Research Scientist 2 (3 positions)

Duties Description

The incumbent will engage in the full project life cycle to generate data products and accessible visualizations of data. Specific duties may include:

• Extracting, cleaning, merging, recoding, and/or analyzing administrative data sets, including those for external survey projects, service enrollment, or Medicaid utilization while modeling analytical rigor and effective use of statistical techniques and mathematical analyses.
• Using analytic and statistical software packages such as SAS, SPSS, and Structured Query Language (SQL) Developer to extract data from different Oracle and SQL-based systems and create analytic data files by matching individual records across multiple data sources.
• Supporting New York's participation in the National Core Indicators projects that focus on experiences of adults with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (I/DD) and/or their families, and the direct support professional (DSP) workforce.
• Drafting, vetting, and editing dashboards, high-level reports, and policy briefs and develop presentations and webinars for both public dissemination (including content for OPWDD's website) and for assisting and informing executive leadership decision-making on key programmatic areas.
• Developing data visualizations showing statistics and trends for public consumption, using software such as Tableau or Excel.
• Helping to formulate goals, objectives, and methodological approaches that support the development of research proposals and data systems that address the delivery of culturally competent services, population health, and the social determinants of health for those with I/DD.
• Conducting research on outcome measures and assisting in program evaluations which contribute to OPWDD policy and program development.
• Preparing formal reports, fact papers, studies, dashboards, presentations, and other data products.
• Interacting with a multidisciplinary team of internal and external peers to communicate progress and outcomes of planned work regularly, effectively, and openly.
• Demonstrates a commitment to data transparency in accordance with OPWDD policy.
• Working to ensure a respectful, collaborative work environment by attending regular team meetings to discuss team and project-related activities, issues, changes, communications, and updates.
• Assuming responsibility for management of own time and resources and allocating both appropriately.
• Performing other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Non-Competitive: Bachelor’s degree and three years of professional research experience in an appropriate field.
• Substitutions: Master’s degree in an appropriate field may substitute for one year of experience, and Ph.D. in an appropriate field may substitute for an additional year of experience.
• Preferred Qualifications: Strong analytic and data management skills. Experience with analyzing, extracting, merging, and linking large relational health care datasets, including Medicaid data. Proficient in the use of SAS or SQL, Microsoft Excel, Word and Power Point. Knowledge of statistical methods. Experience with data visualization tools such as Tableau is desired. Excellent written and verbal communication skills. The ability to work independently, as well as in a team environment.

Additional Comments

The assignment of PS&T employees will be made in accordance with any agreed upon Memorandum of Understanding between PEF and the local DDSO regarding the posting of job vacancies. Preference will be given to OPWDD employees impacted by closures. If you are being impacted by closure, please indicate this on your resume. All OPWDD employees must be eligible and maintain eligibility for full and unconditional participation in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Continued employment will depend on maintaining eligibility. If you are employed by state government you may be able to receive loan forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF). The PSLF Program forgives the remaining balance on Direct Loans after 120 qualifying monthly payments have been made under a qualifying repayment plan while working full-time for a qualifying employer. For more information on PSLF, please visit www.studentAid.gov/publicservice. Employees on long term leave can bid on positions but must be able to report to work within fourteen (14) days and be able to perform the essential functions of their positions with or without reasonable accommodation (RA).

Employees are provided family dental and vision plans at no extra cost. Paid Parental Leave: Paid Parental Leave allows eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave at full pay for each qualifying event. A qualifying event is defined as the birth of a child or placement of a child for adoption or foster care. Retirement Program: Participate in The NYS Employees’ Retirement System (ERS), which is recognized as one of the best-managed and best-funded public retirement systems in the nation. Professional Development and Education and Training: NYS offers training programs and tuition assistance to eligible employees to maintain and increase their professional skills and prepare them for promotional opportunities. For more information, please visit https://oer.ny.gov/training-and-professional-development. Additionally, the Public Service Workshops Program (PSWP) offers certain professional training opportunities for PEF represented and M/C designated employees that may grant continuing education credits towards maintaining professional licensure. For more information, please visit https://oer.ny.gov/public-service-workshops-program-pswp.

OPWDD is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer dedicated to creating and sustaining a culture of inclusion. We believe that we are most effective in managing and improving our service system with a diverse team of employees. With such a large workforce, we rely on the collective individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, self-expression, ideas and talent that our employees bring to their work. This speaks to our culture and is a key part of our successes. As we continuously recruit people for our team, we welcome the unique contributions that applicants bring in terms of their education, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veteran’s status, color, religion, disability, sexual orientation and beliefs. ***All people with disabilities are encouraged to apply.***