Research and Policy Data Analyst, Penn Development Research Initiative - DevLabPenn

$51,824 - $75,000/Yr

University of Pennsylvania - Philadelphia, PA

Full-time - Entry Level

Philadelphia, PA

Educational Services

About the position

The Research and Policy Data Analyst at the University of Pennsylvania will engage in data-driven projects within the Penn Development Research Initiative - DevLabPenn. This role focuses on managing and analyzing data, building training datasets for machine learning, and contributing to academic research and policy reports. The analyst will collaborate with social scientists and development practitioners to enhance the effectiveness of development initiatives through rigorous programming and evaluation.

Responsibilities

• Collect secondary data using various extraction tools such as web-scraping and API usage.
• Manage and manipulate data, including cleaning, merging, and transforming datasets.
• Build training datasets for machine learning models and conduct forecasting.
• Perform statistical analysis, including regression and econometric analysis, and validate machine learning model outputs.
• Create visualizations such as figures, tables, maps, and infographics for academic papers and policy briefs.
• Contribute to the production of reports for academic and policy audiences.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in Political Science, Economics, Public Policy, Data Science, or a related field with 2 years of experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Strong data management experience, including data cleaning, merging, and transformation.
• Proficiency in R and Python for data analysis and management.
• Experience with large datasets and statistical analysis.
• Strong writing and communication skills.
• Ability to take initiative in solving practical research problems and work independently.

Nice-to-haves

• Proficiency in both R and Python is a plus but not necessary.
• Experience with automated data scraping techniques.
• Knowledge of probability and statistics, research design, and causal inference.
• Experience with advanced computational social science tools such as machine learning and natural language processing.

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical, prescription, behavioral health, dental, vision, and life insurance.
• Tuition assistance for employees and their families.
• Generous retirement plans with various investment options.
• Substantial time away from work for personal needs.
• Long-term care insurance options for faculty and staff.
• Wellness and work-life resources to support health and balance.
• Professional and personal development resources.
• Access to university resources and cultural activities.
• Discounts on goods and services for faculty and staff.
• Flexible work hours and options for non-traditional work structures.
• Forgivable loans for home buying or improvements in West Philadelphia.
• Adoption assistance for qualified expenses related to legal adoption.