Pre-Doctoral Research Data Specialist (School of Government and Policy)

Faculty member Nathaniel Baum-Snow is seeking one full-time Pre-Doctoral Research Data Specialist to work as part of his research team. This position offers an opportunity to gain training in a broad set of economic and policy research topics and approaches, including data-intensive methods that will give pre-docs a window into research in urban and real estate economics. This opportunity is most suitable for recent college graduates with substantial coursework in economics and applied econometrics who are planning to pursue a Ph.D. in economics, public policy, or related fields. Experience in this position will help candidates moving onto Ph.D. programs to hit the ground running for their own graduate studies. The role is based in Washington DC, with workspace shared with other fellows to foster camaraderie and peer learning. Ideal candidates have an interest in the economics of cities and some experience manipulating spatial data sets.

The Research Data Specialist will assist in the management, analysis, and reporting of complex data to support a research project or study. The Research Data Specialist will work closely with the research team and support the preparation of reports, publications, and presentations. The Specialist will gain experience analyzing large and complex data sets working with software including Stata, R, QGIS, and Python. This research practice is strengthened with additional education opportunities, including the opportunity to attend SGP research seminars.

Specific Duties & Responsibilities

• Assist with building datasets, constructing variables and data cleaning.
• Assist with the production of publication-quality tables and graphs and present results to the study team.
• Provide preliminary and interim analyses of data; perform statistical calculations and assist with preparation of reports, scientific abstracts and method sections of manuscripts.
• Support the performance of analyses on large, complex datasets, and document analyses using STATA, R, Python, etc.
• Prepare data reports and analyses, report on the status of the database, conduct analytical activities, and review reports to verify data.
• Other duties as assigned.

• Associate’s Degree.
• Two years of related experience.
• Additional education may substitute for required experience and additional related experience may substitute for required education beyond a high school diploma/graduation equivalent, to the extent permitted by the JHU equivalency formula.

• Bachelor’s Degree
• Candidates should be excited about working on policy-oriented academic research in urban and real estate economics.
• Candidates must have a solid quantitative background with strong programming skills and be considering pursuing a Ph.D. in economics or a closely related discipline.
• Candidates must have coding experience in some combination of Python, R and Stata GIS experience preferred.

Classified Title: Research Data Specialist 
Job Posting Title (Working Title): Pre-Doctoral Research Data Specialist (School of Government and Policy)   
Role/Level/Range: ACRO37.5/03/CE  
Starting Salary Range: $19.75 - $35.35 HRLY ($65,000 targeted; Commensurate w/exp.) 
Employee group: Full Time 
Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:30am-5pm 
FLSA Status: Non-Exempt 
Location: District of Columbia  
Department name: Staff  
Personnel area: School of Government & Policy