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About the Role

Kids Help Phone (KHP) is seeking a Director, Applied Research to advance its applied research strategy. This role will strengthen systems, partnerships, and organizational capacity to support youth mental health services, focusing on growth, evaluation, outcome measurement, and sustainability. The Director will build research infrastructure, mobilize knowledge, and enable evidence-based decision-making.

Responsibilities

• Lead the continued development and implementation of KHP’s applied research infrastructure, including research governance processes, decision-making pathways, and tools.
• Strengthen research ethics, REB readiness, privacy, data management, and data use agreement practices.
• Support implementation of KHP’s Thought Leadership Strategy, including submitting conference abstracts and representing KHP at key events.
• Liaise with KHP IT and data teams to set up technical environments for partnerships and projects.
• Work collaboratively with clinical, program and data teams to design practical measurement and evaluation frameworks, indicators, and research questions.
• Leverage KHP datasets and mixed-methods evidence to generate actionable insights that improve service effectiveness, equity, accessibility, and impact.
• Translate evaluation findings into recommendations for practice, reporting, continuous improvement, and strategic decision-making.
• Lead KHP's knowledge mobilization strategy, including evidence synthesis, environmental scanning, sector benchmarking, publications, presentations, and translation of findings.
• Build staff research literacy through resources, learning opportunities, coaching, and accessible tools.
• Support clinical resource review and curation by ensuring relevant evidence and practice insights are available for program and service development.
• Lead the development and management of strategic research partnerships across various sectors.
• Serve as the primary relationship lead for research partners, overseeing governance, deliverables, issue resolution, and shared accountability.
• Lead strategic applied research initiatives related to artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.
• Support research funding activities, including grant development and funder reporting.
• Supervise a Research Coordinator, ensuring a clear roadmap of activities and goals.
• Lead in alignment with KHP’s values and IDEA strategies, embedding equity, accessibility, youth engagement, and cultural safety into research.
• Oversee scholar, fellowship, and student programs, ensuring supervision, integration, and capacity building.
• Manage portfolio and project budget, KPIs, risks, and reporting for executive leadership, the Board, funders, and external partners.

Requirements

• PhD or equivalent doctoral-level training in a relevant discipline.
• 5-8+ years’ experience leading applied research, program evaluation, research governance, knowledge mobilization, or related evidence-to-practice work.
• Demonstrated experience building research infrastructure, including ethics and REB processes, data management practices, privacy and data use agreements, and data or project governance.
• Proven ability to manage complex research partnerships with academic, community, health system, technology, and/or philanthropic partners.
• Strong experience designing evaluation frameworks, outcome measurement approaches, evidence syntheses, environmental scans, and funder or accountability reporting.
• Ability to build organizational capacity and staff research literacy by translating complex research, data, and evaluation concepts into practical tools, guidance, and decisions.
• Strong leadership, communication, facilitation, and presentation skills.
• Experience managing budgets, KPIs, risks, external deliverables, and cross-functional implementation across multiple stakeholders.
• Commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, cultural safety, and meaningful youth engagement in research and evaluation.
• Background screen, which may include criminal, credit, employment and educational checks.

Skills

• Applied research
• Program evaluation
• Research governance
• Knowledge mobilization
• Evidence-to-practice work
• Youth mental health
• Digital mental health
• Community health
• Research infrastructure development
• Ethics and REB processes
• Data management practices
• Privacy and data use agreements
• Data governance
• Project governance
• Partnership management
• Evaluation framework design
• Outcome measurement
• Evidence synthesis
• Environmental scanning
• Funder reporting
• Accountability reporting
• Organizational capacity building
• Research literacy
• Leadership
• Communication
• Facilitation
• Presentation skills
• Budget management
• KPI management
• Risk management
• Cross-functional implementation
• Equity
• Diversity
• Inclusion
• Accessibility
• Cultural safety
• Youth engagement
• Artificial intelligence
• Emerging technologies
• Grant development
• Bilingualism in English and French (asset)

Location

• Toronto, Ontario

Work Type

• Full-Time
• 6-month contract
• Hybrid working 2-3 days per week

Experience Level

• 5-8+ years’ experience leading applied research, program evaluation, research governance, knowledge mobilization, or related evidence-to-practice work

Education Level

• PhD or equivalent doctoral-level training in a relevant discipline

Salary/Compensations

• $105,000 - $125,000

Benefits

• Hybrid work model
• Comprehensive Employee Benefits Program
• Emergency Travel Assistance
• CAAT Pension Plan
• Wellness programs
• Recognition awards
• Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP)

About the Company

• Kids Help Phone (KHP) is Canada’s Unlock The Hope Youth Charity, the first and only national 24/7, free, confidential, and multilingual e-mental health service for youth.
• KHP is a global leader in innovation for youth and their well-being.
• Since 1989, KHP has been empowering young people by providing a non-judgmental space for their feelings through personalized well-being solutions.
• KHP continually evolves by blending data, innovation and technology with real human support and clinical knowledge to unlock the hope young people need to thrive.

Equal Opportunity

• KHP has a role to play in effecting social change and advancing equity. This is why the practice of IDEA is critical to us.
• KHP has a long history of celebrating and advancing IDEA through our tailored programs, services, policies, initiatives and task forces.
• We welcome applicants from equity-deserving communities (e.g. Indigenous Peoples, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, women, 2SLGBTQ+ individuals, etc.).
• Reasonable accommodations are available upon request during any phase of the application / hiring process.