Research Scientist

Job Title: Research Scientist

Department: Research and Evaluation

Reports to: Lead Research Scientist

Location: Remote

Schedule: Full-time, 9am - 5pm EST Monday - Friday

Salary Grade: $69,000K - $105,000K

Formerly the Mental Health Association of New York City (MHA-NYC), Vibrant Emotional Health’s groundbreaking solutions have delivered high quality services and support, when, where and how people need it for over 50 years. Through our state-of-the-art technology-enabled services, community wellness programs, and advocacy and education work, we are building a society in which emotional wellness can be a reality for everyone.

Position Overview

Under the supervision of the Lead Research Scientist, the Research Scientist supports applied research, evaluation, and evidence synthesis for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and other Vibrant research and evaluation activities as applicable. This role designs and conducts independent and collaborative studies, develops and refines data collection tools and methods, and conducts quantitative and qualitative analyses to assess practices, outcomes, and the quality of evidence in crisis service settings. The Research Scientist supports 988 departments in evaluation design and implementation, contributes to literature reviews, and prepares analytic summaries, reports, manuscripts, and other research products. Specific assignments align with the scientist’s area of expertise and organizational priorities to support the continuous improvement of the 988 Lifeline.

Duties/Responsibilities

• Design and conduct independent and collaborative research and evaluation studies that support 988 Lifeline priorities, in coordination with the Lead Research Scientist.

• Conduct quantitative and qualitative analyses using 988 Lifeline data, survey data, pilot data, and other relevant sources.

• Analyze crisis service data to assess practices, outcomes, and opportunities for service improvement.

• Design and support research, pilot studies, and evaluation activities using methods appropriate for crisis service settings.

• Develop, refine, and evaluate surveys, measurement instruments, and other data collection tools to support reliable and meaningful findings.

• Apply appropriate research frameworks and methods to assess the effectiveness, feasibility, and quality of practices, interventions, and measures.

• Support 988 departments in evaluation design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation of findings, with guidance from the Lead Research Scientist as appropriate.

• Maintain and update the biannual literature review, including evidence searches, study summaries, citation tracking, and synthesis of findings.

• Prepare analytic summaries, reports, manuscripts, conference abstracts, presentations, briefs, and other dissemination materials.

• Collaborate with Research and Evaluation colleagues, Lifeline departments, Data Analytics, Data Governance, and other internal partners to support coordinated research and evaluation work.

• Interpret findings considering operational context, research design, data quality, methodological limitations, and implications for practice.

• Maintain transparent documentation of methods, analytic decisions, limitations, and findings.

Required Skills/Abilities

• Strong understanding of applied research, evaluation design, quantitative and qualitative methods, and evidence synthesis.

• Familiarity with research frameworks, study design, measurement approaches, and the application of findings to practice.

• Ability to design studies, data collection tools, and analytic approaches that are feasible in crisis service or public health settings.

• Proficiency in statistical software such as RStudio or comparable tools for quantitative analysis and data visualization.

• Ability to conduct or support qualitative data collection, coding, thematic analysis, and mixed-methods interpretation.

• Ability to select and apply appropriate statistical methods or modeling techniques to complex datasets, including those with missing data.

• Ability to assess data quality, measurement reliability and validity, and methodological limitations as relevant to assigned projects.

• Ability to critically evaluate assumptions, assess alternative explanations, and draw conclusions supported by the evidence.

• Ability to analyze service and research data to identify patterns, assess outcomes, and inform improvement opportunities.

• Ability to translate findings into clear implications for program improvement and decision-making.

• Strong writing skills for preparing analytic summaries, literature reviews, reports, manuscripts, abstracts, and presentations.

• Ability to communicate complex research findings accurately to technical and nontechnical audiences.

• Strong organizational and time-management skills to independently manage multiple projects, timelines, datasets, and stakeholder requests.

• Ability to collaborate across departments and work effectively in a fully remote environment using asynchronous communication tools.

• Familiarity with research ethics, transparent documentation, and reproducible research practices.

• Sound judgment and discretion in handling sensitive research, evaluation, and program data.

• Proficiency with relevant statistical, qualitative, productivity, project management, and collaboration tools.

Decision Making

• Identifies methodological, analytic, implementation, data quality, or interpretation issues that may affect assigned research and evaluation activities.

• Recommends study designs, analytic approaches, data collection strategies, and evaluation methods for assigned projects.

• Determines when data limitations, implementation context, or operational constraints require revised methods, additional caveats, or escalation.

• Analyzes quantitative and qualitative data and recommends interpretations based on evidence, context, and methodological limitations.

• Recommends refinements to pilot designs, implementation measures, data collection tools, or evaluation plans based on emerging findings.

• Escalates complex, high-risk, unclear, or precedent-setting methodological or implementation issues to the Lead Research Scientist.

• Implements approved analytic plans, documentation practices, literature review procedures, and evaluation workflows for assigned work.

Scope of Responsibility/Accountability

• Responsible for conducting assigned research, evaluation, analysis, pilot, and evidence synthesis activities.
• Accountable for the quality, accuracy, documentation, and appropriate interpretation of assigned analyses and research products.

• Supports implementation science-informed evaluation of emerging or refined practices across Lifeline centers.

• Supports 988 departments in developing and implementing evaluation approaches that align with operational needs and research standards.

• Responsible for maintaining assigned portions of the bi-annual literature review and related evidence synthesis materials.

• Contributes to reports, manuscripts, abstracts, presentations, briefs, and other dissemination products.

• Performance is reviewed by the Lead Research Scientist and other leaders as applicable.

Managing/Directing Work

• Manages assigned research, evaluation, analysis, literature review, and pilot study tasks with guidance from the Lead Research Scientist.
• Organizes project timelines, analysis plans, documentation, literature review tasks, and dissemination deliverables.

• Coordinates with internal partners to clarify evaluation questions, data needs, operational context, and implementation considerations.

• Participates in planning, conducting, and interpreting pilot studies and applied evaluation projects.

• Communicates status updates, analytic findings, limitations, risks, and potential roadblocks to the Lead Research Scientist.

• Contributes to improvements in analytic documentation, evaluation workflows, literature review processes, and research-to-practice translation.

• Required Qualifications:

• Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral-level research qualifications in Psychology, Sociology, Public Health, Health Services Research, or a related field required. Equivalent qualifications may include ABD status (All but Dissertation) or, in exceptional cases, a Master’s degree with a substantial record of independent research achievement comparable to doctoral-level preparation.

• 3+ years of relevant experience designing, conducting, analyzing, interpreting, or disseminating research or evaluation studies, with a preference for candidates with 10+ years of experience.

Similarly, minimum of three to five years of relevant experience with:

• Conducting quantitative and/or qualitative analyses and documenting

methods, findings, and limitations.

• Preparing literature reviews, evidence summaries, analytic summaries,

reports, manuscripts, abstracts, or presentations.

• Working with sensitive behavioral health, crisis services, suicide prevention,

overdose prevention, public health, or human services data preferred where

applicable to the role.

• Repeated experience designing or supporting implementation studies, pilot

studies, applied evaluation studies, public health research, behavioral health

research, or crisis services research.

• At least five years of experience applying implementation science

frameworks, translating research into practice, or evaluating emerging

practices in complex, real-world settings is preferred.

Physical Requirements:

• Must be able to remain in a stationary position 50% of the time.

• Will constantly operate a computer and other office productivity machinery, such as a calculator, copy machine, and computer printer.

• Will frequently communicate over video calls with internal and external stakeholders to provide status updates, identify potential roadblocks, and support timely resolution.

We determine base pay through a comprehensive review of skills, experience, education, certifications, geographic location, and other relevant factors. The range listed reflects the compensation parameters for the role and does not represent the full compensation package. A complete overview of compensation and benefits will be provided by the Talent Acquisition team during the hiring process.

Full time employees will be eligible for excellent comprehensive benefits, including medical, dental, vision, supplemental income insurance, employer paid disability insurance, employer paid life insurance, pre-tax FSA for medical and dependent care, and 401K available.

Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply for jobs unless they believe they are able to perform every task in the job description. We are most interested in finding the best candidate for the job, and that candidate may be one who comes from a less traditional background. Vibrant will consider any equivalent combination of knowledge, skills, education and experience to meet minimum qualifications. If you are interested in applying, we encourage you to think broadly about your background and skill set for the role.

Vibrant Emotional Health is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants are considered for positions without regard to veteran status, uniformed service member status, race, creed, color, religion, gender, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, citizenship status, national origin, marital status, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information, caregiver status or any other category protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.

Please be aware that fictitious job openings, consulting engagements, solicitations, or employment offers may be circulated on the Internet in an attempt to obtain privileged information, or to induce you to pay a fee for services related to recruitment or training. Vibrant does NOT charge any application, processing, or training fee at any stage of the recruitment or hiring process. All genuine job openings will be posted on our careers page and all communications from the Vibrant recruiting team and/or hiring managers will be from an @vibrant.org email address.