducting complex research tasks and modeling.
Translate analytical findings into clear, actionable insights for technical, policy, and client audiences.
Author technical reports, memoranda, articles, documentation, and regulations.
Manage quality control processes across projects to ensure accurate, high-quality work products.
Manage and mentor junior, mid-level, and senior staff to achieve project goals.
Develop and manage project budgets, timelines, and plans.
Communicate and negotiate work plans, timelines, budgets, and results with clients.
Design and execute analyses and processing of large, complex administrative datasets using advanced software, programming languages, data analytics, and machine learning techniques while maintaining data security and confidentiality.
Build personal and RTI’s reputation in relevant policy, technical, and methodological areas through activities such as publishing peer-reviewed articles and presenting to clients and at professional meetings.
Develop business opportunities through client relationships, business intelligence, and recognized technical and policy expertise.
Identify, evaluate, pursue, and lead responses to business opportunities, including federal and state requests for proposals.