Evaluation and Learning Officer

About the Foundation

Mat-Su Health Foundation (MSHF) is the official business name of Valley Hospital Association, Inc., which shares ownership in Mat-Su Regional Medical Center. In this capacity, the foundation actively participates in the governance of Mat-Su’s community hospital and protects the community’s interest in this important health care asset through board oversight. The MSHF also invests its assets into charitable works that improve the health and wellness of Alaskans living in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough (Mat-Su).

Position Summary

As part of the Evaluation and Learning team, the Evaluation & Learning Officer works across programs and focus areas to implement collaborative learning and evaluation strategies that strengthen the Foundation’s strategic direction and impact. This position is responsible for overseeing and managing evaluation projects and deliverables, responding to internal and external data requests, and serving as a thought partner to tell the story of the community’s health and the Foundation’s work. The Evaluation & Learning Officer contributes to building a culture of learning within the Foundation, offers evaluation expertise to the program and philanthropic teams to identify and implement strategic goals, and works with communications staff to support advocacy efforts and storytelling with data.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Leadership

• Work closely with program staff to develop grantee reporting guidelines, develop evaluation objectives and questions, inform evaluation design, and disseminate and organize evaluation findings and reports.
• Manage third-party assessments and evaluations, including selection of external partners and co-designing evaluation questions and methods.
• Promote the use of learning and evaluation findings internally, with the Foundation’s Board of Directors, with grantee partners, and with stakeholders.
• Generate reports and data visualizations to highlight progress toward strategic goals and evaluate organizational impact.
• Understand and communicate community health data for internal and external stakeholders.

Program Administration/Management

• Develop processes for collecting data, creating reports, data visualizations, and engaging in sensemaking with program staff and stakeholders.
• Manage contracts with third-party evaluators and ensure evaluation products and processes are timely, useful, and of high-quality.
• Work with philanthropy and program teams to assess progress and impact for organization and programmatic strategies, and support setting appropriate expectations for data collection, grant reporting, and evaluations.
• Collaborate with philanthropy team and grants management to ensure grant and scholarship data is accurate and meets reporting needs.
• Manage Mat-Su Measures and build out of additional data resources in mySidewalk sources.
• Manage data requests and curate community health data to inform advocacy and decision-making.
• Support the completion of a triennial Community Health Needs Assessment and implementation plan.

External Relationships

• Build and maintain relationships with evaluation partners, grantees, other funders, philanthropic support organizations and community stakeholders.
• Represent MSHF in various workgroups, coalitions, and steering committees.
• Participate in opportunities to share the MSHF’s learnings and findings with key audiences.
• Actively participate in a network of peers locally and nationally to develop and discover new ideas and strategies to enhance evaluation and learning activities.

Health Equity Promotion

• Promote an understanding of health disparities through data.
• Support the alignment of evaluation and learning activities with the organizational commitment to promote health equity and inclusion.
• Seek to understand and apply principles of data equity.
• Advance personal and professional growth in cultural competency.

Other duties: Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree required. Advanced degree in public health, social sciences, public policy or administration, or related field utilizing applied research methods or evaluation and learning practices preferred.
• Comparable years of relevant experience can be substituted for educational requirements if related to the roles and responsibilities of this position.
• 5+ years of professional experience in evaluation and/or applied research, preferably in philanthropy and/or public health.
• Ability to build and maintain positive relationships with diverse stakeholders.
• Literacy in Microsoft office suite, highly proficient in Excel and creating compelling data visualizations.
• Experience with Tableau, Power BI or related dashboard tools is a plus.

Competencies

• Strong project management skills with the ability to think strategically, leverage data for decision making, and facilitate cross-sector workgroups.
• Experience with qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods and the use of participatory approaches and community engagement in evaluation.
• Experience in communicating to key stakeholders, including strong facilitation and writing skills that incorporate the use of data visualizations and the ability to make sound presentations on complex topics.
• Knowledge of the concepts of health equity, the structural and social determinants of health, and data equity with a willingness to expand in these areas of knowledge and work.
• Experience leading evaluations and working with third-party evaluators.
• Demonstrate an understanding of advanced theories, models, and frameworks and the ability to think analytically in applying strategic processes to achieve systems-level change at the population level.
• Sensitivity to confidentiality and diplomacy in communicating with a broad and diverse audiences.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and willingness to work collaboratively across programs.
• Demonstrated self-starter with passion for continuous learning and improvement.

Work location: Wasilla, Alaska

Work environment: Employee will be working in a typical office environment with offices, moderate temperature, and equipment noise.

Physical demands:

• The physical demands of this office-based position primarily include prolonged periods of sitting at a desk or workstation.
• The role requires sufficient manual dexterity to perform frequent tasks such as typing, using a mouse, writing, and handling documents.
• Visual acuity is essential for reading printed materials, emails, spreadsheets, and computer screens.
• Effective verbal communication and adequate hearing are necessary for regular interactions via phone, video conferencing, and in-person meetings.
• The position may occasionally require minimal lifting or carrying of items weighing up to 20 pounds, such as laptops, binders, or office supplies, as well as occasional standing or walking within the office environment for meetings or collaborative tasks.
• Additional physical requirements may include occasional travel—which can involve extended periods of sitting, walking through airports, and lifting luggage—or stair climbing in offices where elevators may not be accessible.
• Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this position, in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Travel: Approximately 25% of this position may involve travel. The employee may be expected to use a personal vehicle to travel to various locations in the community, within the state, and outside Alaska for meetings, relationship-building, and education.

EEO statement: Mat-Su Health Foundation is an equal opportunity employer.