Contract Director Healthcare Strategy Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Join AIR as a Managing Director with our Healthcare Innovations team. Our team works collaboratively to unravel the intertwined challenges of health care quality, costs, and access. Our team of experts-economists, data scientists, statisticians, public health experts, sociologists, nurses, physicians, and psychologists - advance evidence and save lives by leading rigorous research and evaluation; program implementation and monitoring; results-driven technical assistance and training; and leading-edge data science and technology tools.
The Managing Director will provide leadership on business development activities including leading capture teams, serving as technical and/or business lead for proposals, coordinating and managing capture and proposal teams, and participating in partnering discussions. Opportunities can be expected to include complex implementation, monitoring, technical assistance (TA), and/or evaluation initiatives for federal health agencies. In additional, the Managing Director will serve in project leadership roles for large, complex projects within the Healthcare Innovations portfolio.
This role is ideally suited for candidates who have successfully led large and complex business development efforts and projects for major CMS health projects. Candidates with expertise with Medicaid policy and data, value-based specialty care, or pharmaceuticals are especially encouraged to apply.
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.
About AIR:
Founded in 1946 and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that conducts behavioral and social science research and delivers technical assistance to address some of the most pressing challenges in the United States and globally. We generate evidence and apply data-driven solutions that expand opportunities and improve lives for all.
Responsibilities:
Strategic Direction & Federal Business Growth

• Working with AIR's program leadership to create and implement business development strategies for established areas and specific new areas of growth, including:
• Coordinating pursuit plans and pipelines for federal opportunities, particularly for the CMS Innovation Center.
• Supporting bid/no-bid decisions and ensuring alignment with AIR capabilities and priorities.
• Leading proposal pursuits: conceptualizing bid strategies, developing research, implementation, and monitoring approaches, drafting proposal content, and conducting technical reviews.
• Cultivating and maintaining relationships with potential partners, funders, and federal clients.
• Monitoring ongoing projects to understand client expectations, anticipate needs, and identify opportunities and challenges across the portfolio.
• Assessing staff capacity and helping align resources to support both project delivery and new business pursuits.

Project Leadership & Oversight

• Lead large, complex federal health implementation, monitoring, or evaluation projects, ensuring high-quality execution, timeliness, fiscal stewardship, and operational stability.
• Oversee multidisciplinary workflows (e.g., for IMC projects, implementation planning, analysis, stakeholder engagement, data collection, monitoring, reporting; and for evaluation projects, participation, implementation, impact, and synthesis analyses and reporting)
• Engage directly with federal clients - particularly Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) - to maintain productive communication, clarify requirements, and address emerging needs or risks.

Team Leadership, Staff Development & Collaboration

• Supervise and mentor task leads, analysts, economists, programmers, researchers, TA specialists, and operational staff to build strong, high-performing project teams.
• Foster cross-functional collaboration across teams to ensure integrated, high-quality project delivery.
• Contribute to a collaborative environment that values and respects a wide range of perspectives, abilities, backgrounds, and experiences.

Thought Leadership & External Engagement

• Represent AIR in federal stakeholder meetings, technical discussions, and conferences.
• Collaborate with AIR's communications teams to translate implementation and monitoring insights into publications, briefs, and presentations.
• Contribute to AIR's visibility and reputation in federal health work.

Qualifications:
Education, Knowledge, and Experience

• Ph.D. or masters degree in health economics, public health, public policy, or a related social science discipline.
• 10 or more years of leadership or management experience in health policy or federal health program work.
• Proven track record of leading business development efforts that result in contract awards.
• Successful experience serving as a Project Director on large, complex contracts involving implementation, monitoring, TA, evaluation, or model testing.
• Experience working with or for CMS (preferred) or similar federal health agencies.

Skills

• Working knowledge of CMS program structures, policy priorities, and expectations related to implementing or testing new models.
• Expertise in Medicaid policy, value-based specialty care, or pharmaceuticals preferred.
• Strong communication skills for federal audiences and the ability to manage complex, multi-stakeholder relationships.
• Experience overseeing large budgets, managing risks, developing staffing plans, and implementing operational systems consistent with federal contracting standards.
• Proven ability to lead large-scale evaluation or implementation projects, write reports, and present findings.
• Demonstrated ability to lead mission-driven teams, including staff, subcontractors, and consultants.
• Strategic thinker with the ability to structure complex initiatives and maintain a long-term view of project, portfolio, and client needs.
• Collaborative leadership style and commitment to mentorship and staff development.
• Strong organizational and project management skills, with experience leading multidisciplinary teams.

Disclosures: Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the U.S. on a full-time basis. Employment-based visa sponsorship (including H-1B sponsorship) is not available for this position. Depending on project work, qualified candidates may need to meet certain residency requirements.
American Institutes for Research is an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination on the basis of any characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local law, including, but not limited to, actual or perceived race (including traits historically associated with race, such as hair texture, hair type, and protective hairstyles such as braid, locks, and twists), creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition (e.g., cancer), sex, gender, gender identity or expression (including transgender status), sexual orientation, marital status, civil union status, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, genetic information, or military or veteran status. AIR adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo reference and background checks. AIR maintains a drug-free work environment.
ACCESSIBILITY NOTICE: If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process due to a physical or mental disability, please send an email to Taliba Boone at tboone@air.org or call 202.403.5000.
Fraudulent Job Scams Warning & Disclaimer: AIR is aware of individuals falsely presenting themselves as AIR representatives. Fraudulent job scams seek to extract sensitive information or money from victims. To protect yourself, please be aware that AIR recruitment will only email you from an "@air.org" domain. Please take extra caution while examining the email address, for example jdoe@air.org is correct and jdoe@aircareers.org is not a legitimate AIR email address. If you are unsure of the legitimacy of a communication you have received, please reach out to recruitment@air.org. If you see a job scam, or lose money to one, report it to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. You can also report it to your state attorney general. Find out more about how to avoid scams atftc.gov/scams.
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AIR's Total Rewards Program, is designed to reward our staff competitively and motivate them to achieve our critical mission. This position offers the anticipated annual salary as listed. Salary offers are made based on internal equity within the institution and external equity with competitive markets. Please note this is the annual salary range for candidates that are based in the United States.
Anticipated Annual Salary Range
$180,000-$230,000 USD