Remote State Director Jobs
Remote State Director jobs are open across the U.S. at remote-first firms and distributed teams, with active demand in nonprofits, advocacy organizations, public health, and policy-driven tech. Employers hiring remotely right now include Follett Corporation, remedio, and TrustMed. See the openings below and apply to the ones that match your experience.
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Showing 5 of 10+ Remote State Director jobs
This position is being posted as a blended role and will be filled as a Program Director 1 or Program Director 2 depending on the candidate's qualifications and experience.
The Center for Health Systems Effectiveness (CHSE) at OHSU is a health policy research center focused on actionable, cross-disciplinary, collaborative research.
The Principal State Evaluation Manager (PSEM) to lead CHSE’s large, multi-year state policy research and evaluation contracts. This is a highly visible leadership role for someone with deep expertise in Medicaid policy and evaluation and a track record of strategic stakeholder engagement. This is not a faculty-track position.
The PSEM is accountable for the successful execution of CHSE’s evaluation of Washington State’s Medicaid Transformation Project (MTP), the state’s Section 1115 Medicaid demonstration waiver. The role spans three connected areas: research oversight and delivery, stakeholder relations, and center leadership.
Research oversight and delivery. The PSEM has final decision-making authority over MTP project management and coordinates faculty and quantitative and qualitative research teams across many evaluation components. This includes providing study teams with the direction and information they need, developing and maintaining timelines, and ensuring appropriate staffing in line with the budget and work needs. The PSEM is responsible for bringing all work together into cohesive final products and often writes reports, manuscripts, and presentations directly.
Stakeholder relations. Strong partnerships are essential both to delivering impactful evaluations and to winning future contracts. The PSEM builds and maintains collaborative relationships with state legislative offices and agency leaders at the program, division, and department levels. Throughout the contract lifecycle, the PSEM bridges differences in how researchers and state partners approach methods, priorities, and timelines.
Center leadership. The PSEM works with a high degree of autonomy and serves on CHSE’s Strategic Research Governing Team, which sets the Center’s vision, develops annual objectives and key results (OKRs), guides center-wide resource planning, and shares CHSE’s findings with policy audiences to inform policy change. The PSEM will serve as a staff mentor and may directly supervise staff. The PSEM works with and is supported by CHSE faculty Principal Investigators, quantitative and qualitative analysts, and a regulatory specialist.
CHSE is committed to a welcoming, inclusive work environment that promotes diversity. We put that into practice through distributed leadership, where staff at every level help shape decisions, and a culture of continuous growth built on feedback in all directions.
Classification and salary are both commensurate with experience, education, and internal equity.
Program Director 1 salary range is $105,414 - $181,771.
Program Director 2 salary range is $121,201- $209,040.
Function/Duties of Position:- Research oversight: Oversee research methodology, implementation, and completion of state policy evaluation designs, including ongoing consultation, direction, mentorship to qualitative analysts, and collaboration with quantitative colleagues. Understand the full state context. Track analyses across teams and project life cycles to identify and delegate coverage of analysis gaps. Holds final decision-making authority.
- Project and contract management: Responsible for all aspects of complex research projects, including coordination of qualitative and quantitative teams. Work to establish timelines for project tasks to deliver final products (e.g., reports, briefs, and manuscripts for peer review). Monitor timelines, review output, and work with other staff as needed to revise work or make corrections to deliver results on time and meet high-quality standards. Oversee research compliance (e.g., receipt of IRB approval, execution of data use agreements, and subsequent revisions or amendments), data collection and data management, and data analysis.
- Final product delivery: Responsible for high-quality final written reports, manuscripts, and presentations through writing, editing, synthesizing, and coordination across team members. Must meet expectations for review by federal and state agencies.
- External stakeholder relations management: Serve as the primary contact for state agency sponsors and other key stakeholders, building, fostering, and maintaining positive and collaborative relationships and bringing research literacy to decision-making interactions.
- Business development: Leverage strong relationships with Washington State to generate and secure additional work with the state. Contribute to research project proposals, including responses to requests for proposals (RFPs) from government agencies and private foundations. Coordinate work on proposals among PIs, faculty, research analysts, and other staff. Prepare project staffing plans and budgets that support sufficient project staffing, high-quality deliverables, and CHSE budget sustainability.
- Other duties as assigned.
PD1: Bachelor’s degree in a related field and seven (7) years of progressively responsible program leadership, management, or administrative experience; OR equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.
PD2: Bachelor’s degree in a related field and eight (8) years of progressively responsible leadership, management, or administrative experience; OR equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.
Demonstrated accountability for designing and leading complex, mixed-methods program evaluation, particularly in the field of health policy and across a project life cycle, including development of a scope of work/analysis plan, project kick-off, analysis, QA, interpretation of results, synthesis, report production, and presentation to clients and key stakeholdersLeading and successfully executing a portfolio of high-profile, large-scale, multi-year, multi-million-dollar projects
Experience scoping, budgeting, and negotiating large public-policy evaluation contracts. Knowledge of health disparities and the factors that cause them.
Expert in independently writing formal reports and manuscripts
Strong organizational skills and attention to detail; flexibility to lead and manage multiple priorities, sometimes simultaneously, under deadline
Proven ability to anticipate analytical issues before they occur, exercise sound judgment in problem-solving, and maintain thorough documentation of decision-making
Exemplary communication skills and ability to effectively present research findings to state policymakers and program administrators
Demonstrated understanding of, and commitment to, research practices that advance healthcare equity
- Ability to perform the job duties with or without accommodation.
PhD with major courses in quantitative evaluation methods and health policy; mixed-methods evaluation training and experience
Familiarity with advanced statistical/econometric approaches (e.g., difference-in-differences, interrupted time series, propensity scores)
Experience demonstrating:
Qualitative/mixed methods research experience
Extensive experience managing and analyzing healthcare claims and other administrative datasets
Experience working with diverse populations and in diverse environments
Deep knowledge of the Medicaid program (state/federal roles, 1115 waivers, funding and financing)
Deep understanding of research regulatory processes, e.g., IRB and DUAs
This position is being posted as a blended role and will be filled as a Program Director 1 or Program Director 2 depending on the candidate's qualifications and experience.
The Center for Health Systems Effectiveness (CHSE) at OHSU is a health policy research center focused on actionable, cross-disciplinary, collaborative research.
The Principal State Evaluation Manager (PSEM) to lead CHSE’s large, multi-year state policy research and evaluation contracts. This is a highly visible leadership role for someone with deep expertise in Medicaid policy and evaluation and a track record of strategic stakeholder engagement. This is not a faculty-track position.
The PSEM is accountable for the successful execution of CHSE’s evaluation of Washington State’s Medicaid Transformation Project (MTP), the state’s Section 1115 Medicaid demonstration waiver. The role spans three connected areas: research oversight and delivery, stakeholder relations, and center leadership.
Research oversight and delivery. The PSEM has final decision-making authority over MTP project management and coordinates faculty and quantitative and qualitative research teams across many evaluation components. This includes providing study teams with the direction and information they need, developing and maintaining timelines, and ensuring appropriate staffing in line with the budget and work needs. The PSEM is responsible for bringing all work together into cohesive final products and often writes reports, manuscripts, and presentations directly.
Stakeholder relations. Strong partnerships are essential both to delivering impactful evaluations and to winning future contracts. The PSEM builds and maintains collaborative relationships with state legislative offices and agency leaders at the program, division, and department levels. Throughout the contract lifecycle, the PSEM bridges differences in how researchers and state partners approach methods, priorities, and timelines.
Center leadership. The PSEM works with a high degree of autonomy and serves on CHSE’s Strategic Research Governing Team, which sets the Center’s vision, develops annual objectives and key results (OKRs), guides center-wide resource planning, and shares CHSE’s findings with policy audiences to inform policy change. The PSEM will serve as a staff mentor and may directly supervise staff. The PSEM works with and is supported by CHSE faculty Principal Investigators, quantitative and qualitative analysts, and a regulatory specialist.
CHSE is committed to a welcoming, inclusive work environment that promotes diversity. We put that into practice through distributed leadership, where staff at every level help shape decisions, and a culture of continuous growth built on feedback in all directions.
Classification and salary are both commensurate with experience, education, and internal equity.
Program Director 1 salary range is $105,414 - $181,771.
Program Director 2 salary range is $121,201- $209,040.
Function/Duties of Position:- Research oversight: Oversee research methodology, implementation, and completion of state policy evaluation designs, including ongoing consultation, direction, mentorship to qualitative analysts, and collaboration with quantitative colleagues. Understand the full state context. Track analyses across teams and project life cycles to identify and delegate coverage of analysis gaps. Holds final decision-making authority.
- Project and contract management: Responsible for all aspects of complex research projects, including coordination of qualitative and quantitative teams. Work to establish timelines for project tasks to deliver final products (e.g., reports, briefs, and manuscripts for peer review). Monitor timelines, review output, and work with other staff as needed to revise work or make corrections to deliver results on time and meet high-quality standards. Oversee research compliance (e.g., receipt of IRB approval, execution of data use agreements, and subsequent revisions or amendments), data collection and data management, and data analysis.
- Final product delivery: Responsible for high-quality final written reports, manuscripts, and presentations through writing, editing, synthesizing, and coordination across team members. Must meet expectations for review by federal and state agencies.
- External stakeholder relations management: Serve as the primary contact for state agency sponsors and other key stakeholders, building, fostering, and maintaining positive and collaborative relationships and bringing research literacy to decision-making interactions.
- Business development: Leverage strong relationships with Washington State to generate and secure additional work with the state. Contribute to research project proposals, including responses to requests for proposals (RFPs) from government agencies and private foundations. Coordinate work on proposals among PIs, faculty, research analysts, and other staff. Prepare project staffing plans and budgets that support sufficient project staffing, high-quality deliverables, and CHSE budget sustainability.
- Other duties as assigned.
PD1: Bachelor’s degree in a related field and seven (7) years of progressively responsible program leadership, management, or administrative experience; OR equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.
PD2: Bachelor’s degree in a related field and eight (8) years of progressively responsible leadership, management, or administrative experience; OR equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.
Demonstrated accountability for designing and leading complex, mixed-methods program evaluation, particularly in the field of health policy and across a project life cycle, including development of a scope of work/analysis plan, project kick-off, analysis, QA, interpretation of results, synthesis, report production, and presentation to clients and key stakeholdersLeading and successfully executing a portfolio of high-profile, large-scale, multi-year, multi-million-dollar projects
Experience scoping, budgeting, and negotiating large public-policy evaluation contracts. Knowledge of health disparities and the factors that cause them.
Expert in independently writing formal reports and manuscripts
Strong organizational skills and attention to detail; flexibility to lead and manage multiple priorities, sometimes simultaneously, under deadline
Proven ability to anticipate analytical issues before they occur, exercise sound judgment in problem-solving, and maintain thorough documentation of decision-making
Exemplary communication skills and ability to effectively present research findings to state policymakers and program administrators
Demonstrated understanding of, and commitment to, research practices that advance healthcare equity
- Ability to perform the job duties with or without accommodation.
PhD with major courses in quantitative evaluation methods and health policy; mixed-methods evaluation training and experience
Familiarity with advanced statistical/econometric approaches (e.g., difference-in-differences, interrupted time series, propensity scores)
Experience demonstrating:
Qualitative/mixed methods research experience
Extensive experience managing and analyzing healthcare claims and other administrative datasets
Experience working with diverse populations and in diverse environments
Deep knowledge of the Medicaid program (state/federal roles, 1115 waivers, funding and financing)
Deep understanding of research regulatory processes, e.g., IRB and DUAs
See All 10 Remote State Director Jobs
Find roles that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Remote State Director JobsRemote State Director Job Market
Who's Hiring
What Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in remote state director jobs.
- Five or more years of senior program or operations leadership at a state or regional level
- Demonstrated experience managing cross-functional teams and multi-site staff
- Proven ability to develop and oversee multi-million dollar budgets
- Strong stakeholder engagement experience with government officials and community organizations
- Bachelor's degree in public administration, policy, business, or a related field
- Proficiency with project management tools and performance reporting systems
Tips for Your Remote State Director Job Search
Apply early to remote roles that fit
Migrate Mate lists remote state director openings from across the U.S. in one place, so you can find roles that match your background and apply directly without sorting through listings that require on-site work.
Prove your async leadership style upfront
Remote employers screen for candidates who can coordinate across time zones without daily check-ins. Add a brief remote leadership section to your resume that names the tools you use, such as Slack, Notion, or Asana, and shows how you kept distributed teams aligned on deliverables.
Quantify your state-level outcomes clearly
Remote hiring managers cannot observe your work in person, so your application has to do it for them. Frame every role around concrete results, such as the number of stakeholders mobilized, programs launched, or policy goals reached, so your impact reads clearly on a screen.
Prepare for a multi-stage remote interview process
Distributed organizations often run three or more video interview rounds to compensate for the absence of in-person signals. Expect at least one scenario-based round where you walk through how you would manage a cross-state initiative with no local office support, and prepare written follow-ups after each stage.
Remote State Director Jobs: Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a remote state director job?
Remote state director roles go to candidates who can demonstrate leadership and accountability without in-person oversight. Distributed-team employers screen heavily for self-direction, clear written communication, and the ability to manage stakeholders asynchronously across time zones. Candidates who show documented outcomes from previous leadership roles, fluency with async collaboration tools, and experience managing remote teams have a real edge over those with comparable experience but no remote context.
Which companies hire remote state directors?
Companies hiring remote state directors right now include Follett Corporation, remedio, and TrustMed, based on current remote listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. These roles most often come from remote-first nonprofits, distributed advocacy groups, and policy-focused technology organizations that operate across multiple states without a central physical office.
Can you get a remote state director job with no experience?
Yes, but remote state director openings at the entry level are rare because employers expect you to operate independently from day one with minimal supervision. Your strongest path in is through remote program manager or regional coordinator roles at smaller nonprofits or advocacy organizations, where you can build a record of cross-functional ownership. Demonstrating measurable results, strong written communication, and comfort with distributed workflows opens doors faster than a title match.
Do you need a degree for remote state director jobs?
Not always. Many remote employers weigh demonstrated leadership results, coalition-building experience, and subject-matter expertise more heavily than a specific degree, particularly in advocacy, public health, and community organizing. A portfolio of real outcomes, such as a successful legislative campaign or a scaled program, can carry more weight than credentials alone when a hiring committee is evaluating remote candidates they cannot assess in person.
See All 10 Remote State Director Jobs
Find roles that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Remote State Director Jobs