Overview

National Council on Aging Join Our Mission. Shape the Future. At NCOA, we are on a mission to create the conditions for all to age well in America-today and into the future. Every day, we work to improve the lives of millions of older adults through innovative programs, trusted advocacy, and meaningful partnerships that advance health, economic security, and equity. We are seeking a dynamic and strategic Lead, Program Evaluation - AmeriCorps to bring their expertise, vision, and passion to help drive our mission forward. This leader will play a pivotal role in leading a federally funded program evaluation that generates actionable evidence, informs program improvement, and strengthens workforce readiness initiatives that improve outcomes for older adults nationwide. The ideal candidate is an accomplished evaluation leader who thrives on designing rigorous research, translating data into actionable insights, and collaborating with partners to drive evidence-based decision-making and continuous improvement. They will embrace and exemplify NCOA's core values of Caring for All, Collaboration, Innovation, Integrity, and Respect, fostering a culture of excellence while helping ensure that every older adult has the opportunity to age with dignity, purpose, and security. If you are ready to make a lasting difference while leading with purpose, we invite you to join our team. POSITION SUMMARY The Lead, Program Evaluation - AmeriCorps will oversee and execute a federally funded mixed-methods program evaluation focused on a workforce readiness model for older adults. This role provides end-to-end leadership for a phased evaluation-to-expansion initiative, including longitudinal outcome tracking, implementation fidelity monitoring, labor market assessment integration, and cross-site learning. The Lead, Program Evaluation is responsible for ensuring that evaluation activities generate decision-ready evidence to inform program refinement, scalability, and funder reporting. This role requires strong applied evaluation expertise, implementation science orientation, and experience managing complex, multi-site program evaluation efforts. Positions at this level typically report to a director or senior director and require deep subject matter expertise, advanced knowledge and experience, as well as the ability to independently lead complex or high-impact work. Incumbents are required to exercise independent judgement within their scope of work and require minimal oversight. These roles often serve as recognized subject matter experts and may represent an area of specialization across the organization. Incumbents generally have five or more years of experience in their discipline and a graduate degree or the equivalent. This grant-funded position is a short-term, temporary position that is funded for 24 months through June 30, 2028, and designed to be filled by a W-2 employee. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES Evaluation Strategy & Leadership Lead design, implementation, and interpretation of a mixed-methods program evaluation.Establish evaluation questions, measurement systems, and analytic approaches.Align evaluation strategy with program operations and funder priorities.Manage and motivate Research & Evaluation Associate to achieve program goals. Provide training and support to optimize their skills and performance. Data & Methodological Oversight Oversee and conduct quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis activities.Ensure methodological rigor, data quality, and analytic integrity.Maintain appropriate documentation, compliance, and reproducibility standards. Implementation Monitoring & Learning Develop and oversee implementation fidelity and performance monitoring systems.Interpret outcomes in light of site-level variation and program delivery.Identify core versus adaptable program components to inform scaling decisions. Evaluation Compliance and Data Governance Lead preparation and submission of IRB materials as required.Ensure complian