Senior Researcher, Medicaid Policy and Financing

Join AIR as a Senior Researcher with our Healthcare Transformation Program. This role combines deep Medicaid policy and financing expertise with rigorous research, applied analytics, project leadership, and client engagement to support federal and state decision-making. Our team works collaboratively to address complex challenges related to coverage, care delivery, operations, cost containment, and quality, supporting federal and state partners in improving healthcare outcomes.

Our multidisciplinary team—including economists, data scientists, public health experts, clinicians, and policy researchers—advances evidence through rigorous research and evaluation, results driven technical assistance, and applied analytics.

The Senior Researcher will bring deep expertise in Medicaid financing and policy topics to a range of work across our portfolio of Medicaid-related projects, supporting clients such as CMS, MACPAC, and foundations. The role will include designing rigorous studies, managing teams and budgets, overseeing data collection and analysis, developing proposals, and communicating actionable findings while serving as a trusted partner to clients and stakeholders.

Candidates hired for the position may work remotely within the United States (U.S.) or from one of our U.S. office locations. This does not include U.S. territories.

About AIR:

Founded in 1946 and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that conducts behavioral and social science research and delivers technical assistance to address some of the most pressing challenges in the United States and globally. We generate evidence and apply data-driven solutions that expand opportunities and improve lives for all.

Responsibilities:

• Manage day-to-day Medicaid-related project operations in roles such as principal investigator, project director, or task lead, ensuring deliverables are completed on time, within budget, and to a high standard.
• Lead collaborative project teams by developing timelines and coordinating staff assignments.
• Identify research problems and design rigorous applied studies, including aligned research questions, methodologies, and analytic plans.
• Apply subject-matter expertise to design and implement relevant, responsive, and impactful research, operations, and technical assistance projects.
• Lead and oversee analyses of Medicaid claims (T-MSIS Analytic File), hospital cost reports, and other complex administrative data.
• Devise and implement innovative solutions to practical challenges in applied research.
• Lead Medicaid data collection and analysis efforts, including identifying trends, outliers, and Medicaid data reporting issues, and synthesizing findings.
• Communicate study progress and findings clearly and effectively through reports, briefings, presentations, visualizations, and other materials to describe policy-relevant findings and actionable insights.
• Represent the organization professionally in client interactions and manage client and stakeholder relationships with awareness of the broader policy and practice landscape.
• Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, with clients, partners, and stakeholders, and foster positive, collaborative working relationships.
• Contribute thoughtfully and creatively to project teams.
• Contribute to business development by identifying opportunities, developing client relationships, and leading or contributing substantively to competitive proposals.

Qualifications:

Education, Knowledge, and Experience

• PhD in related subject area (e.g., Economics, Health Services Research, Public Policy, or a related discipline) with 3+ years of relevant experience or master’s degree with 7+ years of relevant experience.
• Extensive knowledge of Medicaid financing and policy, including areas such as federal-state financing, payment policy, managed care, supplemental payments, waivers, delivery-system reform, or program integrity and fraud oversight.
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex ideas into actionable work plans and timelines.
• Experience managing project and/or task teams on research, evaluation, and technical assistance projects.
• Experience building and maintaining strong client and partner relationships.
• Experience supporting business development efforts, including grant and proposal writing.
• Experience analyzing claims and other large or complex data sets.
• Experience working in contract research and/or evaluation organizations.

Skills

• Strong organizational and interpersonal skills including strong communication skills with the ability to produce concise, high-level summaries and briefings.
• Strong negotiator and communicator, with excellent client and partner management skills.
• Strong presentation and facilitation skills.
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to accuracy when writing.
• Can collaborate effectively in a virtual work environment.
• Ability to analyze Medicaid claims and other data using statistical software such as R, Python, SAS, or Stata.

Disclosures: Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the U.S. on a full-time basis. Employment-based visa sponsorship (including H-1B sponsorship) is not available for this position. Depending on project work, qualified candidates may need to meet certain residency requirements.

American Institutes for Research is an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination on the basis of any characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local law, including, but not limited to, actual or perceived race (including traits historically associated with race, such as hair texture, hair type, and protective hairstyles such as braid, locs, and twists), creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition (e.g., cancer), sex, gender, gender identity or expression (including transgender status), sexual orientation, marital status, civil union status, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, genetic information, or military or veteran status. AIR adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo reference and background checks. AIR maintains a drug-free work environment.

ACCESSIBILITY NOTICE: If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process due to a physical or mental disability, please send an email to Taliba Boone at tboone@air.org or call 202.403.5000.

Fraudulent Job Scams Warning & Disclaimer: AIR is aware of individuals falsely presenting themselves as AIR representatives. Fraudulent job scams seek to extract sensitive information or money from victims. To protect yourself, please be aware that AIR recruitment will only email you from an “@air.org” domain. Please take extra caution while examining the email address, for example jdoe@air.org is correct and jdoe@aircareers.org is not a legitimate AIR email address. If you are unsure of the legitimacy of a communication you have received, please reach out to recruitment@air.org. If you see a job scam, or lose money to one, report it to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. You can also report it to your state attorney general. Find out more about how to avoid scams atftc.gov/scams.

#LI-MP1 #LI-REMOTE

AIR’s Total Rewards Program, is designed to reward our staff competitively and motivate them to achieve our critical mission. This position offers the anticipated annual salary as listed. Salary offers are made based on internal equity within the institution and external equity with competitive markets. Please note this is the annual salary range for candidates that are based in the United States.

Anticipated Annual Salary Range

$120,000 — $150,000 USD