A best-in-class city that attracts best-in-class talent, Philadelphia is an incredible place to build a career. From our thriving arts scene and rich history to our culture of passion and grit, there are countless reasons to love living and working here. With a workforce of over 30,000 people, and more than 1,000 different job categories, the City of Philadelphia offers boundless opportunities to make an impact. 

As an employer, the City of Philadelphia values inclusion, integrity, innovation, empowerment, and hard work above all else. We offer a vibrant work environment, comprehensive health care and benefits, and the experience you need to grow and excel. If you’re interested in working with a passionate team of people who care about the future of Philadelphia, start here.

What We Offer:

  Impact - The work you do here matters to millions. 

  Growth - Philadelphia is growing, why not grow with it? 

  Diversity & Inclusion - Find a career in a place where everyone belongs.

  Opportunities in Tech - Don’t wait for the future, shape it.

  Benefits - We care about your well-being.

Agency Description

This position sits within the Mayor’s Office of Policy, Legislation, and Intergovernmental Affairs. This office ensures the policy and legislative priorities of the Mayor are organized, well researched, and implemented through legislative or administrative action. The Office strives to integrate evaluation, including randomized field experiments, into government action so that testing, iterating, and improving becomes standard practice. In addition, the Office works with the Mayor and City Council to set legislative and policy priorities, and works to implement best practices in partnership with key program stakeholders, and with experts both internal and external to government.

The Mayor’s Policy Office leads GovLabPHL, a community of City employees and academic researchers led by the Mayor’s Policy Office dedicated to creating opportunities to learn and practice evidence-based methods. We collaboratively explore ways in which government can best serve residents by supporting City agencies looking to address challenges through the practical use of data and research. GovLabPHL is a local, national and international leader in this space. The mission of GovLabPHL is to foster a culture in government of evidence-based policy and data-driven decision making.

We are looking for a civically minded researcher and analyst with a passion for data-driven decision making and improving city government. This individual will serve as a key contributor to all of the team’s work and the city at large with a focus on quantitative research and analysis, and will be responsible for continuing and expanding the culture of collaboration, partnership and delivery of high-quality support throughout the city.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

In this role, you will:

• Write reproducible scripts and workflows to collect, clean, and analyze data in order to answer key policy questions.
• Help design, implement, and analyze evaluations. Use various research designs, including randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental analyses, and others as appropriate.
• Ensure that work product adheres to methodological and open science best practices.
• Visualize data, write descriptions and summaries of projects, and create presentations of results.
• Clearly communicate key insights to diverse audiences, including scientific experts, government practitioners, and public stakeholders.
• Help to disseminate scientific lessons, tools, and best practices across City government.
• Communicate with agency partners and key stakeholders, both internal and external to government.
• Review literature to creatively inform City policies and program designs.
• Proactively provide ideas and critical feedback—as well as being open to such constructive dialogue—as part of constantly improving the Mayor’s Policy Office and its collective work output.
• Provide technical assistance to City agencies and external partners to develop, implement, and analyze surveys to establish and tailor COVID-19 response and recovery efforts based on resident and community needs and feedback.

COMPETENCIES, SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE:

• Excellent communicator: Ability to explain technical concepts to general audiences, explain the logic behind research decisions, craft compelling narratives about research design, write and speak clearly, and cultivate effective communication among team members.
• Relationship-builder: Ability to work with a variety of people and personalities, listen and ask questions to identify new research opportunities, and cultivate strong relationships to ensure seamless collaboration and continued project support.
• Curious: Ability to practice active listening, ask questions to get at the root of a problem, be open to receiving/giving constructive feedback, and have a sincere interest in learning new skills or growing old ones.
• Compassionate: Ability to turn research insights into actionable solutions that address people’s real needs ethically and with integrity.
• Rigorous: Driven by thoughtful, quality, and detail-oriented processes, project output, and client/team interactions.
• Organized: Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects, estimate timelines, rework a project approach based on unforeseen challenges, work well under pressure, and set/meet reasonable deadlines.
• Action-oriented: Ability to see opportunities, navigate barriers, be self-directed, and problem-solve solutions that enhance the City’s deliverables, processes, and practices.
• Broad-spectrum: Knows enough about the basics of social sciences and research processes to effectively collaborate across disciplines.
• Resilient: Ability to have a sense of humor, learn from mistakes, and/or return to work after experiencing a setback.
• Amplifier: Ability to amplify others’ strengths and successes and operate beyond ego and self-interest.

• Subject matter expertise in at least one field of relevance to local government, such as psychology, sociology, economics, public policy, urban design, criminal justice, or other related fields.
• Training in quantitative research methods, or related work experience
• Experience with at least one statistical programming language, such as R (strongly preferred), Python, Stata, or related tools.
• Experience managing policy or research projects, particularly projects that require collaboration across different groups or teams.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university, preferably in psychology, sociology, political science, statistics, economics, mathematics, or another social science field.

Preferred

• Experience with experimental design, including issues of sampling, randomization, and statistical inference.
• Experience with version control systems such as Git

SALARY: $65,000 

Did you know?

●        We are a Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program qualified employer

●        25% tuition discount program for City employees (and sometimes spouses and dependents as well) in partnership with area colleges and universities

●        We offer Comprehensive health coverage for employees and their eligible dependents

●        Our wellness program offers eligibility into the discounted medical plan

●        Employees receive paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays

●        Generous retirement savings options are available

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 or send an email to faqpchr @phila.gov. For more information, go to: Human Relations Website: http://www.phila.gov/humanrelations/Pages/default.aspx