The Coleridge Initiative

Position Title/Short Description

Full Text of JOE Listing:

The Organization
The Coleridge Initiative is a not-for-profit start-up, originally established at New York University, becoming fully autonomous and independent in early 2020. The organization is at the forefront of transforming the empirical foundation of social science, statistical and public agencies in the United States and the understanding of how our society works.

The Coleridge Initiative works with government agencies to break down data barriers around confidential data, through building new technologies housed in a secure computational research platform, the NYU Administrative Data Research Facility (ADRF), to promote access and discovery of sensitive and confidential microdata. Those technologies are combined with training programs and research to build governmental agency capacity to serve society. We have already created dozens of pilot projects and worked with over 100 agencies—federal, state and local—and trained over 800 agency staff.

The Coleridge Initiative is seeking to hire up to two senior research scientists who will join a rapidly growing team of computer scientists, social scientists and data scientists in a fast-changing environment.

Responsibilities
General
• Leads the intellectual and scientific development of empirical research studies including the development of study design and methods
• Conducts empirical analyses
• Takes leadership in drafting sections of research reports
• Translates research and analytic findings into actionable evidence and implications for policy and programs
• Develops and delivers presentations of findings to diverse audiences
• Represents the Coleridge Initiative and establishes important stakeholder relationships, especially with partner agencies

Specific
• Performs advanced modeling and complex statistical analyses of data using R, Python, and/or other appropriate analytic software programs
• Leads analytic and econometric decision-making
• Independently converts, merges, assembles, and prepares large-scale data for analysis.
• Conduct analytic work following coding and documentation best practices
• Independently prepares sections of research reports and dissemination

Qualifications
PhD in social or data sciences with at least 5 years experience working with structured and unstructured data. Experience working with confidential data a plus.

Additional Skills
• Statistical and econometrics training
• Experience in Python and/or R coding
• Experience with large databases, particularly large-scale administrative data, and with handling sensitive information
• Strong attention to detail with good organization skills
• Ability to work independently with a high degree of initiative
• Ability to work in a collaborative research environment required
• Experience in writing scientific publications and federal grants
• Success in working with highly motivated and achievement oriented teams.