Senior Research Analyst - Reproductive Justice

Who We Are

Political Research Associates (PRA) is a national nonprofit devoted to supporting movements that are building a more just and inclusive democratic society. We provide research, strategy, and briefings to expose movements, institutions, and ideologies that undermine human rights. PRA publishes The Public Eye magazine quarterly.  The PRA staff union is a unit of the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, Local 32035 of C.W.A. Our office is located in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Who You Are

You are an empirically-grounded, theoretically-informed researcher and writer with a publication record or other significant body of work focused on reproductive justice or restriction thereof. You are excited by the idea of working on practice-oriented research, particularly in blocking the influence of racist, sexist/patriarchal, authoritarian, and otherwise exclusionary and oppressive movements, policies, and practices. You have a demonstrated intersectional research agenda with experience examining the ways in which attacks on reproductive justice are deeply intertwined with broader racist, misogynist, and anti-LGBTQ movements of exclusion and oppression. You are deeply committed to ideals of racial, gender, LGBTQ, and social justice with experience working with movement sectors/organizations.

Responsibilities

The primary responsibilities of a Senior Research Analyst (SRA) are in three categories: 1) research and publication, 2) partner engagement and outreach, and 3) program development and organizational support.

Research and Publication

The core of the Senior Research Analyst’s work is the production of original research and strategic analysis related to one or more factions of the U.S. Right, typically focused on a set of organizations, leaders, ideologies, and the policies and practices they pursue.  Although PRA Senior Research Analysts are expected to have research and analysis skills that are widely applicable, this position currently emphasizes work that takes threats to reproductive justice as the point of departure. While the organized opposition to reproductive justice is conventionally framed as the “anti-abortion movement,” PRA views it as part of a much broader and increasingly powerful Christian Right, which we have studied deeply and broadly over forty years. This movement also includes or intersects with other repressive movements and institutions that are drivers of racist and heteropatriarchal authoritarianism in the U.S. and globally.  The Senior Research Analyst understands how these threats not only perpetuate white supremacy and heteropatriarchy but undermine democracy and restrict the circle of citizenship and belonging.

The Senior Research Analyst will be expected to complete assigned projects in a timely manner, as well as propose and develop  new areas of work related to their portfolio, including:

• Design and conduct ongoing research and monitoring of one or more right-wing social movements as well as related policies, practices, and narratives, combining or adapting the techniques of investigative journalism, opposition research, and scholarship.
• Conceptualize and publish 1-2 deep-dive investigations that offer key analytical and strategic insights into said social movement activity per year.
• Develop and publish at least 1 high-impact, evergreen report, article series, or other long-form work/collection that functions as an intervention in a designated project every 1-2 years or project period.
• Write 1-2 articles per month documenting the practices, policies, and emerging threats to gender and reproductive justice, and suggesting potential interventions.
• In consultation with the Research Department leadership, design and develop projects that support PRA’s mission and program goals and objectives, acting as project lead responsible for organizing outputs.

Partner Engagement and Outreach

PRA research primarily seeks to inform the strategy, resilience, and understanding of justice-oriented movement partners. This involves sharing expertise with movement partners as well as representing PRA and advancing its mission through engagement with media, influencers, and communities. Examples of this work include:

• Develop materials and provide training for membership, staff, and leadership of partner organizations (e.g. organizing and advocacy groups).
• Represent PRA in movement coalition work to inform and advance strategy.
• Provide background briefings to partner organizations and media.
• Help to develop and suggest interventions, in consultation with the PRA leadership and movement partners.
• Represent PRA in public-facing media.

Program Development and Organizational Support

The third key area of responsibility--program development and organizational support--involves contributing to project development and evaluation. This is typically carried out in partnership with Research Program leadership and includes keeping the Development and Communications teams informed. Typical duties include:

• Active participation and thought leadership in Research Department meetings and intra-department discussions.
• Regularly engage with the Development team to contribute to grant proposals and reports, donor activist education and funder briefings, and related development activities as assigned.
• Collaborate and coordinate with the Communications team to respond to media inquiries, and promote their own work and that of their colleagues.
• Participate in organizational activities such as staff meetings, retreats, and board meetings as requested.
• Desire to work as part of a team; be willing to share knowledge with colleagues and provide mentorship with junior colleagues and interns.

Job Qualifications

The Senior Research Analyst position requires 5 or more years of experience as a researcher or investigative journalist writing about U.S.-based reproductive justice movements and the movements that oppose them. Familiarity with other authoritarian, exclusionary, and/or oppressive social movements is valued. The successful candidate will have the following skills and qualifications:

• Research expertise either as an investigative journalist and/or scholar using qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods research.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including a record of publication that features reproductive justice and its interconnectedness with justice for Black, indigenous, immigrant, and LGBTQ communities.

• Demonstrated understanding of reproductive justice organizing, its primary organizations, history, and place in the wider ecosystem of gender, racial, LGBTQ+ and social justice movements.

• Experience with designing and implementing projects, including strategy formation, goal setting, mapping outputs to desired outcomes, and evaluation.

• Experience working with or for justice-oriented movements, including but not limited to reproductive, gender, racial, LGBTQ, economic, indigenous, disability, climate, and immigrant justice.

• Experience with public-facing political education and media work.

• Experience working as part of a team.

• Experience working with external partners to develop strategies and foster strategic alignment.

• A personal commitment to social justice and to PRA’s mission.

Benefits

This is a full-time salaried position ($64,000 - $70,000). This position may be based either in our office in Somerville, Massachusetts or remotely. Relocation assistance is provided.

The compensation package includes generous paid time off for vacation, health, and flexible holidays, as well as 100% employer-paid medical, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance. PRA also offers a 5% employer contribution of salary towards a socially responsible retirement fund, as well as fabulous colleagues in a collaborative working environment and access to professional development.

Note regarding COVID-19 office access: PRA has implemented a variety of pandemic precautions and measures to prioritize staff safety and public health. The Somerville office closed in March 2020 and we plan to continue to limit access through June 2022.

Political Research Associates is committed to hiring someone with the right mix of experience (both traditional and nontraditional), social justice commitment, and potential to grow with us. We strongly encourage people from communities most negatively affected by right-wing ideologies & campaigns to apply, particularly: people of color; immigrants; women and feminine-identified people; lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and Two-Spirit people; genderqueer, trans, intersex, and gender non-conforming people.