Policy Associate

The Scholars Strategy Network (SSN) seeks a Policy Associate. As a matchmaker and coach, the Associate will help scholars convey their research to policymakers and the public in ways that can improve policy and strengthen democracy. This is designed as an early-career position for an individual with an interest in health policy who is motivated to build relationships between university-based researchers and public officials and civic organizations involved in policymaking.

The Policy Associate is a full-time position with a starting salary between $56,000-$65,000, based on qualifications and experience. SSN’s competitive benefits include generous time off, health insurance, professional development opportunities and resources, and a 403B retirement plan with an employer match. This position falls within the SSN employee union and is covered under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement.

SSN currently operates in a remote-first, hybrid work environment, but this role may be available as a fully remote position for an exceptionally qualified candidate. For employees located in Massachusetts, SSN provides the option to work at SSN’s main offices, located at 501 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02116. Employees located out of state will be expected to participate in person for semi-annual staff gatherings. The person in this position will be part of SSN’s Policy team and reports directly to SSN’s Director of Policy.

Responsibilities

As a large organization with a relatively small staff, SSN has a productive Policy team that supports and creates opportunities for a large and growing network of over 2,000 members who work in more than 330 colleges and universities across the US. SSN also supports a network of 40 chapters led by volunteer members in 33 states. Much of the Associate’s work will focus on health policy broadly conceived, but the Associate’s topics may include others too, depending upon both their own interests and SSN’s organizational capacity. Among other tasks, the Policy Associate will:

Engage and support health policy scholars

• Support health policy scholars in SSN’s network: The Associate will support the policy and community engagement work of health policy scholars in the SSN network, including alumni of SSN's Health Equity Scholars Program. The program ended after a successful five-year run, and this role will continue to identify opportunities for them to contribute their expertise to policy
• Recruit new scholars & support chapters: The Associate will develop a robust and inclusive roster of SSN-supported health policy scholars by encouraging scholars to join the SSN network and then supporting their chapter and/or individual projects
  
  

Connect scholars to policymakers and civic organizations

• Broker relationships: The Associate connects scholars and their research to policymakers and civic organizations at the federal, state, and local levels. The Associate will do this by advising scholars on how to reach out, cultivating their own relationships with policy actors, and by soliciting and responding to requests from policy actors
• Seize opportunities: The Associate identifies opportunities for research to inform policy, activates scholars around those opportunities, and advises scholars on how to engage audiences outside academia. To do this, the Associate tracks policy debates, legislation, regulation changes, and impact litigation; and builds their own relationships with policymakers and civic organizations to source requests for scholar expertise
• Coach and support: The Associate coaches and supports scholars on how to engage in the policy process. They provide advice on relationship building, editing and feedback on written documents like research briefs and testimony, and training on the policy process. The Associate also supports researchers as they conduct meetings with policymakers and civic organizations
• Edit and translate: The Associate will help scholars translate their academic writing into accessible language that is intelligible to broad public audiences and effectively communicative to policy actors. This translation process includes editing policy writing for content and style and advising on framing and messaging
• Facilitate SSN trainings: Along with other SSN staff, the Associate will, on occasion, facilitate various in-person and online policy engagement and communications trainings for scholars
  
  

Qualifications

The successful candidate will be a self-starter with a deep interest in making research matter and improving health policy, broadly conceived. The ideal candidate for this position would be:

• An individual with 1-3 years of experience in health policy, advocacy, or organizing, or at least 1 year of experience and a relevant advanced degree (such as MPP, MPH, PhD)
• Someone with a solid understanding of policymaking processes (e.g., legislative processes, administrative/agency processes, implementation and evaluation, etc)
• Comfortable -- and ideally have experience -- working with policymakers on both sides of the political aisle
• Experienced in or willing to learn how to do basic research, especially legislative and policy research
• An excellent writer and proofreader, capable of translating complex concepts into easy-to-understand language
• A good facilitator and excited to teach others new skills and information
• Comfortable with occasional travel
• Proficient in Microsoft Office, Salesforce, Asana, Google Docs, Dropbox, virtual meeting channels like Zoom, and content databases
• Committed to SSN’s mission and fully understand how to make use of SSN’s structure as a voluntary, federated network of member researchers
  
  

SSN is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, class, color, disability, ethnicity, faith, gender, national origin, race, sexual orientation, or gender identity. People of color, people with disabilities, LGBTQ individuals, and women are strongly encouraged to apply. Candidates considering a career transition or whose skills and experience fulfill some, but not all of the qualifications above are encouraged to apply.

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