Research Assistant

About Our Client

Our client envisions a future where young people have equitable opportunities to live joyful and purposeful lives. As a researcher, investor, and convener, the organization is dedicated to fostering greater mental health and well-being outcomes for Brown, Black, and Queer young people.

About The Role

This is an entry-level Research Assistant role that supports the organization's efforts in youth-centered research and translational science, focusing on understanding and improving the well-being of Black, Brown, and Queer young people. The ideal Research Assistant excels at research organization and is a compelling communicator of the work. Typical responsibilities include creating literature and landscape reviews, publicly sharing research through written and verbal data presentations, facilitating recruitment of research participants, organizing and conducting focus groups and interviews, conducting descriptive qualitative and quantitative analyses, coordinating with external collaborators, supporting the development of IRB protocols, and supporting event planning for convenings with partners. At its core, a successful Research Assistant does the following:

• Keeps the team organized – creates and administers effective systems and procedures that support diverse research activities
• Represents the work publicly – effectively and compellingly shares results and their impact to public audiences
• Builds and maintains relationships – is a trusted point of contact for research participants and external collaborators
• Enthusiastically takes on new challenges – learns quickly and adapts to rapidly evolving work demands

Position Responsibilities

• Create and maintain overall research and project tracking documents, including timelines, meeting notes, deliverables, databases of key relationships, and other project resources
• Recruit, schedule, track, and engage research participants
• Coordinate the development and implementation of research activities, including project kick-offs, focus groups, individual interviews, and surveys.
• Participate in data synthesis processes that distill insights that are relevant and useful to the project goals and objectives
• Conduct, write up, and present landscape reviews, and academic literature reviews on key programs, technologies, organizations, individuals, and academic and popular literature relevant to the organization's initiatives
• Present findings and perspectives related to the research through written and verbal professional communication outlets.
• Coordinate and assist with the development and scheduling of regular communications and presentations on research activities and findings for both internal project teams and external collaborators.
• Organize the assembly and storage of Institutional Review Board (IRB) documents and communicate with IRB officers on protocol submission requirements and documentation
• Support meetings, including set-up, note-taking, record-keeping, and follow-up items
• Support event planning for partnership convenings
• Manage internal evaluation activities related to research and research partnerships

Required Education, Experience, and Skills

• A combination of education, relevant work experience, and/or training resulting in demonstrated ability to successfully complete the job tasks
• A Bachelor’s degree with academic studies in a relevant field (psychology, education, anthropology, sociology, public health, or health services research) is a plus
• Interest in learning about and applying health equity practices across research projects and protocols
• Experience with academic literature searches in the social and behavioral sciences, and with reference management tools, is a plus
• A confident user of common research project applications such as survey tools, collaboration tools, and project management tools
• Strong project administration skills, including creation and upkeep of study protocols and instruments, and detailed tracking of project tasks, deliverables, and goals
• Strong research coordination skills, including coordinating planning processes and information sharing across multiple stakeholder teams
• Experience and enthusiasm for working in an interdisciplinary environment and learning about approaches from other fields
• Experience and comfort in communicating with diverse audiences, verbally and in writing
• Experience building relationships and partnerships and communicating sensitively with a wide range of stakeholder groups, including young people
• Experience coordinating essential communication with external collaborators

Term

This is a two-year, full-time, term-limited employment opportunity. Applicants must be able to begin in June 2026.

Compensation and Benefits

The organization’s compensation is tied to local job market data. Sample hourly rates for this role, commensurate with training and experience, are provided below:

• SF Bay Area/NYC: Starting hourly rate ($35.65 – $40.11). Full range ($35.65 – $44.56).
• Los Angeles: Starting hourly rate ($33.87– $38.10). Full range ($33.87– $42.34).
• DC/Seattle: Starting hourly rate ($32.09 – $36.10). Full range ($32.09 – $40.11).
• Denver/Chicago/Sacramento: Starting hourly rate ($30.30 – $34.09). Full range ($30.30 – $37.88).
• Miami/Portland Oregon: Starting hourly rate ($28.52 – $32.09). Full range ($28.52 – $35.65).

The organization provides a generous benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision; internet stipends; wellness programs, including 8 therapy and 8 coaching sessions a year for you and dependents; paid time off; 401K contributions exceeding industry standards; all this, plus the opportunity to work with amazing colleagues to create a more equitable world for young people.

In-Person and Travel Expectations

San Francisco Bay Area is the preferred location for this role. This role requires some in-person time to best support collaboration with the internal team. The office and travel expectations are approximately as follows:

• Domestic travel 4-6 times per year for partnerships, conferences, and meetings with stakeholders.
• Quarterly week-long retreats in SF Bay Area (in addition to travel listed above).
• If located in the Bay Area, 1/week working from the office in downtown San Francisco.
• All business travel is paid for by the organization.

Key skills/competency

• Research Organization
• Qualitative Analysis
• Quantitative Analysis
• Literature Review
• IRB Protocols
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Project Coordination
• Data Presentation
• Health Equity
• Youth Development