Description
Department Summary The UCLA VRP Senior Data Scientist will lead the data science team of fellows and graduate research assistants and oversee all data analysis projects. The position reports directly to the Faculty Director and works closely with staff attorneys on data analysis of voting rights litigation. The successful candidate will also have exceptionally strong skills in data cleaning, scraping, merging/joining databases, conducting analysis in R or Python, ecological inference, and data visualization. Minimum of four years experience in voting rights data science or related position and graduate degree required. Position Summary The UCLA Voting Rights Project (VRP) is seeking an accomplished data scientist to support our efforts in bridging the gap between academic research and government policy. The senior data scientist will work on critical data projects, including the collection and analysis of Census population data, electoral data related to redistricting, map and shapefiles, voter file databases, and public opinion survey data. This role will also support a range of projects focused on voting rights, including litigation research, reports, and participation in state and federal trials. Additionally, the senior data scientist will represent VRP at local, state, and national conferences as needed. Key responsibilities include engineering data pipelines, merging datasets, troubleshooting data analysis challenges, and extensive work in data cleaning, scraping, and conducting analysis using R or Python. The position will supervise data science fellows, collaborate with graduate student research fellows, and manage multiple projects concurrently. Salary & Compensation *UCLA provides a full pay range. Actual salary offers consider factors, including budget, prior experience, skills, knowledge, abilities, education, licensure and certifications, and other business considerations. Salary offers at the top of the range are not common. Visit UC Benefit package to discover benefits that start on day one, and UC Total Compensation Estimator to calculate the total compensation value with benefits. Qualifications 4 years Four years minimum experience in voting rights data science or closely related field (Required) Experience downloading, merging and incorporating census population data at census block, block group, or tract levels (Required) Experience downloading, merging, and analyzing precinct-level election data from at least five different states (Required) Experience teaching college-level course on data science, or closely related training (Required) Experience writing technical expert report for civil rights, voting rights or related litigation (Required) Experience working in an academic or think-tank environment (Required) Experience training junior staff on data science (Preferred) Strong coding skills in R (Required) Superior verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to communicate technical results and recommendations to non-technical stakeholders. (Required) Ability to work independently and as part of a team. (Required) Strong skills in data cleaning, scraping, merging/joining databases, conducting analysis in R or Python, ecological inference, and data visualization. (Required) Education, Licenses, Certifications & Personal Affiliations Bachelor’s Degree Bachelor’s degree in political science, statistics, economics, data science, public policy or other relevant field, or equivalent combination of education and experience (Required) And Master’s Degree Master’s or graduate degree in public policy, political science, statistics, data science or other relevant field, or equivalent training (Preferred) Special Conditions for Employment Age Requirement: Candidate(s) must be 18 years or older to be eligible to be hired. COVID and Flu Vaccinations: The position is subject to providing evidence of inoculation. Schedule 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m Union/Policy Covered 99-Policy Covered Complete Position Description https://universityofcalifornia.marketpayjobs.com/ShowJob.aspx?EntityID=38&jobcode=TBD_3826