Chief Evaluation & Data Strategy Officer

Blue Shield of California Foundation is one of the largest and most trusted philanthropic organizations in California. Its grantmaking is focused on supporting the well-being of our most vulnerable communities and those facing the most adversity. The Foundation's bold mission is to build lasting and equitable solutions that make California the healthiest state in the nation and end domestic violence. On average, the Foundation awards over $30 million a year in grants to nonprofit organizations and programs across California.

Job Overview

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Evaluation and Data Strategy Officer plays a vital role in helping Blue Shield of California Foundation to achieve its mission to build lasting and equitable solutions that make California the healthiest state with the lowest rate of domestic violence. The Foundation is guided by the values of integrity, partnership, possibility, and equity and dignity in all internal and external work.

This is an opportunity for high impact, visibility, and field leadership. The Foundation is a well-established, highly regarded leader in health and prevention and is nationally known for its work in domestic violence. This new role represents the Foundation’s commitment to develop a measurement and data strategy to advance that work and have greater impact.

Located in San Francisco, the Foundation has access to an unmatched array of academic institutions and technology companies that can be resources to the measurement and data strategy work. The person selected for this position will have considerable latitude to design and construct the team for this work.

As part of the Foundation’s Executive Team, the Chief Evaluation and Data Strategy Officer evaluates how well the Foundation’s programs and investments (including grants, contracts, communications, and policy initiatives) are achieving their goals. The Chief Evaluation and Data Strategy Officer assumes primary responsibility for developing, delivering, and assessing all aspects of the Foundation’s measurement and evaluation work and is a key contributor to the Foundation’s overall learning and knowledge management work. The Chief Evaluation and Data Strategy Officer also leads the design and execution of the Foundation’s data strategy, centered around assuring that the Foundation and its grantees and stakeholders have access to the data they need to support systems change, and to measure and assess progress to improve health and reduce violence. The Chief Evaluation and Data Strategy Officer also leads work within the Foundation to align and coordinate measurement and evaluation at the program, initiative, and systems level so that priorities and progress are visible to staff and stakeholders and consistent. Funds have been earmarked to support this new role, including staffing, consulting, and grantmaking budgets.

Specifically, the Chief Evaluation and Data Strategy Officer role will be accountable for:

Evaluation and Measurement 

• Lead efforts to assess the Foundation’s impact and influence on health, domestic violence, philanthropy, public policy, and social norms
• Develop a short-term and long-term measurement framework and reporting system for the Foundation that integrates management reporting and accountability with program evaluation and learning
• Guide the development of logic models and theories of change to advance our measurement work
• Work with external evaluators, grantees, and Foundation teams to identify key questions and methods
• Define the resources (personnel, consultants, and contractors) required to implement the system
• Implement the measurement system and assess and refine it over time
• Use the measurement system to assess internal and external performance and impact on health and domestic violence, and track key Foundation and grantee performance measures
• Ensure in-depth and up to date knowledge of the external health, health care, philanthropy, public policy, and non-profit environments, to provide context for assessment of the Foundation’s impact and strategy
• Establish a comprehensive plan for sharing evaluation data with the Foundation’s Board of Trustees and Executive Team, ranging from dashboards to narrative reports
• Work with the Foundation’s Communications and Public Affairs team and Program team to establish a comprehensive plan for sharing, interpreting, and building capacity to utilize data with grantees, communities, the field, and public policymakers

Data Strategy 

• Formalize and direct the Foundation’s strategy to use data to drive and support changes in public understanding, social norms, public policy, organizational practice, and effective service programs
• Engage public officials, philanthropy leaders, communities, and experts to identify how improved data and technology can support population health
• Identify ways that the Foundation can bring data and technology to communities in order to address the root causes of ill health and inequity
• Manage Foundation, grantee, and contractor resources to define and implement the Foundation data strategy

Learning  

• Develop a platform for Foundation-wide learning within and across program portfolios to ensure that the Foundation translates learning into action
• Collaborate on the dissemination of learning with the Communications and Public Affairs team and Program team
• Lead the development of knowledge management systems that codify, store, and manage results and learning

External Relations and Strategic Communications 

• Identify content for publication externally to exert thought leadership and influence partners, policymakers, grantees, and the broader field
• Provide thought leadership in the philanthropic, health, and domestic violence fields regarding the Foundation’s strategy, learning, and impact through writing, speaking, convening, and networking

Management 

• Recruit and supervise an expert team and consultants as determined
• Participate on the Foundation’s Executive Team, which establishes priorities, establishes conditions to successfully achieve goals, strategies, and mission, and cultivates a healthy organizational culture

Qualifications

• Experience evaluating multi-year strategic plans and program initiatives to address complex social issues is required
• Experience leading the development of data strategies, learning systems, and dissemination of learning internally and externally
• Proven project management and team communication skills with demonstrated ability to effectively engage and lead individuals and teams
• Strong collaborative skills and cultural competency that enable the individual to work with and across diverse professional disciplines, communities, interests, and experiences
• Analytical acumen demonstrated in fields as diverse as statistics, data science, economics and policy analysis
• Understanding of the social determinants of health
• Demonstrated competency with data, measurement, and strategy at the global and granular levels
• Master's degree required; emphasis on strategic planning, learning and evaluation, operations, business, or public health preferred
• Minimum of 10 years of strategic planning, research and evaluations, learning, or relevant operational leadership or management consulting experience required, including at least six years of management experience
• Background in nonprofit and foundation leadership and management skills and techniques
• Experience engaging with board and committee members (or similar)
• Experience developing and implementing streamlined policies, procedures, and management systems
• Demonstrated professional and personal commitment to health improvement and equity 

Key Competencies

• Excellent planning and evaluation skills
• Ability to translate strategy into practice and assess its impacts
• Experience designing and implementing knowledge management, learning, program evaluation, and measurement systems
• Understanding of approaches and pathways to diffuse innovations
• Ability to exercise good judgment and take initiative
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Ability to manage effectively and work collaboratively, with a strong emphasis on coaching and development
• Ability to be flexible in a complex and dynamic work environment
• Strong writing, communication, and interpersonal skills
• Ability to think critically, act decisively, and crosswalk and synthesize program and operational issues
• A generous and curious nature, a sense of humor, and grace under pressure

Physical Requirements  

Office Environment - roles involving part to full time schedule in Office Environment. Based in our physical offices and work from home office/deskwork – Activity level: Sedentary, frequency most of work day.

Please click here for further physical requirement detail.

External hires must pass a background check/drug screen. Qualified applicants with arrest records and/or conviction records will be considered for employment in a manner consistent with Federal, State and local laws, including but not limited to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regards to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status or disability status and any other classification protected by Federal, State and local laws.