American Institutes for Research is looking for a Researcher to join our Healthcare Innovations team. In this role, you will focus on Medicaid policy and programs, collaborating to address complex challenges related to coverage, care delivery, cost containment, and health equity. You will contribute directly to studies that inform Medicaid policy design, program evaluation, and system transformation for federal and state partners.
What You'll Do
- Lead or contribute to the design and execution of Medicaid-focused research and evaluation projects, including policy analyses, demonstrations, and program evaluations.
- Apply quantitative methods to collect, manage, analyze, and interpret Medicaid administrative data, such as claims, encounters, enrollment, eligibility, and provider data.
- Conduct analyses that examine Medicaid utilization, access, quality, cost, and equity outcomes across populations and delivery systems.
- Translate complex analytic findings into clear, actionable insights for state and federal Medicaid stakeholders through reports, technical memoranda, and presentations.
- Support proposal development for Medicaid-related 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.
- Collaborate closely with programmers, data scientists, policy staff, and project leadership to ensure analytic rigor and alignment with policy objectives.
- Mentor and guide junior staff through feedback, training, and modeling best practices in quantitative and Medicaid policy research.
- Engage with Medicaid stakeholders through meetings, briefings, and dissemination activities.
- Contribute to a collaborative and inclusive work environment.
What We're Looking For
- 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.
- Demonstrated experience conducting applied quantitative research related to Medicaid, public insurance, or safety-net health programs.
- Experience working with large-scale administrative health data, particularly Medicaid claims, encounters, enrollment, eligibility, or provider files.
- Experience interpreting analytic results and contributing to reports, briefs, or presentations that inform Medicaid 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.
- 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.
- Strong understanding of Medicaid data structures, program rules, and policy context, or demonstrated ability to learn them quickly.
- Excellent communication skills, with the ability to convey complex Medicaid-related 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.
Nice to Have
- Familiarity with CMS data sources, Medicaid and Medicare programs, waiver demonstrations (e.g., 1115 waivers), or value-based payment models.
Technical Stack
- SAS
- SQL
- Stata
- R
- Python
Team & Environment
You will join a multidisciplinary team including economists, data scientists, public health experts, clinicians, and policy researchers. We maintain a collaborative and inclusive work environment.
Work Mode
This position is open to candidates within the United States.
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 age, race, color, or other protected characteristics.
