Title: Deputy Director, Solutions Insights Lab
Reports to: Chief Managing Director, SIL
Position Type: full time, exempt
Compensation: $100,000 - $120,000
Location: remote, U.S. based
Timeline
Application deadline: 3/30
Application review: 3/30 - 4/3
Interviews: 4/6-4/24
Start date: Early April
Background:
Organizations tackling complex social challenges face persistent barriers: fragmented knowledge, missed opportunities to learn from peers, and critical gaps in understanding what truly works at scale. The Solutions Insights Lab (referred to as SIL or the Lab) addresses these challenges by combining the investigative rigor of journalism with rigorous thematic analysis. An initiative of the Solutions Journalism Network (SJN), the Lab helps funders, policymakers, and practitioners make smarter decisions by uncovering what's working, what isn't, and where the next opportunities lie.The Lab's approach goes beyond traditional case studies. Our team of journalists conducts targeted interviews with changemakers across networks, then our researchers analyze these conversations to identify patterns, contradictions, and actionable insights. We synthesize findings into searchable knowledge platforms, create systems maps that reveal how ecosystems function, and design engagement strategies, from curated events to multimedia productions, that accelerate the spread of effective innovations. As a result, our clients gain clarity on what's worth scaling, funders direct resources to proven approaches, and insights move beyond individual organizations to shape entire fields.
Role Purpose:
The Deputy Director is responsible for the operational integrity and systemic scalability of the Solutions Insights Lab. This role has a bird's-eye view of the Lab's projects, with specific focus on infrastructure and interdependencies related to capacity planning, budgets, project deliverables, and workflow. The Deputy Director runs operations and formalizes processes across projects for the Lab and its integration points with other Solutions Journalism Network (SJN) programs and systems. Beyond oversight, the Director is a process innovator, building resilient infrastructure and clear protocols that allow the editorial and research teams to focus on generating high-quality insights while ensuring the Lab's growth is both ethical and efficient.
In this role the Deputy Director will anchor operational and organizational coordination—creating clear project plans, managing day-to-day workflow across multiple projects, coordinating timelines and deliverables, and ensuring strong communication across the team. They strengthen internal systems and workflows that enable the Lab to scale: improving coordination between work streams, developing templates and project infrastructure, maintaining cross-project knowledge management systems (for example, a shared Insights Library, coding templates, consistency across interview guides), and creating clarity, structure, and accountability across roles. The role ensures that the Lab operates as a coordinated portfolio of projects rather than separate and disconnected streams, helping consolidate insights and support thought leadership on how individual projects' insights intersect and contribute to the Lab's overarching knowledge sharing. The Director also contributes to strategic leadership, working closely with the Chief Managing Director to shape and advance priorities, plan ahead, and build the systems the Lab needs as it grows.