**Bidders – Please note that you will be required to provide an updated resume to the hiring supervisor/manager for this position.**

This position provides expert-level qualitative research, methodological design, and policy translation across the Office of the Medicaid Medical Director (OMMD), which works across four domains: Clinical Integration and Innovation, Advancing Health Equity, Community Engagement, and Research and Analytics. This work spans OMMD’s portfolio, from integrated care models and health equity analyses to shared governance structures such as the MAC/BAC and the implementation of federal changes to Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare, including H.R. 1. Ultimately, the goal of this position is to bring increased rigor to how OMMD listens to communities and providers, turning input from listening sessions, focus groups, co-design processes, and surveys into findings that can withstand scrutiny and drive actionable policy change. This position leads qualitative work across the team from start to finish, including study design, codebook development and refinement, coding, theme construction and analysis, integration with claims and administrative data, and writing for legislative reports, federal deliverables, and peer-reviewed publications. This position also builds the qualitative capacity across OMMD and DHS by setting methodological standards, directing and reviewing the analytic work of others, and developing qualitative data infrastructure.

Three (3) years of research experience leading qualitative or mixed-methods research. ***A master’s degree in public health, public policy, social work, sociology, evaluation, or a related field may substitute for one (1) year of experience; a doctoral degree may substitute for two (2) years. Experience must demonstrate: • Leading the full qualitative analysis process, including designing qualitative data collection and informed consent tools, completing IRB review protocols, collecting qualitative data through focus groups, interviews, open-ended survey items, observations, and document analysis, developing and refining a codebook, coding data using deductive, inductive, or hybrid approaches, constructing themes, and interpreting findings in relation to the research questions. • Ensuring the trustworthiness of qualitative findings through methodologically appropriate practices such as reflexivity, consensus coding, peer debriefing, triangulation, member reflection, and audit trails. • Writing qualitative methods and findings sections that clearly document the analytic approach, reflexivity, and trustworthiness practices and present themes supported by participant data, in products such as peer-reviewed manuscripts or formal research or evaluation reports. • Using qualitative data analysis software (e.g., NVivo, ATLAS.ti, Dedoose, MAXQDA) to manage, code, and analyze data, including memoing, queries, and maintaining an audit trail. • Applying research ethics and data privacy requirements to qualitative data, including informed consent, confidentiality in group settings, and de-identification of transcripts and quotes, consistent with requirements such as IRB processes, HIPAA, or the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act.