With a workforce of over 30,000 people, and opportunities in more than 1,000 different job categories, the City of Philadelphia is the fifth largest city in the United States and one of the largest employers in Southeastern Pennsylvania. As an employer, the City of Philadelphia operates through the guiding principles of service, integrity, respect, accountability, collaboration, diversity and inclusion. Through these principles, we strive to effectively deliver services, to resolve the challenges facing our city, and to make Philadelphia a place where all of our residents have the opportunity to reach their potential.

AGENCY DESCRIPTION

It is the mission of the Office of the Director of Finance (ODoF) to ensure the City’s long-term financial health and effective use of resources, while helping to achieve the Administration’s policy goals.  The Office of the Director of Finance oversees the City’s financial, accounting, and budgetary functions, including establishing fiscal policy guidelines, overseeing the City’s budget and financial management programs, and creating policies, procedures, and internal controls to safeguard the City’s funds.  With a staff of approximately 120 employees, the Office of the Director of Finance: maintains the City’s central accounting system, records all City financial activity, prepares and issues all required financial reports; processes vendor payments for all city agencies; administers the City’s payroll activities and processes payroll payments for all City employees; develops and manages the City’s operating and capital budgets; produces and monitors compliance with the City’s Five-Year Financial and Strategic Plan; forecasts City revenues and expenditures; evaluates the impact of programs and investments on achieving strategic objectives; works with City agencies on grant submissions to maximize available funding; oversees risk management functions and citywide insurance programs; manages the City’s employee disability and worker safety programs; and oversees the Office or Property Data, whose role is to lead and manage a cohesive program for the efficient collection, maintenance, and distribution of current and accurate property information across city agencies.

Additionally, the Director of Finance oversees the operations of the City Treasurer’s Office, the Revenue Department, the Office of Property Assessment, and serves as the Chair of the Board of Pensions and Retirement.

Reporting to the Director of the Office of Property Data (OPD) within the ODoF, the GIS (Geographic Information System) Data Scientist is responsible for working with multiple data sources and types to analyze and visualize property data currently in use by multiple City Departments.  This position requires an extensive understanding of the primary functions of City Departments and how property data is acquired / collected, maintained, distributed, and utilized in support of government processes.  The candidate is expected to participate in property data scrubbing efforts by coordinating with other Departments on fixes and data analysis projects that further the mission of the OPD and ODoF.  The successful candidate must reside within the City of Philadelphia or establish residency within six months of employment.

Essential Functions:

Identify, Research, and Implement Solutions to Property Data Related Discrepancies:

• Establish linkages to effectively join datasets across City agencies.
• Identify relevant data sources and transform data in order to answer property-related questions.
• Identify and use appropriate techniques and tools for acquiring, retrieving, analyzing, and making use of the data.
• Devise solutions to property data issues and coordinate fixes with individual Departments.
• Create visualizations and communicate data analytics results to Leadership.
• Create metrics and internal audit processes to further increase data validity.

Project Design and Implementation:

• Work with OPD team to develop vendor RFPs for design and implementation services.
• Work with contractors to ensure designs meet approved business requirements.
• Design and implement appropriate metrics for measuring quality of property data.
• Work on special projects as assigned.

• Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university
• 5+ years experience using GIS tools
• 5+ years experience in business analysis, process mapping, and data analysis
• Extensive experience in software tools such as MS Excel, Project, PowerPoint, and Visio
• Extensive Knowledge of Oracle, SQL Server, Microsoft Access
• Knowledge of statistical software such as Stata, SPSS, R, etc. is a plus
• Strong analytical and problem solving skills
• Background in state or local government preferred but not required

Successful candidate must be a City of Philadelphia resident within six months of hire.

The City of Philadelphia is an Equal Opportunity employer and does not permit discrimination based on race, ethnicity, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, marital status, source of income, familial status, genetic information or domestic or sexual violence victim status. If you believe you were discriminated against, call the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations at 215-686-4670. For more information, go to: Human Relations Website: http://www.phila.gov/humanrelations/Pages/default.aspx