Sr. Data Analyst

About the Role

The Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center aims to accelerate states’ implementation of evidence-based policies that help all children thrive from the start. We seek an experienced Senior Research Data Analyst to provide data management and analysis expertise to projects across the Center. The role primarily involves original survey and program data cleaning, data management, and statistical analyses for a portfolio of original research and evaluation projects. This position is essential for transforming raw data into research assets, ensuring the validity and credibility of the Center’s research, resolving complex data challenges, and supporting timely research-based deliverables.

This is a 12-month term appointment beginning upon date of hire, reporting functionally and administratively to the Director of Data and Analytics, Kels Bowman. The position can be performed remotely, with hybrid remote-work opportunities available. Visa sponsorship is unavailable for this position.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the development of research questions, study designs, analytic plans, and methodological approaches for original research and evaluation projects.
• Manage survey data cleaning and preparation, including guiding processes for data collection and testing, developing analytic plans and timelines, implementing quality assurance protocols, and constructing clean, validated analytic datasets.
• Contribute to the development, programming, testing, and refinement of surveys, including reviewing measures, response options, skip logic, and data structures to ensure alignment with research questions.
• Work independently with messy, real-world data, resolving data quality issues, missing data, and documentation challenges to ensure defensible analytic datasets.
• Acquire, manage, and analyze raw datasets, including administrative data from state agencies and national longitudinal sources such as Census data, with demonstrated ability to merge datasets and assess representativeness.
• Interpret data, select and apply appropriate statistical tests, analyze results, and provide ongoing reports.
• Contribute to and/or lead the production of written products and academic publications translating research results into actionable insights for stakeholders and state policymakers.
• Ensure the methodological quality, validity, and integrity of all research analyses, considering rigorous analytic approaches and careful documentation.
• Communicate effectively with project staff to keep them informed of progress, key decisions, and emerging issues.
• Take a leadership role in managing data processes, including data collection, management, and analysis.
• Monitor compliance with data security and data retention policies.
• Coordinate with clients and stakeholders to obtain and manage administrative datasets.
• Contribute to developing and improving processes and procedures.
• Mentor and train staff in survey data cleaning, analytic workflows, and team processes.
• Monitor and supervise students to effectively contribute to projects.

Requirements

• Exceptional interpersonal skills and ability to work collaboratively in a team environment.
• Experience conducting data management, cleaning, and analysis using original survey data.
• Strong skills in R.
• Exceptional analytic and critical thinking skills.
• Excellent project management and organizational skills, with strong problem-solving abilities.
• Strong written communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex concepts clearly and concisely.
• Experience contributing to original research or program evaluation projects, including developing analytic plans, documenting methods, and interpreting findings.
• Ability to quickly come up to speed on new topics, multi-task effectively, and produce high-quality work under time constraints.
• Demonstrated understanding and support for key concepts in diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Demonstrated commitment to valuing diversity and contributing to an inclusive working and learning environment.
• Master’s degree with major coursework in the field of assignment, plus at least three years of related experience; additional related experience may substitute for required education.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience providing supervision and guidance to other staff.
• Skills in Stata.
• Graduate-level coursework or applied experience in research methods, survey methodology, program evaluation, causal inference, or applied statistics.
• Experience with survey data tools (e.g., REDCap, Qualtrics).
• Knowledge of and familiarity with topics related to early childhood and/or social policy.

Assessment

As part of the selection process, competitive candidates will be asked to complete a 2-hour coding test to assess proficiency in coding, analyzing, and interpreting data using R software.